While I spent most of the weekend sitting on the couch recovering from a minor surgical procedure and bored absolutely out of my mind, I decided to put together a team of Red Sox players whose share last names with Massachusetts towns. If you ask why I decided to do this, you'll get no answer. I have no idea.
Anyway, I set a few arbitrary parameters for my research:
Starting Pitchers
Bullpen
Starting Line-up (by position)
Update: Commenter Phil noted that I left off Lou Clinton. I've updated the starting lineup and bumped two other players onto the bench and the 40-man roster.
Bench (by position)
Here are the other 14 players who I left off the "active" roster, but who are also all-Massachusetts players.
Pitchers
Hmmmm. Maybe I'll see if I can do the same thing with the other Boston teams...
Tags: Boston Red Sox Massachusetts
Anyway, I set a few arbitrary parameters for my research:
- The players name has to be a phonetic or spelling match to one of Massachusetts 351 cities or towns. For instance, Mike Lowell is an exact match to the city of Lowell. John Lester is a phonetic match to the town of Leicester.
- Players who have names of Massachusetts places that are not official cities and towns have been excluded (Chad Bradford and Reggie Jefferson, for instance).
- Finally, players whose names are part of a city or town name are not included. So Ted Williams is omitted even though his name is part of Williamstown.
Starting Pitchers
Player Years W L ERA SV IP SOThe starting pitching is clearly the strength of the pitching staff (and the team as a whole). There really weren't any tough choices in putting this group together. The only significant starter left out was Jack Russell, who had three consecutive 18-loss seasons between 1929-31 and ended his career with four straight seasons of 5+ ERAs.
Josh Beckett 2006-08 48 28 4.11 0 579.2 524
Erik Hanson 1995 15 5 4.24 0 186.2 139
Bill Lee 1969-78 94 68 3.64 13 1503.1 578
John Lester 2006-08 27 8 3.81 0 354.2 262
Tim Wakefield 1995-08 164 145 4.02 22 2781.2 1797
Bullpen
Player Years W L ERA SV IP SOThis is a really mediocre group. When Jeff Russell and Wes Gardner are holding down the back of the bullpen, you're in big trouble. Allan Russell, Tom Bolton and Mike Paxton could all be credible long men who could also start. But I wouldn't want to turn too many leads over to this group.
Tom Bolton 1978-92 21 23 4.45 1 368.0 231
Wes Gardner 1986-90 17 26 4.73 12 403.0 316
Sid Hudson 1952-54 16 22 3.73 7 361.2 137
Joe Hudson 1995-97 6 7 4.40 2 126.2 62
Mike Paxton 1977 10 5 3.83 0 108.0 58
Allan Russell 1919-22 27 28 3.74 10 527.2 210
Jeff Russell 1993-94 1 9 3.61 45 74.2 63
Starting Line-up (by position)
Pos Player Years G AB R H HR RBI SB OBP SLG AVGNot a great group, although Lowell, Lynn, and Everett are all good players. Larry Gardner was a decent SS for his time. But the group of hitters is so weak, I can't even find a DH. Of course, had I expanded the rules I could have included Ted Williams (Williamstown) and Carlton Fisk (Fiskdale, a section of Sturbridge), which would have made for a much more formidable lineup.
C Bob Montgomery 1970-79 387 1185 125 306 23 156 6 .296 .372 .258
1B Rip Russell 1946-47 106 326 30 65 7 38 1 .248 .304 .199
2B Jack Barry 1915-19 319 1074 116 241 2 78 22 .286 .268 .224
SS Larry Gardner 1908-17 1123 3919 496 1106 16 481 134 .347 .377 .282
3B Mike Lowell 2006-08 420 1581 216 469 58 273 7 .353 .481 .297
OF Fred Lynn 1974-80 828 3062 523 944 124 521 43 .385 .520 .308
OF Carl Everett 2000-01 239 905 143 254 48 166 20 .338 .519 .281
OF Lou Clinton 1960-64 412 1427 190 359 49 198 7 .307 .440 .252
Update: Commenter Phil noted that I left off Lou Clinton. I've updated the starting lineup and bumped two other players onto the bench and the 40-man roster.
Bench (by position)
Pos Player Years G AB R H HR RBI SB OBP SLG AVGThis group is a whole bunch of awful. Can't hit, can't hit for power, can't run. Yet, they're better than the ones left off the active roster.
C Tubby Spencer 1909 28 74 6 12 0 9 2 .220 .176 .162
IF Billy Gardner 1962-63 89 283 26 70 0 13 0 .283 .307 .247
IF Fred Hatfield 1950-52 109 200 32 39 3 19 1 .297 .295 .195
OF Cleo Carlyle 1927 95 278 31 65 1 28 4 .315 .345 .234
OF Roy Carlyle 1925-26 138 441 58 137 9 65 1 .341 .454 .311
Here are the other 14 players who I left off the "active" roster, but who are also all-Massachusetts players.
Pitchers
Player Years W L ERA SV IP SOBatters
Terry Adams 2004 2 0 6.00 0 27.0 21
Bob Adams 1925 0 0 7.94 0 5.2 1
Ed Barry 1905-07 1 6 3.53 0 79.0 34
Mike Gardiner 1991-92 13 20 4.80 0 260.2 170
Josh Hancock 2002 0 1 3.68 0 7.1 6
Craig Hansen 2005-08 3 5 6.15 2 71.2 58
Sang Lee 2000 0 0 3.09 0 11.2 6
Jeff Plympton 1991 0 0 0.00 0 5.1 2
Jack Russell 1926-36 41 94 4.58 0 1215.0 202
Al Worthington 1960 0 1 7.71 0 11.2 7
Pos Player Years G AB R H HR RBI SB OBP SLG AVGJack Barry, who was 90-62 as a player/manager for the 1917 Red Sox is the team's manager.
OF Walter Carlisle 1908 3 10 0 1 0 0 1 .182 .100 .100
OF Garry Hancock 1978-82 121 254 26 58 4 26 0 .249 .323 .228
SS Chick Maynard 1922 12 24 1 3 0 0 0 207 .125 .125
C Lenny Webster 1999 6 14 0 0 0 1 0 .176 .000 .000
IF Ray Webster 1960 7 3 1 0 0 1 0 .200 .000 .000
Hmmmm. Maybe I'll see if I can do the same thing with the other Boston teams...
Tags: Boston Red Sox Massachusetts
Posts
