The St. Louis Maroons
General Overview
This team is designed around one central philosophy - run prevention. The Maroons should have, by far, the best staff in the league. Rube Waddell is a top 10 lefty in history and he's my #4. Four of my five starters are in the top 6 in FIP. Their players are all strong defensively - that was a key component in shaping the draft. How strong? Well, my starting 8 combines for 15 gold gloves. That might not seem impressive, but four of the players were never eligible for gold gloves, and most of those players are generally considered good defenders. Offensively, the team lacks that one star, but is deep. Everyone can get on base and hit for some power. Kiner also does bring a big bat in the middle of the lineup, having led in HR 7 times in his career. The bench has some power and speed from both sides of the plate as well as more plus defenders. The bullpen has some of the best lefties of all time as well as a top-3 all time closer. All in all, even in an all time setting, this team should be very hard to score on and should score enough to win games.
Starting Lineup
Catcher - Mickey Cochrane
The fun part about Mickey Cochrane is that I'm reuniting him with his real life ace, Lefty Grove. These two were one of the best batteries of all time, if not the best. Cochrane was known for his competitive spirit which makes him the perfect field general for this team. His teammates called him an inspirational leader and he put that leadership to good use, winning 3 World Series titles and 5 pennants. More than just a great leader, though, Cochrane was a fantastic player. Offensively, he wasn't the hardest hitter (few catchers are), but he got on base. He had a career .320 average and a career .419 OBP, the highest of any catcher (at least those qualified for JAWS). While a team statistic, he also average 91 RBI a year, which is solid for a catcher. That said, what really made Cochrane stand out wasn't his offensive prowess. Instead, he was most well known for his ability to handle a pitching staff. Pitchers hardly ever shook him off. Together, his offensive abilities and especially his defensive talents won Cochrane two MVP awards, finishing top-10 on four other occasions.
As SABR describes him:
Cochrane had all the attributes expected of a great catcher - mastery of calling pitches, good arm, and defensive capabilities - which he supplemented with a mastery of human nature. His psychological knack for handling pitchers, treating each one differently according to perceived needs, helped to maximize pitching efforts on the mound. He also had the attributes expected of any great ballplayer. He hit for average, drew walks, had above-average speed on the basepaths, and could hit for power when needed.
In my lineup, at least against righties, Cochrane will be batting leadoff. His high OBP makes him the perfect candidate for this job. Defensively, his knack for bettering pitching staffs should only serve to magnify the impact my already great rotation will have.
First Baseman - Buck Leonard
Buck Leonard is the first of my Negro League players, at least when organized this way. Buck Leonard is one of the best players in Negro League history and has been compared to Lou Gehrig. I don't think that comparison is necessarily accurate. His offense wasn't quite as good although his defense was probably better. I think the better comparison is a left handed Jeff Bagwell. He wasn't big, but he had a quick, compact stroke that was capable of generating a lot of easy power. He also was considered a good defender. He was known as a consummate professional and a fantastic defender. He played on the same team as Gibson and they often traded off who had more RBI or HR.
From SABR:
Buck Leonard was a superb hitter and fielder...As a batter, he was described as a terrific hitter, a man who would literally drive pitchers off the mound. Leonard batted fourth in the Grays lineup, following Josh Gibson. Almost every season, saw a battle between Leonard and Gibson as to who would wind up with the most homers and runs batted in. Dave Barnhill, a star Negro Leagues pitcher, said, “You could put a fastball in a shotgun and you couldn’t shoot it by him.” Eddie Gottlieb, an Eastern Booking Agent and former coach of the Philadelphia Warriors of the Basketball Association of America said Leonard “was as smooth a first baseman as I ever saw.”
Monte Irvin agreed: “Buck Leonard was the equal of any first baseman who ever lived. If he had gotten the chance to play in the Major Leagues, they might have called Lou Gehrig the white Buck Leonard.”
In my lineup, Leonard will fill his comfortable 4th spot in the lineup and be counted on as another leader and strong defender - the same role he played to perfection in real life.
Second Baseman - Chase Utley
Third Baseman - Graig Nettles
Shortstop - Barry Larkin
Left Fielder - Ralph Kiner
Center Fielder - Cristobal Torriente
Known as the "Black Babe Ruth" (for those keeping score at home, I now have the black Lou Gehrig and the black Babe Ruth), Torriente was a true 5 tool player. In fact, he outplayed Ruth in a nine game series between the Yankees and Torriente's Cuban team. He didn't look like he'd be that fast with his stocky build, but he ran the bases quite well and was a great defender - so good that he forced Oscar Charleston to a corner outfield spot when the two played with one another. In terms of hitting, Torriente hit for average and power. He was a bad ball hitter primarily with great power to all fields; he'll be a hard out even for lefty specialists. According to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (which I really need to get to at some point...):
A complete ballplayer with superb talent, if he were playing today he would be considered "the franchise" of any team on which he played. Indianapolis ABCs' manager C.I. Taylor stated, "If I should see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, 'There walks a ballclub.' "
In my lineup, Torriente will be hitting second. Given Cochrane's ability to get on base, there'll likely be a man on base for him, which he was used to. I like having some power and some speed in the two hole and Torriente fits that mold perfectly. His penchant for hitting for a high average and getting on base, as well as his easy power, should allow for him to drive home a fair number of runs even in the two hole and provide a speedy runner for the heart of the lineup.
Right Fielder - Al Kaline
Starting Rotation
Lefty Grove
Christy Mathewson
Ed Walsh
Rube Waddell
Chief Bender
Chief Bender is an older pitcher who was a dominant FIP pitcher. Furthermore, he was dominant in big games. Bender broke into the big leagues as a 19 year old and was immediately a good pitcher and just got better over the next ten or so years. Connie Mack called him the best pitcher that he had ever managed, a stable that includes two of my other pitchers (Lefty Grove and Rube Waddell) as well as other great pitchers such as Eddie Plank. He was known for his control, rarely walking a batter, and for his intelligence on the mound. SABR describes his pitches thusly:
He threw a well-directed fastball and a sharp-breaking curve—a man named Bender has to have one — that was a precursor to the slider, a pitch he may have invented. He also threw a submarine fadeaway—a pitch that moved like the contemporary screwball, away from a left-handed hitter.
The amazing thing about Bender on my team is that he's my fifth starter. He probably could be as good as a #3 in this format, if not even better.
Bench
Bullpen
Manager - Joe Torre