Some time back, we finished a series of Hall of Names teams for each of
the 25 Most Common North American Male First Names; this is the 25th
"other" male first name team to grace Batter's Box pages since early in 2003 ...
It won't feature celebrity softballers like Affleck or Stiller, or require a quarterback like Roethlisberger, but as you have surely guessed from the headline, we'll be gauging the Ben-efits of this team's quality as we meet ...
Benny and the Jets
(Hmm. We'll work on that ...)
When we search the greateness of BaseballRewference.com for the name "Benjamin," we receive no less than 85 returns, so building a quality team should be a breeze. But wait ... two of those Benjamins, Mike and Steve, are family names, whil another 41 are given middle names, so we are left with just a shade under half of our original list, or 42 Benjamins who have played big league ball. And in fact, it's one less than that, as Benjamin Robert "Bob" Thorpe didn't even have the good taste to actually go by his given first name and so will not be considered, though his .251 career average in three early-1950s seasons will hardly be missed ...
It's also worth noting that if we expand our BaseballReference.com search to just "Ben," the returns increase to 194, including a whole slew of family names from Benard to Benzinger, and including Hall of Famers like Johnny Bench and Chief Bender. Alas, that Cooperstown-enshrined battery is not to be for this squad. We will limit ourselves to considering only players with the first/given full name of Benjamin, thus eliminating a varity of players from condidacy who had monikers like (just) Ben, Benedict, Benner, Bentley, Beniamino, Benny, Bennie, Benito, Benedicto and Benigno
It limits our Hall of Famers to just one -- Ben Taylor, who thanks to the color line never actually played in the major leagues, while eliminating the middle-named sorts of Luke Appling, Albert "Happy" Chandler, Rick Ferrell and Hank Greenberg. Oddly, while just one of the five Bens in the Hall of Fame was a first-named Benjamin, of the other five Bens who have been All-Stars, three -- Chapman, Grieve and Oglivie -- had that given first name (hmm ... I sense a starting outfield there) ... Meanwhile, of the 10 men currently active in the bigs named Ben, fully eight of them have the given first name. Which just goes to show ... uh, something I guess. Benjamin has fallen from favor as a middle name? Weird ...
Anyway, we've had time to come up with a new name for this squad, and so it's time to meet (for real this time) ...
The Ben Folds Twenty-Five
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star
Player/Manager: Ben Chapman (196-276, 1945-48 PHI)
Player/Coach: Ben Taylor (managed/coached for 15 years)
LINEUP
C Bengie Molina (.275, 84 homers through 2006)
1B Ben Taylor** (Negro League defensive legend)
2B Ben Steiner (.256, 1945-47 BOS, DET)
SS Benji Gil (.237, 1993-2003)
3B Benny Valenzuela (3-for-14 with 1958 STL)
LF Ben Grieve* (1998 AL ROY, has fallen off map since 2001)
CF Ben Chapman* (.302, 287 SB in 15 years; 8-6 as RHS/RP)
RF Ben Oglivie* (235 HR in 16 years; 41 in 1980)
DH Ben Broussard (.266, 77 homers through 2006; mostly 1B)
BENCH
C Ben Huffman (.273, 1937 SLB)
IF Ben Geraghty (.199, 1936 BRK and 1944-45 BSN)
IF Benny McCoy (.269, 1938-41 DET, PHA)
OF Ben Paschal (.309, parts of 1915, '20, '24-29)
OF Benny Kauff (.311, 1912-20, mostly NYG)
UTIL Ben Dyer (.237, 1914-19 NYG, DET)
ROTATION
RHSP Ben Cantwell (76-108; 20-10 for 1933 BSN)
RHSP Benny Frey (57-82, 1929-36, mostly CIN)
LHSP Ben Hunt (2-4, 1910 BOS, 1913 STL)
RHSP Benn Karr (25-48, 1920-22 BOS, '25-27 CLE)
RHSP Ben Hendrickson (1-10 through '06 with MIL)
BULLPEN
RHRP Ben Wade (19-17, 10 saves, 1948 CHC, '52-55 BRK, STL, PIT)
LHRP Ben Van Dyke (0-0, 3.32, 5 games, 1909 PHI, '12 BOS)
RHRP Ben Howard (2-5, 2002-04)
LHRP Ben Van Ryn (0-2, four teams, 1996, '98)
RHRP Ben F. Johnson (2-1, 1 save, 3.91, 1959-60 CHC)
AMONG THE FINAL CUTS ...
C Benny Culp (.192, 1942-44 PHI)
OF Ben J. Johnson (.236 with SDP through 2006)
RHSP Ben Diggins (0-4, 8.62 in five starts with '02 MIL)
RHSP Ben Callahan (1-2 with 1983 OAK)
LHSP Ben Kozlowski (0-0, 6.30 in two starts with 2002 TEX)
LHRP Ben Shields (4-0, 8.27, 1924-25 NYY, 1930-31 BOS, PHI)
RHRP Ben Blomdahl (0-0, 1 save, 7.77; 14 games with 1995 DET)
So, How Have You Ben? ... As noted earlier, it's all All-Stars in the starting OF, anyway ... Chapman had an all-time great season in 1931, hitting .315/17/122 with 61 steals (at the tender age of 22, no less), and while he made the first four AL All-Star teams (1933-36), he never quite lived up to those heights again ... There have been two men named Benjamin Harrison Taylor to play pro baseball -- the Negro League HOFer who starts at 1B for this team and a cuppajoe RHRP who made two appearances with the 1912 Cincinnati Reds ... The 1B Taylor was best-known as a glove man, but also hit better than .300 in 14 of his 15 full seasons as a player
Gil, never known for his bat, hit a nifty .800 (4-for-5) for the Angels in the 2002 World Series against SFG ... He hit the same robust .800 in that year's ALDS against NYY, but an 0-for-2 versus MIN in the ALCS dropped his career post-season average to "just" .667 ... Dyer was truly a utilityman, who played every position except catcher in the big leagues; he even pitched twice, racking up an ERA of 0.00 while retiring all five batters he faced for the 1918 Tigers ... Cantwell seems one of the least likely 20-game winners in the sport's long history, especially as his stellar (though not All-Star) 1933 campaign was followed shortly by a 1935 in which he posted a seasonal mark of 4-25 ...
The backup catcher's full name is, no kidding, Benjamin Baldy Culp ... Ben Laughlin was the starting 2B for the 1873 Elizabeth Resolutes, despite the .240 batting average and the .725 fielding percentage -- the team lasted just 23 games and finished 3-20 ... Apparently, just three Bens have recorded big-league saves, with Wade's 10 far outpacing the one each by Blomdahl and Johnson ... Seven of our first-named Benjamins have the same middle name, too, that being "Franklin" -- coincidence? Nah, just lightning striking seven times in the same place ...
Yes, that starting rotation managed a combined career W-L of just 161-252, but at least the bullpen is equally mediocre! ... If things go horribly wrong for this squad and the fans stay away in droves, maybe they can be drawn back in by the second baseman's game show prowess on Win Ben Steiner's Money ...
It won't feature celebrity softballers like Affleck or Stiller, or require a quarterback like Roethlisberger, but as you have surely guessed from the headline, we'll be gauging the Ben-efits of this team's quality as we meet ...
Benny and the Jets
(Hmm. We'll work on that ...)
When we search the greateness of BaseballRewference.com for the name "Benjamin," we receive no less than 85 returns, so building a quality team should be a breeze. But wait ... two of those Benjamins, Mike and Steve, are family names, whil another 41 are given middle names, so we are left with just a shade under half of our original list, or 42 Benjamins who have played big league ball. And in fact, it's one less than that, as Benjamin Robert "Bob" Thorpe didn't even have the good taste to actually go by his given first name and so will not be considered, though his .251 career average in three early-1950s seasons will hardly be missed ...
It's also worth noting that if we expand our BaseballReference.com search to just "Ben," the returns increase to 194, including a whole slew of family names from Benard to Benzinger, and including Hall of Famers like Johnny Bench and Chief Bender. Alas, that Cooperstown-enshrined battery is not to be for this squad. We will limit ourselves to considering only players with the first/given full name of Benjamin, thus eliminating a varity of players from condidacy who had monikers like (just) Ben, Benedict, Benner, Bentley, Beniamino, Benny, Bennie, Benito, Benedicto and Benigno
It limits our Hall of Famers to just one -- Ben Taylor, who thanks to the color line never actually played in the major leagues, while eliminating the middle-named sorts of Luke Appling, Albert "Happy" Chandler, Rick Ferrell and Hank Greenberg. Oddly, while just one of the five Bens in the Hall of Fame was a first-named Benjamin, of the other five Bens who have been All-Stars, three -- Chapman, Grieve and Oglivie -- had that given first name (hmm ... I sense a starting outfield there) ... Meanwhile, of the 10 men currently active in the bigs named Ben, fully eight of them have the given first name. Which just goes to show ... uh, something I guess. Benjamin has fallen from favor as a middle name? Weird ...
Anyway, we've had time to come up with a new name for this squad, and so it's time to meet (for real this time) ...
The Ben Folds Twenty-Five
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates All-Star
Player/Manager: Ben Chapman (196-276, 1945-48 PHI)
Player/Coach: Ben Taylor (managed/coached for 15 years)
LINEUP
C Bengie Molina (.275, 84 homers through 2006)
1B Ben Taylor** (Negro League defensive legend)
2B Ben Steiner (.256, 1945-47 BOS, DET)
SS Benji Gil (.237, 1993-2003)
3B Benny Valenzuela (3-for-14 with 1958 STL)
LF Ben Grieve* (1998 AL ROY, has fallen off map since 2001)
CF Ben Chapman* (.302, 287 SB in 15 years; 8-6 as RHS/RP)
RF Ben Oglivie* (235 HR in 16 years; 41 in 1980)
DH Ben Broussard (.266, 77 homers through 2006; mostly 1B)
BENCH
C Ben Huffman (.273, 1937 SLB)
IF Ben Geraghty (.199, 1936 BRK and 1944-45 BSN)
IF Benny McCoy (.269, 1938-41 DET, PHA)
OF Ben Paschal (.309, parts of 1915, '20, '24-29)
OF Benny Kauff (.311, 1912-20, mostly NYG)
UTIL Ben Dyer (.237, 1914-19 NYG, DET)
ROTATION
RHSP Ben Cantwell (76-108; 20-10 for 1933 BSN)
RHSP Benny Frey (57-82, 1929-36, mostly CIN)
LHSP Ben Hunt (2-4, 1910 BOS, 1913 STL)
RHSP Benn Karr (25-48, 1920-22 BOS, '25-27 CLE)
RHSP Ben Hendrickson (1-10 through '06 with MIL)
BULLPEN
RHRP Ben Wade (19-17, 10 saves, 1948 CHC, '52-55 BRK, STL, PIT)
LHRP Ben Van Dyke (0-0, 3.32, 5 games, 1909 PHI, '12 BOS)
RHRP Ben Howard (2-5, 2002-04)
LHRP Ben Van Ryn (0-2, four teams, 1996, '98)
RHRP Ben F. Johnson (2-1, 1 save, 3.91, 1959-60 CHC)
AMONG THE FINAL CUTS ...
C Benny Culp (.192, 1942-44 PHI)
OF Ben J. Johnson (.236 with SDP through 2006)
RHSP Ben Diggins (0-4, 8.62 in five starts with '02 MIL)
RHSP Ben Callahan (1-2 with 1983 OAK)
LHSP Ben Kozlowski (0-0, 6.30 in two starts with 2002 TEX)
LHRP Ben Shields (4-0, 8.27, 1924-25 NYY, 1930-31 BOS, PHI)
RHRP Ben Blomdahl (0-0, 1 save, 7.77; 14 games with 1995 DET)
So, How Have You Ben? ... As noted earlier, it's all All-Stars in the starting OF, anyway ... Chapman had an all-time great season in 1931, hitting .315/17/122 with 61 steals (at the tender age of 22, no less), and while he made the first four AL All-Star teams (1933-36), he never quite lived up to those heights again ... There have been two men named Benjamin Harrison Taylor to play pro baseball -- the Negro League HOFer who starts at 1B for this team and a cuppajoe RHRP who made two appearances with the 1912 Cincinnati Reds ... The 1B Taylor was best-known as a glove man, but also hit better than .300 in 14 of his 15 full seasons as a player
Gil, never known for his bat, hit a nifty .800 (4-for-5) for the Angels in the 2002 World Series against SFG ... He hit the same robust .800 in that year's ALDS against NYY, but an 0-for-2 versus MIN in the ALCS dropped his career post-season average to "just" .667 ... Dyer was truly a utilityman, who played every position except catcher in the big leagues; he even pitched twice, racking up an ERA of 0.00 while retiring all five batters he faced for the 1918 Tigers ... Cantwell seems one of the least likely 20-game winners in the sport's long history, especially as his stellar (though not All-Star) 1933 campaign was followed shortly by a 1935 in which he posted a seasonal mark of 4-25 ...
The backup catcher's full name is, no kidding, Benjamin Baldy Culp ... Ben Laughlin was the starting 2B for the 1873 Elizabeth Resolutes, despite the .240 batting average and the .725 fielding percentage -- the team lasted just 23 games and finished 3-20 ... Apparently, just three Bens have recorded big-league saves, with Wade's 10 far outpacing the one each by Blomdahl and Johnson ... Seven of our first-named Benjamins have the same middle name, too, that being "Franklin" -- coincidence? Nah, just lightning striking seven times in the same place ...
Yes, that starting rotation managed a combined career W-L of just 161-252, but at least the bullpen is equally mediocre! ... If things go horribly wrong for this squad and the fans stay away in droves, maybe they can be drawn back in by the second baseman's game show prowess on Win Ben Steiner's Money ...
