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Hall of Names The James Gang
So, while Mike Green's current Hall Watch muses on Jim Edmonds' Cooperstown chances, reflect for a moment that he's not even the starting CF on the All-James Hall of Names team. Of course, it took a very "Cool" customer to keep that from happening.

There have been 17 players in MLB history who had "James" as a last name. These men are not included as part of the "James Gang," as none ever came close to making an All-Star team, or deserving to before there was one in existence. In fact, there have been hundreds of men named "James" (or Jim or Jimmy or Jimmie, but not including Jamies or Jameys) to play in the major leagues.

So even if we limit ourselves to those who have actually made an All-Star team (or the rare case where we determine he probably would have made the team, but his career completely preceded 1933), for the first time, we are going to make a good run at actually building two complete teams for one Hall of Names category.

Note: there are so damn many James, and the BBRef return on the name mixes in a whole bunch of Johns (and even Ty Cobb!) for some reason, so some guys are probably missing -- especially of the "might have been an All-Star, but played too early" ilk. So fire away!

* Former All-Star
** Hall of Famer
# Likely All-Star had there been such a thing

FIRST TEAM: Jimmy Eat World
MGR: Jim Leyland
C Jim Sundberg*
1B Jim Thome*
2B Jim Gilliam* (All-Star in Brooklyn and LA)
SS Jim Fregosi* (also 1028 wins as a manager)
3B Jimmy Collins**
LF Jim Rice*
CF James "Cool Papa" Bell**
RF Jimmy Wynn*
DH Jim Gentile* (three-time All-Star 1B with BAL in early '60s)
UTIL Jim O'Rourke** (23 years, .311, 2643 hits)
RHSP James "Pud" Galvin** (364-310)
LHSP Jim Kaat* (283-237)
RHSP Jim Palmer** (268-152)
LHSP Jimmy Key* (186-117)
CL Jim Konstanty* (66-48, 74 saves)
LHRP Jim Brewer* (132 saves)
RHRP Jim Turner (69-60, 20 saves)
LONG Jim Perry* (215-174)

SECOND TEAM: Jimmy Crack Corn
MGR: Jimmie Dykes (Player/Manager)
C Jim Hegan (five-time All-Star, Rick Dempsey-type)
1B Jim Bottomley** ('28 NL MVP)
2B Jim Lefebvre* (.274/24/74 for '66 LAD NL Champs)
SS Jimmy Rollins*
3B Jim Davenport* (All-Star for '62 pennant-winning SFG)
LF Jim Busby* (All-star at 24 in '51, Billy Hatcher-type career)
CF Jim Edmonds*
RF Jim Lemon* (97 homers for '58-'60 WSH)
DH Jim Hickman* (part of '69-'70 CHC also-rans)
UTIL Jimmie Dykes* (2356 hits, played 3B/2B/1B/SS)
RHSP Jim Bunning** (224-184)
LHSP Jim O'Toole* (98-84)
RHSP James Rodney "J.R." Richard (107-71)
LHSP Jim Merritt* (20-12 for '70 Reds)
CL Jim Kern* (53-57, 88 saves)
LHRP Jim Morris (never an All-Star, but had a freaking movie made about him!)
RHRP Jim Bouton* (62-63)
LONG Jim McCormick# (265-214)

Not Making the Cut:
2B/SS/3B Jimmy Brown* (wartime All-Star in final season with STL '42)
3B/2B Jim Finigan* (All-Star as rookie with '54 PHA; out of MLB in five years)
3B/OF/DH Jim Ray Hart* (30-homer guy for SFG of '60s)
OF Jim Landis* (CF for Go-Go Sox)
OF Jimmy Piersall* (like Morris, subject of bio-pic)
3B Jim Presley* (135 homers, out of baseball at 29)
1B Jim Spencer* (146 homers)
RHSP Jim Bagby Sr.# (127-88)
RHSP Jim Bagby Jr.* (97-96)
RHSP James Baldwin* (79-72)
RHSP Jim Slaton* (151-158)
RHSP Jim Bibby* (111-101)
RHSP Jim Tobin* (105-112)
RHSP Jim Clancy * (140-167)
RHRP Jim Coates* (43-22, 15 saves)
RHSP John Denny (never an All-Star, but won '83 NL Cy Young)
RHSP Jim Lonborg* (157-137)
RHSP Jim Maloney* (134-84)
RHSP Jim McGlothlin* (67-77)
RHSP Jim Colborn* (83-88)
RHSP Jim Hearn* (109-89)
RHSP Jim Wilson* (86-89; nondescript All-Star, 1956-59)

Who else?

Posted by Mick Doherty on Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 08:01 AM EST.
The James Gang | 9 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Kieran - Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 08:52 AM EST (#106123) #
Sorry to hijack, but I just read in today's Star that the Jays have let go 27-year veteran PA announcer Murray Eldon. I hope they do not try to get some overly-youthful "hip" guy. I'm all for change, but announcing the players is a pretty basic job that should be kept simple in my opinion.
[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 09:23 AM EST (#106133) #
Jimmy Eat World? Nice, Mick.

Anyways, Edmonds and Wynn should join Cool Papa Bell in the outfield of your first team. I believe the pitchers would be quite happy with that outfield, as shooting one up the gap would be well nigh impossible.

Wynn and Edmonds are actually better hitters than Rice, as well as far superior defensive players, if you take into account context, and the relative importance of OBP compared with slugging. Sabermetrics lives!
[ Reply to This ]
Thomas - Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 09:54 AM EST (#106138) #
I had planned to come make "Cool Papa" Bell the subject of a post concerning egregious ommissions, but now there's no need to do that.

Very smart choice, as he was a heck of a ballplayer from everything that I've read about him. One of my personal favourites.
[ Reply to This ]
Brett - Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 05:47 PM EST (#106236) #
I would add Jim Eisenreich to the list as a fourth outfielder. A good player who had a remarkable career.

Jim Thorpe also played in the majors. His career wasn't much, but like Bo Jackson, he was probably fun to watch.
[ Reply to This ]
Mick Doherty - Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 05:58 PM EST (#106238) #
Ooh, Brett, that's good. I'm not sure how I missed Eisenreich. (Probably because I was focusing on people who made the All-Star team at one time, and he never did.) A .290 career hitter, he'd probably displace Lemon on the team, certainly had a longer career, and arguably better.

You're right that Thorpe probably deserved a mention, but I don't see how he'd make either team.

Mike G., I didn't put Edmonds on the first team because I tried to keep players at their "naturual" positions, but if you think Edmonds wouldn't whine about being moved to LF, then Rice probably DHs on the first team.
[ Reply to This ]
Anders - Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 06:13 PM EST (#106239) #
Jimmie Foxx anyone? Perhaps not.

And believe it or not, Catfish Hunter's firt name is, in fact, not Catfish.
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Mick Doherty - Tuesday, March 15 2005 @ 08:02 PM EST (#106244) #
Anders, that's exactly the reason I'll trust a roomful of Bauxites over top-level technology any day. Good call -- I was embarrassed enough that Eisenreich got by me, but two Hall of Famers? Yikes.

In my (shoddy) defence, neither Foxx nor Hunter appear in the summary results returns when you search for "James" at BBRef. (Although Jim Hunter, who was 0-5 for the '91 Brewers, does.) It makes me wonder who else this team is missing!
[ Reply to This ]
Mick Doherty - Wednesday, March 16 2005 @ 02:16 PM EST (#106368) #
REVISED FIRST TEAM: Jimmy Eat World (Second Course)
MGR: Jim Leyland
C Jimmie Foxx**
1B Jim Thome*
2B Jim Gilliam*
SS Jim Fregosi*
3B Jimmy Collins**
LF Jim Edmonds*
CF James "Cool Papa" Bell**
RF Jimmy Wynn*
DH Jim Rice*
UTIL Jim O'Rourke**
RHSP James "Pud" Galvin**
LHSP Jim Kaat*
RHSP Jim Palmer**
LHSP Jimmy Key*
CL Jim Konstanty*
LHRP Jim Brewer*
RHRP Jim Turner
LONG Jim "Catfish" Hunter**
[ Reply to This ]
Anders - Friday, March 18 2005 @ 11:55 AM EST (#106602) #
Ever so glad to help.
[ Reply to This ]
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