MLB: Create your best team based on first name

The Game Room
1

My fiancee and I were having a random discussion about this last night, and I thought it might be a good one for the Dope. The game is simple. Try to come up with the best team you can where all f the team’s players share the same first name.

Here are the ground rules:

  1. No looking things up – this should only come from your knowledge and memory of players
  2. Your roster can consist of past or present players, so long as they played in the majors at some point
  3. You must declare the name your team is based on (this becomes pertinent based on later rules)
  4. Name variations can consist of common nicknames (“Joseph” includes “Joe” and “Joey”) but not language equivalents (“John” is not the same as “Juan”)
  5. If a player COMMONLY went or goes by a nickname, you can field him based on the nickname or his birth name (Babe Ruth could be on a “Babe” team or a “George” team)
  6. You may choose to create a team based on a specific nickname, but then that name must be EXACTLY the same for all players (“Will Clark” can’t play with “Wil Cordero” since they are spelled differently and since their full first names aren’t the same)

Have fun! My money’s on the All-Ubaldo team.

2

Just thinking about it for five minutes, here’s my All-Joe team:

OF Joe DiMaggio
OF Joe Carter
OF Joey Votto
1B Joe Torre
2B Joe Morgan
SS Joe Koppe (okay, he sucked)
3B Joe Foy (he did, too)
C Joe Girardi

P Joey Jay
P Joe Niekro

3

Move Torre to catcher and put Shoeless Joe in the OF and Votto at first, right?

4

Yeah, that’s what I meant.:o

5

Hm, since Babe was mentioned… here’s a team of Georges.

OF George (Babe) Ruth
OF George Foster
OF Ken Griffey Jr. (first name of George)
3B George Brett
1B George Sisler
2B
SS

P

I was able to cheat and find a few more (a HoF middle infielder from the 1800s and a HoF pitcher I only knew by his nickname), but couldn’t get them off the top of my head. Still a pretty good core, eh? Maybe somebody can fill it out without cheating like I did.

6

1B: Frank Thomas
2B: Frank White
SS: Frankie Crosetti
3B: Frank “Home Run” Baker
C: Frank Hayes
RF: Frank Howard
CF: Frank Robinson (Cheating here
LF: Frank Catalanotto
P: Frank Viola
ETA: That’s without cheating. And then I looked it up and holy crap, I forgot Frankie Frisch. I’m not too upset with having Frank White though. That’s a hell of a ballclub.

7

You need a catcher. Otherwise you’ll have a lot of passed balls. ~ Casey Stengel. :smiley:

8

William/Bill/Will etc

C Dickey
1b Buckner
2b
ss
3b Madlock
OF Billy Williams
OF
OF
P Singer

Owner: Veeck
GM: Beene
Tennis player: Tilden

9

SS Hall of Famer Joe Cronin

10

There’s this outfielder named Mays.

OF McGee
2B Bill Mazerowski (Does that count?)

11

Heh. True enough. The only George I can think of that can catch is a current player George Kottaras. I think the OF is good enough to carry him.

12

1B Bob Watson
2B Roberto Alomar
SS
3B Bob Horner
OF Bobby Bonds
OF Roberto Clemente
OF Bobby Abreu
C Bob Boone

Really blanking on shortstop

My pitching staff is awesome!

Bob Gibson
Bob Feller
Bob Forsch (RIP)
Robert (Lefty) Grove
RP Bobby Jenks

13

P
C
1B
2B
3B
SS Khalil Greene
OF
OF
OF

14

:smack::smack::smack::smack:

15

Unfortunately, no one in the MLB is named JoyAnn.

16

Sorry - Clemente and Alomar are disqualified by the language rule!

17

Missed that.

18

George Strickland could be your 2B or SS. No hall of famer, but competent. Played for the Indians late 50s early 60s

19

Since my first name is John…

SP- John “Jack” Chesbro
SP - John Smoltz (or I could use him in relief!)
SP- John Candelaria
SP- Johnny Antonelli
SP- John Clarkson

RP - John Hiller
RP- John Wetteland
RP- John Franco

C- Johnny Bench (backups: Johnny Blanchard and Johnny Roseboro)
1B- Johnny Mize (backup John Kruk)
2B - Johnny Evers (I know, overrated because of that poem)
3B/Manager- John McGraw
SS- Johnny Pesky
LF- John Wesley “Boog” Powell
CF- Johnny Damon
RF- Johnny Callison
DH- John Olerud

20

I’m a Robert, but my brother is Michael, so let’s see who I can come up with:

1B Mike Hargrove (prepare for some long AB’s)
2B Mike Andrews (even though Charlie Finley tried to fire him during a World Series)
SS Mike Fischlin (not very good, but my sister met him when she was working as a hotel desk clerk)
3B Mike Schmidt (the “franchise player”, so to speak)

LF Mike Aldrete (the outfielders were the toughest to think of – I’m sure I’ve missed some better ones)
CF Michael Bourn (gives me some speed in the leadoff slot)
RF Mike Davis (played for A’s and Dodgers – solid journeyman)

C Mike Ivie (one of those highly-touted prospects who never quite panned out)
P Mike Maddux (not his brother, admittedly, but he could also coach the staff)
P Mike McCormick (reliable starter)
P Mike Morgan (since he pitched for so many teams anyway)
P Mike Paul (sentimental pick – he started for the Indians in the first MLB game I ever attended, at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium)