So hooray for Dallas Braden for his recent perfecto, but what's with the Texas-themed given first name to a native of Phoenix, Arizona? And couldn't we have arranged it so that somehow the final batter in the gem was Austin Kearns or Austin Jackson? And wouldn't it have been WAY cool if the double-Texas-town-named Tyler Houston had been catching?
Okay, naybe not. But heads up for a Hall of Names team composed entirely of players who share a name (given first or middle, or family -- all good, unless noted otherwise) with one of the largest towns in the great sovereign nation -- er, U.S. state -- of Texas.
The 50 largest cities in Texas are listed here. As you'd see (if you clicked through for proof), Dallas is second, behind Houston. San Antonio, with a twist, will play; so will Austin. However, El Paso and Fort Worth might be problematic.
My current place of residence, North Richland Hills, has no real chance, but it's only #44 anyway. So let's stick to the Top 10 for now, see if we can build a full lineup, and cherry-pick other names as needed if necessary.
1. Houston
Sorry, Huston Street, spelling matters. There are a number of options, and here's the best of the rest ....
IF James Houston Davenport* (mostly 3B; .258, 77 HR, 1958-70 SFG)
3B/C/1B Tyler Houston (.265, 63 HR, five teams, 1996-2003)
LHSP Scott Houston McGregor* (138-108, 1976-88 BAL)
2. Dallas
LSHP Dallas Braden (14-21 through 2009)
3B Dallas McPherson (.245, 2004-08)
RHRP Dallas Green (20-22, 4 saves, 1960-67 mostly PHI)
MGR Dallas Green (454-478, parts of 1979-96, PHI, NYY, NYM; '80 champs))
3. San Antonio
There has never been a player named "San Antonio" (what a surprise), but there have, as you might expect, been dozens named Antonio. We have no reports of imminent canonization of any of these and refuse to speculate on their respective saintliness, so will instead limit ourselves to players who actually went by the name "Antonio."
Yes, it grieves us to remove from consideration for our roster the singular greatness of Juan Antonio (Sanchez) Marichal, legendary Blue Jay legacy Esteban Antonio (Veyna) Loaiza and even the that's-too-Anglicized All-Stars, C Antonio Francesco (Padilla) "Tony" Pena, IF Antonio Nemesio (Sanchez) "Tony" Taylor and legitimate Blue Jay legend SS Octavio Antonio (Castro) "Tony" Fernandez So who gets considered? Only just these three men; well, at least the bullpen will get some help ...
RHRP Antonio Alfonseca (35-37, 129 saves. 1997-2007; 45 saves for 2000 FLA)
LHR/SP Antonio Bastardo (2-3 so far with 2009-10 PHI)
RHRP Antonio Osuna (36-29, 21 saves, 1995-2005, five teams)
4. Austin
There have been five men to make it in MLB with the surname Austin and another 13 with that given middle name (plus our one Hall of Famer, owner Thomas Austin Yawkey). But for the record, we will only consider those players who both had the given first name Austin and WENT by that name, costing us the services of the otherwise wonderfully-named Austin Ben Tincup, who went by "Ben." However, we do have some useful parts bearing the name of the Lone Star state capital ... apparently, just as San Antonio is for bullpens, Austin is for outfielders.
OF Austin Jackson (DET rookie first MLBer to 50 hits in 2010)
OF Austin Kearns (.258, 107 homers since 2002, three teams)
OF Austin Knickerbocker (.250, 1947 PHA)
OF Austin McHenry (.302, 1918-22 STL; 17 HR in '21, 4th in NL)
OF Austin Walsh (.240, 1914 CHC)
5. El Paso
Yeah ... nobody named "El Paso," or even "Paso." Oh well ...
6. Fort Worth
As you might expect, nobody named "Fort Worth," either. There are a number of options like Tim Fortugno who have part of the city name, either "Fort" or "Worth" as part of their family name, but believe it or not there is only one player with the complete family name "Worth" and only one with a given (middle) name "Fort" ...
RHRP William Fort "Bill" McAfee (10-4, four teams, 1930-34)
OF Herb Worth (1-for-5, 1872 Brooklyn Atlantics; at least it was a double!)
7. Arlington
The surname "Arlington" has never appeared on a major league roster. But we do find three players with that given middle name -- and one with that given first name. And he's even still active, in the Brewers minor league system. Sure, he doesn't technically GO by that name ...
LHRP Arlington "A.J." Murray (2-2 with 2007-08 TEX)
8. Corpus Christi
As you might have guessed, no candidates here unless we consider the dozens of players who had the given first or middle (or family) name "Christian." And we can't break our spelling rule just for a Hall of Famer, now can we? (No, we can't. But just for the record ...)
RHSP Christy Mathewson** (373 wins, 2.13 ERA, 1900-16)
9. Plano
The alphabetic string "P-l-a-n-o" has never appeared in any major league or minor league player's name -- first, middle, family, or even nick -- in the history of the Great Game. What a shame. Wait, what am I saying? Have you ever been to Plano?
10. Garland
There have been several big leaguers with the given first or middle name "Garland," including the wonderfully-named LHPs Garland Braxton (50-53, 33 saves, 1921-33) and Garland Buckeye (who was born in Minnesota and died in Wisconsin, but is at least buried in Ohio, which is of course "The Buckeye State") ... but only three have had that family name; at least our starting rotation is going to get a boost ...
RHSP Jon Garland* (117-102 through 2009; dominant so far for '10 SDP)
RHSP Wayne Garland (20-7 for 1976 BAL; 55-66 in nine years for BAL, CLE)
RHRP Lou Garland (0-2, 10.32 for 1931 CHW)
So there are the roster options for our Top 10 Largest Texas Cities. If we need to expand to the full Top 50 Cities, we'd certainly have all kinds of family name options with players named Irving (although those would all be given first and middle names) as well as partial matches for Brownsville, Carrollton, San Angelo, Lewisville, The Woodlands, Port Arthur, Longview and McAllen, not to mention OF Ginger Beaumont, 2B Bobby Richardson, IF Johnny Temple, LHSP Lefty Tyler, IF/OF Rich McKinney. cuppajoe 2B Gene Bedford and C Billy Bryan. And that's not to mention Denton True "Cy" Young, who no doubt could make a decent delivery from the Flower Mound.
So here's our lineup card ... and yes, particularly due to a stunning lack of middle infielders, we have to expand to 50 to even fill out what we hand to the umpire; it's time to go Deep in the Hearta to meet ...
The "I's" of Texas are upon you ...
**indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star
C Billy Bryan
1B Tyler Houston
2B Bobby Richardson*
SS Johnny Temple* (primarily a 2B played one game at short in 1955)
3B James Houston Davenport*
LF Austin Kearns
CF Austin Jackson
RF Austin McHenry
DH Dallas McPherson
RHSP Denton "Cy" Young**
LHSP Scott Houston McGregor*
RHSP Jon Garland
LHSP Lefty Tyler
RHSP Wayne Garland
RHRP Antonio Alfonseca
LHRP Garland Braxton
RHRP Antonio Osuna
LHRP Arlington "A.J." Murray
Anyone missing? Any other states or provinces that could give this new twist on the Hall of Place Names a run?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20100514002534891