Another Halloween has passed, and we are more than halfway through the Nov. 1 anniversary that is known widely in many Christian denominations as "All Saints Day." I thought we might build a Hall of Names team around men with "Saint" or at least "St." in their names, but these sainted ballplayers are few and far enough between that, certainly moreso than the five dozen or so major leaguers with "Angel"-based names, they could gather to dance on the head of a pin.
Though we might assemble a full active roster if we counted the 75 or so historical minor league Saint/St. ballplayers -- including infdividuals like 1953 Drummondville Royals backstop Marcel St. Pierre (who frankly sounds more like a goaltender than a catcher) -- our major league "archive" of saints includes just three men ...
- LHSP Jim St.Vrain, just 4-6 in his one big league season with the 1902 Cubbies, posting a 2.08 ERA and 129 ERA+ as a 19-year-old who for some reason never made it back to the show;
- Edward "Ebba" St. Claire, another catcher who hit .249 from 1951-53 for the Braves (in two cities) and Giants, and who was dealt from the Braves to the G-Men in a trade that included luminaries Johnny Antonelli heading east and Bobby Thomson heading west;
- And the very best, shall we say "most saintly" big leaguer, son of Ebba, RHRP Randy St. Claire, who spent parts of five season in Montreal starting in 1984 and bounced around six other organizations, finishing up back in Canada as a '94 Blue Jay. The younger St. Claire did get to make a World Series appearance -- one inning, one earned run with the 1991 Braves -- and concluded his career with a 12-6 mark, nine saves and a 4.14 ERA
So we have two pitchers and a catcher -- not exactly a holy trinity if you're trying to field an entire team. As Billy Joel once put it (sort of) we may laugh with the sinners, but we'll cry with these saints.
So tell me, Bauxites, other than stuffing the roster with a variety of Independent League St. Paul Saints or wrapping in every Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul we can think of -- how can we further honor our saintly ballplayers with an All Saint's Day roster?
