Starting IX Newsletter: National League THAT GUYs and building an All-Time MLB Roster

For those unfamiliar with the set-up — welcome! Here’s the scoop. Otherwise, let’s dive right in.

“One Final Imagination of the Baseball Hall of Fame” Pre-excerpts: NL Franchise THAT GUYs

Every city has a unique and beautiful relationship with their baseball team. Even the New Yorks, Bostons, and Philadelphias of the world have a very fitting relationship with the team that often speaks volumes about the ethos of the city itself — Boston: you’re one of us, or we hate you; Philadelphia: scrappy; New York: our asshole. Now, the perfect fit isn’t always going to be listed here (i.e. Chase Utley in Philly) because if the player qualifies for a higher floor, then I don’t want them sitting on the second floor simply because they connected with their fanbase well. This is the THAT GUY for each franchise that was especially beloved by the fans of his city. Now, this section comes with the warning/request that, although I have attempted to tap into every fanbase, I am not a diehard fan of all 30 teams. I would humbly request your feedback if you disagree with my selection, as this would be the best section of the Hall to crowdsource. Let me know who I got wrong. (Gently, please.)

We’ll get the players covered in Starting IX out of the way first, with at least a sentence on each, since I don’t want to rob any team of their THAT GUY entirely in this book.

Last week we covered the American League; this week it’s the National League.

New York Mets — David Wright: Fitting on just so many levels. In his prime, he was nearly Jeter to a certain sect of New Yorkers.

Washington Nationals (Montreal Expos) — Rusty Staub: 1980s Canadian Dustin Pedroia.

Miami Marlins — Jeff Conine: Any one who is willing to come back to the Marlin franchise is going to draw their love. The fanbase is like an ill-treated dog just looking for some love.

Milwaukee Brewers — Cecil Cooper: Honestly, this could be the entire Harvey’s Wallbangers crew.

Colorado Rockies — Troy Tulowitzki: There something to be said for a player being out of this world when in your uniform and then kind of falling apart when they leave town. Also has a solid case for What If wing.

Arizona Diamondbacks — Luis Gonzalez: He’s got the World Series walk off, the retired jersey, the job in the front office, and the glowing Sports Illustrated profile which dives into how beloved within the organization itself.

Ok, now a bit more time with those who weren’t covered in Starting IX:

Atlanta Braves — Dale Murphy: Kind of Don Mattingly South, Murphy played in the era just before the Braves kept winning the National League East every year, but he is still remembered in the best of lights among OG Atlanta fans from before their run of 90s dominance. Murphy would not be my personal choice as THAT GUY for the Braves — he was a bit too “tight culture” for my liking — but I’m trying to capture the vibe of the majority of the fanbase, and I think “tight culture” might just do a good job describing a good portion of the fans in Atlanta. (Turn this into a comment about how that ignores the minority, which in this case might just be minority fans?)

Philadelphia Phillies — John Kruk: “Krukkie” is what would happen if John Daly played baseball. He’s the type of guy who you can’t help but like. Trust me, I spent the entirety of this time at ESPN not liking him, then as soon as he was out of the national spotlight and back to calling games for the Phillies, I started to love him again. That’s why he’s so perfect for the Phils’ THAT GUY. He was too much at the league-wide level, in Philly, he’s perfect.

Chicago Cubs — Mark Grace: I’m just going to leave this, from Bleed Cubbie Blue, here:

“If you were a bobbysoxer in the 1940s, chances are you went gaga for Ol’ Blue Eyes. If you grew up in the 1950s, you swooned over Elvis and his hips. In the 1960s, girls fainted at the mere mention of John, Paul, and the rest of the Fab Four. And if you were a young female Cubs fan in the late 1980s and 1990s, you went weak at the knees and listened to sappy love songs over Mark Grace… I kissed my poster of him goodnight so many times that his head eventually fell off (because, you see, his head on the poster was smaller than my lips and … oh, never mind).”

Pittsburgh Pirates — Andrew McCutchen: One of Pittsburgh’s all-time favorites, as well as an all-time favorite of my own (and I think I’m far from alone in my generation in that regard), he’s also the co-captain of one of the most fun Top Floor lists to put together — players who look like the name of the team they are on (use photos?):

Chris Bosh (Raptors), Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), Mark Bavaro (Giants), Scott Stevens (Devils), Guy Boucher (Senators), Brian Scalabrine (Celtics), GET MORE FROM TIM?

Cincinnati Reds — Brandon Phillips: If Phillips isn’t the consensus Reds’ THAT GUY, I’m going to have some words with the Cincinnati faithful. He’s one of my personal all-time THAT GUYs, and I believe Reds fans and I see eye-to-eye on this one. He put up excellent numbers for the Reds during his time with the side (three-time All-Star in 11 seasons), but more than that, he was the ultimate clubhouse guy. Bringing a joie de vivre to baseball that is very often lacking, just go to his Fox Sports interview where he gives his MLB All-Swag team (most surprising selection: his semi-rival, Yadier Molina at the catcher spot) to see the sort of light he brings to the locker room.

St. Louis Cardinals — Yadier Molina: Molina is going to make for a hell of a old-school Hall of Fame case one day, as his raw numbers (99 OPS+, 38.7 WAR) don’t necessarily paint the picture of a classic Hall of Famer, but he’s going to have a ton of support still, and I could see some of the new-school guys talking themselves into calling him a Hall of Famer because of his game-calling ability, a stat that maybe will be better realized by the time his case is on the books. For now though, let’s sit back and enjoy one of the most beloved players in Cardinals history. One who will likely tally nearly two decades behind the dish for a Cardinals team that somehow finds itself in the postseason each and every year.

Los Angeles Dodgers — Fernando Valenzuela: Similar to Mark Fidrych, Valenzuela was a phenomenon whose story still transcends today. While “El Toro” had both a longer career (17 years) and longer peak (All-Star each of his first six seasons), he is mostly known for the hullabaloo surrounding his rookie season, as well. “Fernandomania” swept Los Angeles, and the country as a whole, in 1981, as the 20-year-old lefty from Navajoa, Mexico became the first player in MLB history to win the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young in the same season. He is still the only one to accomplish that feat. However, similar to “The Bird,” “Fernandomania” tapped into something more than just great statistics. He was a character on the mound, unafraid to truly be himself, and as a Mexican superstar in a city in which the Mexican population is so massive, he reached the Baseball God status reserved for only the all-timers.

San Francisco Giants — Will Clark: Similar to the Yankees, the Giants have plenty of players who may check the box for “all-time favorite Giant” for many fans, but those guys reside a few floors higher. Clark fits the bill as the player who is a second-floor talent (and I don’t mean that as an insult) but was nearly as beloved as those on higher floors. His gorgeous swing, cool nickname (“Will the Thrill”), and productive years in the Bay (five-time All-Star in eight San Fran seasons) make him a prime Giants THAT GUY.

San Diego Padres — Brian Giles: You guys like him, right Padre fans…? Sorry, this is really just Tony Gwynn’s spot, but we can’t move him down from the fifth floor. I legit thought about putting Mike Lawson or Ginny Baker in this spot. It should be noted that Giles is almost certainly better than you remember he was, with a matching rWAR to Kirby Puckett (h/t David Laurila of FanGraphs).

OOTP Year-by-Year Re-Simulation: 1916

We continue our trek through re-simulating each season in baseball history using Out of the Park Baseball 21, the most realistic baseball simulation game on the market.

MVP: Art Fletcher and Tris Speaker

Cy Young: Frank Allen and Walter Johnson

The AL has a couple big names, but those NL names may be a little less well known, so let’s get to know them.

Art Fletcher: Fletcher played for a decade and a half and coached for almost two decades after that, and few did as much winning as Art. Although he never won a ring as a player, his 1910s Giants were a consistent threat, making the World Series four times, but losing each occasion. Fletcher more than made up for that lack of World Series success when he slid into a gig with the Yankees right around the time they were taking off, winning a total of nine World Series titles with the Bronx Bombers in his time there. Given his post-playing rings, and the fact that every halfway decent player from his era is enshrined in the Hall, he’s kind of a forgotten semi-star, with more career WAR than semi-contemporary Hall of Famers, King Kelly, Chuck Klein, and Travis Jackson.

Frank Allen: Best known for being the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the Federal League, Allen had a brief six-year career in which he collected fifty wins and just 7.4 WAR. It’s surprising that OOTP picked out Allen as a star this season, because he never really had a star turn at any point, and just kind of retired from the game at age 28 to go back to Alabama and get married.

American League pennant winners: Chicago White Sox

National League pennant winners: New York Giants

Both of these teams dominated the season start to finish, carrying double-digit leads in their respective leagues for the final seven weeks. Shoeless Joe and Eddie Collins led the way for the White Sox, while NL MVP, Art Fletcher, and a rotation with two of the four lowest ERAs in baseball (Ferdie Schipp — 1.79 and Fred Anderson — 1.87) helped Joe McGraw’s club cruise to their seventh pennant of this re-simmed history (that’s tied with the Athletics for the most in this alternate history; this is the third World Series appearance for the ChiSox).

World Series: White Sox 4, Giants 2

The cold streak continued for the National League, as the AL team won our re-sim World Series for the eighth straight season, bolstered of course by the six straight from Philadelphia.

In this series, the White Sox got off on the right foot, scoring two runs in the first inning of the first game, and then relying on their ace, Lefty Williams, to toss a two-hit shutout to steal Game 1 on the road.

The story was similar in Game 2, with a low-scoring game this time going to extras. This time, in the 11th, it was Ray Schalk who drove home what proved to be the game-winning run for the White Sox, giving them a 2–0 series lead before they even got a home game.

The Giants stole Game 3 thanks to a pinch-hit home run from High Pockets Kelly in the ninth, but a White Sox smackdown in Game 4 (7–0) sent the series right to the edge.

Ferdie Schupp (once again, an amazing name) kept them alive on the road in Game 5, but a late rally for the road White Sox in Game 6 clinched the series, with the Giants failing to win a single game at home in front of their fans.

“Starting IX” Excerpt: Picking an All-Time MLB Roster

This isn’t necessarily the best 25 players of all time, but it’s close. It’s building the best roster possible with the true greatests of all time.

2B Rogers Hornsby (1915–1926; 1933)

One of the game’s true greats (players, not men…), Hornsby played his first 12 years in St Louis and came back for one brief stint there later in his career. After leaving the Cardinals, Raj had three years of success before injuries and advancing age eventually slowed him down. Those injuries took away from the form he showed in St Louis; and man, what form that was. He is the only player in MLB history to hit over .400 with at least 40 home runs in a season — again, this man was a second baseman.

In Ted Williams’ section to come, Hornsby’s six-year stretch will be shown to be among the best of all time, and as such, it should be no surprise that many consider him to be the best second baseman of all time. We touched on the best second baseman debate a bit earlier, so let’s take a look at my personal all-time 25-man roster, with a starting lineup, five-man rotation, and bullpen.

1) Honus Wagner (SS)
2) Rogers Hornsby (2B)
3) Ted Williams (LF)
4) Babe Ruth (RF)
5) Lou Gehrig (1B)
6) Barry Bonds (DH)
7) Willie Mays (CF)
8) Mike Schmidt (3B)
9) Johnny Bench (C)
Back Up Catcher) Mike Piazza
Team Leader/Backup 1B or OF) Stan Musial
Utility Infielder) Alex Rodriguez
Team Stalwart/Pinch-hit Power Threat) Hank Aaron
Team Racist/Pinch-hit Contact Guy/Pinch-runner) Ty Cobb
Team Drinker/Highest Ceiling Award Candidate) Mickey Mantle

Starting Pitcher 1) Walter Johnson
SP2) Pete Alexander
SP3) Lefty Grove
SP4) Pedro Martinez
SP5) Warren Spahn
SP6) Clayton Kershaw
Long Relief) Cy Young
Middle Relief) Christy Mathewson
Set Up) Satchel Paige
Closer) Mariano Rivera

The missing players most likely to be disputed are probably Joe DiMaggio, Joe Morgan (behind Alex Rodriguez in particular), Jimmie Foxx, Yogi Berra, and the fact that Cy Young isn’t in the starting rotation. As far as DiMaggio is concerned, he was certainly an all-time great, but unfortunately he played the same position as two of the three best hitters of all time. Also, outfield as a whole is stacked throughout history. He also suffers from the fact that Cobb brings to the table one thing the rest of the roster is lacking, speed. If you were building a team for success, Cobb would go before DiMaggio, because Cobb’s quality is less represented among the all-time greats.

Joe Morgan was a top-notch player and actually tends to be undervalued historically; however, A-Rod’s dominance from a position that doesn’t sport flashy offensive numbers is too much to ignore. The fact that he could play shortstop, third base, and most likely second base (he might not have the instincts there, but he would certainly have the arm for those deep plays up the middle) doesn’t hurt either.

Jimmie Foxx has the problem that first base is probably the deepest of any position in league history, and while Foxx was excellent, he fell just behind the two men to make it at first. Musial is often listed as an outfielder (in particular as a right fielder; this is where Baseball-Reference lists him), but I don’t really understand this. I suppose they tried to look at his prime years, but right field is the position he played the third-most games at, as he played more games at both first base and left field. Bill James lists his as a left fielder in his Historical Baseball Abstract, but I’m going to list him as a 1B/OF here, which only helps his case for the team.

Yogi Berra is certainly the most famous catcher of all time, and has an incredible ten rings and 14 pennants, not to mention the honor of Bill James’ best catcher, but I don’t have him making the top two backstops. Bench combines great offense with great defense better than any catcher of all time. And although Berra was a better defensive catcher than Piazza (as well as a great personality to have on the team), Piazza’s offensive prowess was too great to leave him off.

Finally, as for Cy Young not grabbing a starting role even though he has the most all-time wins and the highest career WAR among pitchers, he is not deserving of a top-six starting role. His most amazing trait is that he was able to throw such a high number of innings for such a sustained amount of time. Many of the pitchers from Young’s time left the game early due to the wear and tear of so many innings without the precautions and medical advancement today’s pitchers have. Although Young is the all-time leader in wins and innings pitched, he never seemed as truly dominant as our starting six. He did lead the league in WAR six times, but he had only two ERA and strikeout titles, apiece.

Who Is This Player?

Answer at the end of the newsletter (I’m debating formats here, so feedback on how easy/difficult this section is would be appreciated)

Pop Culture Recommendation of the Week

I reference it every week in this article, but time to give it some call-out love. Out of the Park Baseball is my favorite game, and the new year’s version is just about out. I plan on losing many hours to this game in the upcoming weeks.

Keep You On Your Toes

Vaccines are front of mind for many us of right now, but that’s not always the case. And that’s because for many of us, we get most vaccinations without so much as a second thought as to the privilege that got us them. That’s not the case everywhere in the world, though, but New Incentives is a company looking to make it more the case. Read about them here and donate if you can.

Quiz Answer

That’s Will the Thrill after he left the Bay Area. It’s a common theme among these THAT GUY players, they’re just never the same player after they leave (or before they get to) the spot they connect with so much. Clark was solid post-Giants, but five of his six All-Star Games and 35.8 of his career 56.5 WAR came with the side he’s best known for.

Remember to follow along here on Medium for the first few months before I move to the actual email newsletter format.

Feel free to reach out to Jim.Turvey21@gmail.com for any feedback or inquiries.