Challenging the Bashers

Favorite Player Teams!

Good friend, APBA guru, Michigan Tournament organizer, and overall great guy Pastor Rich Zawadzki put together a team of his all-time greats called the Brewster Bashers to run a project.  I have been following the project over Facebook and, as I was running my own Christmas all-time favorites tournament, it occurred to me: Why not have the two play?  So here is the open challenge to Pastor Rich.  I understand, on paper, I am over-matched.  But, as I am a Twins fan, hope springs eternal.

To make the games just a bit more even; I am going to bench my usual second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka in favor of Dustin Pedroia. With that change, here is my line-up, rotation, pen, and bench.

2011 Nishioka        -1.9 WAR
2008 Pedroia           6.9 WAR
A +8.8 WAR swing.

The Linemen are managed by Tom Kelly

Cal wears the "C" on his jersey.

Wilkin County Linemen 

C-    ’09 Joe Mauer                                                    .365                     28-HR                C9

1B- ’88 Kent Hrbek                                                 .312                     31-HR                1B4       (S)

2B- '08 Dustin Pedroia                                           .326                     54-2B                 2B8      (F)

3B- ’91 Chris Sabo                                                   .301                     26-HR                3B5       (F)

SS-  ’91 Cal Ripken                                                   .323                     34-HR                SS10

LF- ’90 Bo Jackson                                                   .272                     28-HR                LF3       (F)

CF- ’88 Kirby Puckett                                             .356                     24-HR                CF3       (F)

RF- ’04 Ichiro Suzuki                                              .372                     36-SB                 RF3       (F)

DH- ’06 Justin Morneau                                         .321                     39-HR                1B4

Look at that outfield!  Left to right, Jackson, Puckett, Ichiro...ouch.  Amazing defense, as long as we can keep the ball in the yard. 

Batting Order (Jersey #)

1.  Ichiro Suzuki  (51)

2. Kirby Puckett  (34)

3. Joe Mauer  (7)

4. Justin Morneau  (33)

5. Cal Ripken  (8)

6. Kent Hrbek  (14)

7. Dustin Pedroia  (15)

8. Bo Jackson (16)

9. Chris Sabo  (17)

A preview of slots 3 and 4:

Bring out the Boom-Sticks..

And one last piece of advice: don't run on Mauer.

Roto- 

1.  ’84 Bert Blyleven                  Byz                      2.87 

2.  ’78 Dave Goltz                        Az                        2.49 

3.  ’12 R. A. Dickey                     Axz                      2.73 

4.  ’00 Rick Ankiel                      Bxy                      3.50 

(5.)  ’92 Jim Abbott                   By                         2.77

Filthy:

Long Relief/Spot Starters 

1.  ’02 Tim Wakefield               B/A*x                 2.81 

2.  ’95 Hideo Nomo                   Axy                      2.54 

Pen- 

’90  Rob Dibble                            A*xy 

’91 Rick Aguilera                        A*x 

’14 Pat Neshek                            A*xyz 

’89 Mitch Williams                    B* xw 

Shut the door:

Bench- 

’94 Deion Sanders                     .283      38-SB                 CF2       (F)

’11 Jeff Francoeur                      .285      47-2B                 RF3

’12 Yadi Molina                           .315      22-HR                C9          (S)

’00 Darrin Erstad                       .355      25-HR                LF3       (F)

’90 Billy Ripken                          .291      28-2B                 2B8       

Speed to burn off the bench.

Taxi Squad- 

’77 Carlton Fisk                          .315      26-HR                C8

’08 Kevin Youkilis                     .312      25-HR                3B

’03 Kevin Millar                          .276      25-HR                OF

’75 Mickey Rivers                      .284      70-SB                 OF         (F)

’87 Harold Reynolds                 .275      60-SB                 INF       (F)

’88 Dan Gladden                         .269      28-SB                 OF-2     (F)

My opponent: The Brewster Bashers

The Rotation:
1913 Walter Jounson  A&B yz

1905 Christy Mathewson  A&B yz

1966 Sandy Koufax A&C xyz

1908 Ed Walsh A&B yz

1995 Greg Maddux A&C yzz

The BIG Train.

The Lineup

1911 Ty Cobb CF                                            .420/.621

1924 Rogers Hornsby 2B                             .424/.696

1921 Babe Ruth  RF                                       .378/.846

1927 Lou Gehrig DH                                      .373/.765

1953 Ted Williams LF                                   .407/.901

1931 Josh Gibson C                                        Stats Unavailable but impressive

1932 Jimmy Foxx 1B                                      .364/.749

1930 Willie Wells SS                                      .420/.685

1925 Judy Johnson                                         .389/.579

The Beast.

Before you write-off the Linemen, let me introduce you to our secret weapon, Mr. Five-Tool Clutch:

Look for updates on this project.  We hope to play face-to-face in Michigan.