So. it's been a while since we built a new Hall of Names team. Will it have been worth the wait? That's your call, but guaranteed for sure, this team is a Good one.
See, this is not a team for someone like Florida RHRP Burke Badenhop, though that name alone might be legendary enough to spur a team or three of its own. But still, this is not a team for King Bader or Red Badgro, who each reached the major leagues prior to the Great Depression. Nay, this isn't even a squad for Hank (Bad Henry) Aaron.
To be clear, this is also not a team for Ron Fairly, Jim Fairey, Rags Faircloth (yes, he really existed), Jim Fairbank or even the simply-named (fairly-named? No, that would be the aforementioned Ron) George Fair. And there’s certainly no room on this roster for 1947-50 Red Sox/Browns RHP Tommy Fine or former 1980s Seattle reliever Karl Jon Best, for that matter.
And even if it weren't for the homonym spelling error, this wouldn't be a squad appropriate to Don Grate, Mark Grater or Beiker Graterol (although, there's another "great" name!). It's not even for the unfortunately -named and self-proclaimed "ugliest man in baseball,” Johnny "Ugly" Dickshot (nope, I am not making that one up) .... although he would allow us to make a lame remark about "the good, the bad and the ugly."
No, this team is all about being Good. Maybe it's true that only the good die young, or that certain beverages are good to the last drop (call that "last drop" an error, scorekeep!), or that round-headed cartoon characters opine "Good Grief!" (even, or especially on the ball field) or that certain extremely pretentious television hostesses can send an item's sales skyrocketing simply by calling it a "Good Thing" .... But given all that, be a good egg, wish us good luck (or good karma) or if not, good riddance to you and yours, there's a good chance that a good time will be had by all as we meet ....
Real Good
(for clarity's sake, the team name is pronounced like Real Madrid's name is ... "Ray-Ahl Good")
**indicates Hall of Famer (i.e. he wasn't just good, he was great)
*indicates All-Star (i.e., he was pretty darn good)
Player/Manager:
Albert Goodwill Spalding** (78-47, 1876-77 CHW; 1876 NL pennant)
Lineup
C Jimmie Goodwin Coker .(238, 1958-67 PHI/SFG/CIN)
1B Danny Goodwin (.236, 1975-82, CAL/MIN/OAK)
2B Billy Goodman* (.300 career, 1947-62)
SS Claire Vernon “Pep” Goodwin (.235, 1914-15 KC Packers)
3B Ed Goodson (.260, 1970-77 SFG/ATL/LAD)
LF Tom Goodwin (.268, 369 SB, 1991-2004)
CF Goodwin George “Goody” Rosen* (.291, parts of 1937-46)
RF Ival Goodman* (.281, 95 homers, 1935-44)
DH John Good Reilly (1B; 289, 69 homers, 1880-91 CIN)
Bench
C Mike Goodfellow (also 1B/OF; .242, 1887 STL, 1888 CLE)
IF Johnny Gooding Priest (.174, 1911-12 NYY)
OF Curtis Goodwin (,248, 66 SB, five teams, 1995-99)
OF Wilbur “Lefty’ Good (3-for-8 with 1905 NYY)
UTIL Albert Goodwill Spalding** (.313 career; played everywhere but C)
OF/RHSP Herb Goodall (see rotation for details)
Rotation
RHSP Dwight “Doc” Gooden* (194-112, five teams, 1984-2000)
RHSP Albert Goodwill Spalding** (252-65, 2.13)
RHSP Marv Goodwin (21-25, 3.30, parts of 1916-25)
RHSP/OF Herb Goodall (1890 Louisville Cardinals; 8-5, 3.39; .422 batting average!)
RHSP Clyde Goodwin (1906 WAS, 0-2, 4.43)
Bullpen
RHRP Elwood Good “Speed” Martin (29-42, six saves, 1917-22, mostly CHC)
RHRP John Goody Urrea (1977-81, 17-18, nine saves, mostly with STL)
RHRP Andrew Good (5-4, 2003-05 ARI, DET)
RHRP Alan Goodman Koch (1963-64; 3-10 with ’64 WAS, 4-11 career)
LHRP Jim Goodwin (eight games, 10.1 IP, 0-0, 8.71 ERA with 1948 CHW)
LHRP John Goodell (1928 CHW – 2G, 3IP, 0-0, 18.00)
A few who weren’t Good enough …
Since the above roster lists two different players -- Spalding and Goodall -- twice each (rotation and bench for both), we can actually add one player to the 26 slots listed above. Do any of these make sense, or did we miss anyone else?
NOTES: We only considered players who had the four-letter string GOOD as part of their given first, middle or last /family name eligible for this team. There are very few players with nicknames including the word "Good," but if, for example, Keith Gretzky had played baseball and retained his unfortunate nickname "The Pretty Good One," then Wayne "the Great One" Gretzky's kid brother would NOT be eligible ... There have been just four MLB players whose full last/family name was simply "Good" -- there have been 17 more such minor leaguers, but alas, they were not "good" enough to make it to the show and thus are not designated here ... We have a pool of just 30 "Good" MLB alumni to choose from, including four All-Stars (Harry “Goody” Simpson, also known as “Suitcase,” does not qualify) and one Hall of Famer, who doubles as player/manager, the only "Good" manager in baseball history ....
It will always be a shame that Gooden never earned that second asterisk above …. Billy Goodman is the kind of guy most serious baseball fans have heard of but don’t know much about. For example, did you realize he was a .300 career hitter with nearly 1700 hits, the last 41 of which came with the expansion Houston Colt ‘45s in 1962? … Best known as a second baseman, Goodman also played hundreds of games at both infield corners … Apparently no relation to Billy, another of our entries to the All-Star Good Folks is RF Ival Goodman, one of the few people on this team to actually bear the seemingly obvious nickname “Goodie” … A two-time (1938-39) All-Star who hit 30 homers in ’38 and batted .323 in ’39, Goodie’s career took an unexplained dive after 1940 and he was out of the game before World War II was over … He hit 70 triples (leading the league twice) in his first five seasons, but ended his career wwith just 85 total … Almost precisely overlapping the latter Goodman’s career (1937-46) was that of lefty-swinging CF Goodwin George “Goody” Rosen -- that’s right, he and Ival had the same nickname, but spelled it differently! …
Albert Goodwill Spalding, our sole Hall of Famer is also the team’s manager and yes, he’s from THAT Spalding family … He isn’t in the starting lineup only because he’s a stalwart in the starting rotation, leading the pitching staff with 252 career wins, all but one of which came before his 26th birthday, and sprang from consecutive seasons in which he won 19, 38, 41, 52 54 and 47 games (show us some of THAT, Roy Halladay!) … Al certainly pitched to contact, as he struck out just 248 batters in his CAREER, spanning nearly 3000 innings pitched. That cumulative winning percentage of .795 doesn’t exactly suck either …
Coker, the catcher, was once traded for a fella you might have heard of, Bob Uecker … RHRP Andrew Good ended his career with two weeks in the Jays’ organization in 2007 … Similarly, reserve OF Curtis Goodwin ended his playing days with eight hitless at-bats for the 1999 Jays … Meanwhile, 1B Danny Goodwin didn’t amass much of a career for the only player to be selected as the #1 overall pick of the MLB amateur draft twice …
Wilbur Good amassed three base hits in eight at-bats )good for a .375 career mark) as a 19-yeard-old OF with the Yankees (Highlanders) in 1905, but never appeared in another big league contest … Corner infielder Ed Goodson had a breakout year at age 25 in 1973, hitting .302 with a dozen homers in 403 AB for the Giants in Candlestick, but didn’t do much after that and was swapped to the Braves, who soon thereafter included him in the huge Dusty Baker/Jimmy Wynn deal that followed …. Tom Goodwin amassed eight separate seasons in which he stole at least 20 bases (four times reaching 50, with a career-best 66 for the 1996 Royals) and had four more swipe campaigns in the teens …. Speed Martin made 126 big league appearances on the mound, pitching in relief 63 times and making the start 63 times …
Reilly led the 1880s AA in homers twice (with totals of 11 and 13) and cracked the league’s top six in long balls six consecutive years, on his way to a career total of one less than Mark McGwire hit in 1997 … After four years as a Cardinal, Urrea finished up with one season as a Padre after being part of the huge 10-player deal that sent Rollie Fingers to St. Loo on his way to Milwaukee … Goodfellow primarily played the OF, but came up a catcher and garnered half a dozen appearances in the tools of ignorance, and that well, to turn a phrase, that’s good enough! … Speaking of Goodenough, OF Bill Goodenouh doesn’t quite make this squad, despite the (inaccurate) name, as he collected five hits in 37 at-bats for the 1893 Browns … The only player we could find “good” enough to play shortstop, Pep Goodwin, only reached the “highest” level of pro ball in the ill-fated Federal League … How did young Herb Goodall, the pitcher/outfielder, play just the one season in 1890, his age-22 year. go 8-5 and hit .422 (while also leading the league in saves, with a then-astounding 4) yet never play another game? …
You know the rotation depth is a little shallow when the final spot goes to Clyde Goodwin just because he actually did start a few games in the major leagues for the 1906 Senators … He didn’t actually WIN any of them, but there he is, a full-fledged member of a genuinely Good rotation ….
So, Bauxites, how about this team? (If anyone says they're "not bad," you wil be banned for life.) Plop ths squad into the 2012 NL West,and how do they do? I have them at 78-84 ... what say you all? Are they any Good?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20120210000548764