Oh, yes, you all know Mr. Halladay, right?
Well, with perhaps some competition from a fellow down in Houston who has
been pretty good this post-season, Halladay is likely to be at or near the top of this
Hall of Names team's rotation; that's right, it's time to meet ...
THE ROY-AL COURT
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star
MGR Roy Hartsfield (166-318, 1977-79 TOR)
Coach Roy J. Johnson (0-1, 1944 CHC)
LINEUP
C Roy Campanella** (.276, 242 homers, three MVPs)
1B Roy Sievers* (.267, 318 homers)
2B Roy Hughes (.273, 1935-46, also 3B/SS)
SS Roy McMillan* (.243, 1951-66)
3B Roy Howell* (.261/80/454)
LF Roy White* (.271, 160 homers)
CF Roy C. Johnson (.296, 58 homers, 135 SB, 1929-38)
RF Roy Cullenbine* (.276/110/599)
DH Roy Smalley III* (.257, 163 homers)
BENCH
C Roy Spencer (.247, 1925-38, five teams)
MID IF Roy Smalley Jr. (.227, 61 homers)
1B/2B/OF/SS Roy Brashear (.268, 130 games, 1902-03)
2B/SS Roy Schalk (.233; regular 2B for 1944-45 WWII CHW)
OF/3B/SS/2B Roy Hartzell (.252, 182 SB, 1906-16 SLB, NYY)
OF/1B Roy A. Thomas (.290, 1899-1911)
ROTATION
RHSP Roy Oswalt* (83-39 through 2005)
RHSP Roy Halladay* (79-43 through 2005)
RHRP Roy Parmelee (59-55, four teams, 1929-39)
LHSP Roy Meeker (8-14, 1923-24 PHA, 1926 CIN)
RHSP Roy Mahaffey (50-32, 1930-33 PHA, 67-49 career)
BULLPEN
CL-RH Roy Face* (104-95, 193 saves)
RHRP Roy J. Thomas (20-11, 7 saves, 1977-87)
LHRP Roy Joiner (3-3, 1 save, 1934-35 CHC, 1940 NYG)
RHRP Roy Lee Jackson (28-34, 34 saves)
LHRP Roy Henshaw (33-40, 7 saves, 1933-44)
That's actually a pretty nice squad; esecially since, as always, we are limiting ourselves to first-named Roys, eliminating a number of quality middle-named Roys, including 300-save closer Rodney Roy Beck, lefty setup man Steven Roy Howe (hmm, maybe that's a good thing) and another fine closer Toronto fans will know about in Roy Duane Ward, who opted to go by his middle name. And there's a rule; if your first name actually is "Roy" but you don't have the decency to use that name, you're not eligible for the All-Roy team. Players with the first name "Leroy" who went by "Roy" are acceptable, though.
Ferris Roy Fain is out; so are players who simply had "Roy" as part of their name (first/given or last/family) such as infielders Jerry Royster and Royce Clayton, as well as HOF outfielder Royce Middlebrook Youngs. Kenneth Royal Williams can't play the OF or be GM for this team, while we are also eliminating those four players who had "Roy" (or in the case of Jean-Pierre, probably like Patrick, say that "Wah") as their full surname.
As with Ward, a number of other fine players opted to go by a moniker other than their given first name of "Roy," including All-Stars in 3B Max Alvis and OF Beau Bell, utilityman Tripp Cromer and RHP Peaches Davis. OF Cyril Roy "Stormy" Weatherly (clever nickname, that) managed to disqualify himself both on the middle name count and the nickname count.
Mahaffey just beats out Roy Patterson (54-45, 1901-03 CHW, 81-73 career) for the fifth starter's role ... There were a number of LOOGY types -- Castleton, Crumpler, Beecher and Lee, to name four -- available, but the only one who gets props here is LHRP Roy Lee, who despite his 0-2/11.57 mark for the 1945 Giants, had the good taste to graduate from my alma mater ...
Come to think of it, it's tempting to have Roy Lee as the lefty complement in the bullpen to Roy Lee Jackson, but that ain't gonna happen ... The "best" RHRP left off the roster was Roy Bruner, just 0-7 for the 1939-41 Phillies ... The Smalleys are a father/son duo on this team, but not a Sr./Jr. pair; instead, they're a Jr./III combo.
Spencer gets the backup catching gig mostly due to longevity; he hit .247 over 12 seasons, while Roy Partee hit .250 in 367 games from 1943-48 with the Red Sox and Browns ... He just misses the cut, while Roy Jarvis (.160 in 21 games, 1944 BRK, 1946-47 PIT) misses the cut by a considerable margin ...
Hall of Fame catcher Ray Schalk misses the roster by the space of a vowel, while 2B Roy Schalk (apparently no relation) hit just .233 in 1932 and 1944-45, but still makes this team's bench ... The rotation leans heavily to the right, but when you start off with two horses like Oswalt and Halladay, who cares?
That 12-year gap between appearances for Roy-not-Ray Schalk is one of the longest in major league history, but the Roys also gave us the erratic appearances of SS Corhan, who played with the 1911 CHW and 1916 STL; another SS, Ellam, who played for the 1909 Reds and then the 1918 Pirates; and 1B Leslie, who played briefly with three separate teams in 1917, 1919 and 1922.
So what say, Bauxites? How do we make this team a Roy-al Flush?
