Almost in: Larry Doby (5.8), who broke the color barrier in the American League a few months after Jackie Robinson did so in the National League, finished just five hundredths of a point behind Jackson for the final outfield spot. Jackson spent six years with Cleveland between stints with the Philadelphia Athletics and the White Sox. Name game: Cleveland’s franchise started in 1901 and had gone through four names. It started for one year as the Blues (named for a team that played in Cleveland from 1882-84 in a league that required distinct colors), then spent one season as the Bronchos (the players chose this name after being unhappy with the Blues), then switched to the Naps (shortened from Napoleons, named in a newspaper contest after acquiring star Nap Lajoie) for 12 years before becoming the Indians in 1915. The name came from the nickname given to the Cleveland Spiders, who had Native American Louis Sockalexis on the roster from 1897-99. On-field tragedy: Shortstop Ray Chapman (4.1) was the runner-up at shortstop behind the Hall of Famer Boudreau. Chapman was killed at 29 after he was hit in the head by a pitch from Carl Mays in 1920. Chapman remains the only MLB player to die as a direct result of an on-field injury.
Almost in: Larry Doby (5.8), who broke the color barrier in the American League a few months after Jackie Robinson did so in the National League, finished just five hundredths of a point behind Jackson for the final outfield spot. Jackson spent six years with Cleveland between stints with the Philadelphia Athletics and the White Sox. Name game: Cleveland’s franchise started in 1901 and had gone through four names. It started for one year as the Blues (named for a team that played in Cleveland from 1882-84 in a league that required distinct colors), then spent one season as the Bronchos (the players chose this name after being unhappy with the Blues), then switched to the Naps (shortened from Napoleons, named in a newspaper contest after acquiring star Nap Lajoie) for 12 years before becoming the Indians in 1915. The name came from the nickname given to the Cleveland Spiders, who had Native American Louis Sockalexis on the roster from 1897-99. On-field tragedy: Shortstop Ray Chapman (4.1) was the runner-up at shortstop behind the Hall of Famer Boudreau. Chapman was killed at 29 after he was hit in the head by a pitch from Carl Mays in 1920. Chapman remains the only MLB player to die as a direct result of an on-field injury.Untapped resources: Carlos Beltran (4.07 w/ KC/6.23 in his six best years overall) leads a long list of Royals who left town early during the cost-cutting years of the mid-1990s and through the 2000s and didn’t play long enough into their careers to make this team. Others include Johnny Damon (2.88/4.8), Danny Tartabull (2.12/3.23), Jermaine Dye (1.48/3.5) and Zack Greinke (2.72/6.17), as the franchise let a lot of wins walk out the door with varying degrees of return. Interesting designation: From McRae, through a late-career Brett, to Mike Sweeney (3.4), Billy Butler (2.17) and Kendrys Morales (2.4 in less than two seasons), the Royals have been one of the few franchises to routinely assign the role of DH to a particular player for multiple years. Peaked too soon: Kevin Seitzer is one of the few players to have his highest WAR season (5.5) as a rookie. He followed that with a 4.2 in his sophomore campaign, then never again climbed over 3.3.Running man: Luis Aparicio (4.33) led the league in stolen bases in each of his first nine seasons. He missed out here, behind fellow Hall of Famer Luke Appling. The White Sox were strong when it came to middle infielders, with Hall of Famer Nellie Fox (5.48) also missing the all-time team at second base. One man in: Jackson was the only player banned for life for throwing the 1919 World Series who made the team. Buck Weaver (3.22) missed out at third base in a career that ended at 29. Banned right-handed pitcher Eddie Cicotte (6.78) finished behind Wood at No. 3 at starting pitcher. Collins and Faber were on that team, but were not punished. Eye-popping numbers: Granted, 1908 featured a different brand of baseball, but consider the numbers Walsh put up that year (each led the league): 40 wins, 42 complete games, 11 shutouts, 464 innings pitched, 269 strikeouts. He posted a 1.42 ERA that year and faced 1,755 batters. By contrast, closer Bobby Thigpen faced 1,592 batters in his first five seasons with Chicago. … Modern starters Mark Buehrle (5.25) and Chris Sale (4.93) wouldn’t quite crack the top five in the all-time rotation.First things first: Killebrew fell among the trickiest position assignments on the all-franchise teams. In his career he played slightly more at first base than anywhere else, but in the six years that qualified him for this team it was only by a slight margin. In that time he saw action in 429 games at first and 398 at third. So he’s at first, and that was bad news for Kent Hrbek (4.05), the lifetime Twin who would have been at first if Killebrew was at third. Strong rotation: Any rotation headed by the Big Train is going to be stout, but behind him the Hall of Famer Blyleven narrowly edged Johan Santana (5.86), who narrowly topped Camilo Pascual (5.53), who topped Frank Viola (4.67). Good group. Johnson, by the way, owns the franchise’s top seven single seasons in WAR. And FYI, the franchise has operated in the AL continuously since 1901, moving to Minnesota from Washington in 1961. Perfect 10: Kirby Puckett averaged exactly 200 hits over his first 10 seasons, hitting .318 in that span with 164 home runs and 874 RBIs. He added just 308 more hits over the next two years and was forced out of the game at 35.Skipped my Lou: Lou Whitaker (5.55) was a 19-year member of the Tigers who ranks fourth in total WAR in team history, but finished well behind Gehringer at second base. Whitaker isnÂ’t in the Hall of Fame and neither is his long time double-play partner Trammell, who had his best Hall vote in 15 tries with 40.9 percent last year. Trammell is seventh in team history in offensive WAR and the franchise leader in defensive WAR. Not quite in: Hall of Famer Sam Crawford, the all-time MLB leader with 309 triples, couldnÂ’t quite break into this outfield with 5.72. Other notables left out were 1Bs Miguel Cabrera (6.45) and Norm Cash (5.03), C Lance Parish (3.97), OF Kirk Gibson (3.8) and SPs Mickey Lolich (5.8) and Jack Morris (4.72). Biggest surprise: The surprise not only of this team, but maybe of any team, is Fryman at third base. But, frankly, itÂ’s a spot the Tigers have been historically thin. The all-time leaders in games played at the position are Aurelio Rodriguez, Don Wert, Brandon Inge and Pinky Higgins, who played in a combined three All-Star games while with Detroit.
