The All-Virginia Baseball Team
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by user MikeBriggs
All-Virginia Team: born in Virginia, USA, play(ed) baseball at the major league level.
This is a relatively easy task, right? Just look for the players and manager(s) in the Hall of Fame, and this little task will write itself. Except:
1. No player born in Virginia has had a Hall of Fame career except for pitcher Eppa Rixey, who played from 1912-1933.
2. No player born in Virginia was an All-Star except for OF/DH Willie Horton, OF Jim Lemon, 1B George McQuinn, SS Tony Womack (harder to double check All-Star, could be one that ended up with a bad record, but had an All-Star year - way too many VA players to check all).
3. No manager born in Virginia, except one who managed just 3 games in the 1800s, has a winning record.
So, why would I undertake this task? Because I’m from Virginia. So, let’s see who I can round up to fill out a team. Many players born in Virginia, just one Hall of Famer.
Catcher
Larry Woodall - born in Staunton, in 1894. Career .268 batter, played 10 seasons with the Tigers. Fielding percentage: .984. <stats> Player=Larry Woodall Type=batting </stats>
First-Base
George McQuinn - born in Arlington, VA in 1910. Played 1936-1948. All-Star 1939-1940, 1942, 1944-1945, 1947-1948. Played 12 seasons - 1 with the Reds, 8 with the St. Louis Browns (which became the Baltimore Orioles; AL Champs in 1944), 1 with the Philadelphia Athletics (moved to Oakland through Kansas City), and 2 years with the Yankees (MLB Champs in 1947). <stats> Player=George McQuinn Type=batting </stats>
Second-Base
Jim Pankovits - born in Pennington Gap in 1955. Played 1984-1990 for Houston and Boston. Career .250 hitter - no full seasons in the majors. .961 Fielding percentage at 2B. Weak, I know. <stats> Player=Jim Pankovits Type=batting </stats>
Short-Stop
Tony Womack - born in Chatham in 1969. All-Star - 1997. Currently playing, so far played 12 seasons, with the Pirates, Diamond Backs, Rockies, Cubs, Cardinals, and the Yankees. Career .273 batter with 363 SB. Has played almost the same number of games at SS and 2B. <stats> Player=Tony Womack Type=batting </stats>
Third Base
Billy Nash - born in Richmond in 1865. At the age of 31, Nash managed and played in 130 games for the 1896 Philadelphia Phillies. His managing record of 62-68 for a winning percentage of .477 is the best percentage for any manager born in Virginia who has managed at least 4 games. The Phillies finished eighth in the National League with that 62-68 record. Nash played in 15 seasons in the majors, from 1884 (when he was 19) until 1898 (when he was 33), for a total of 1549 games. Nash played in the field, pitched and managed in his career. As a pitcher he appeared in 2 games, for a total of 1.3 innings. He gave up 1 hit and 1 walk but zero runs. He had an overall fielding percentage of .896. He played 3B (1464), 2B (43), SS (36), OF (8), and pitcher (2). Nash played for the Richmond Virginians of the American Association for that franchise entire history (one year - 1884). Nash also played for the Boston Beaneaters in 1885-1895, then moved on to the Philadelphia Phillies to finish his career (1896-1898). <stats> Player=Billy Nash Type=batting </stats>
David Wright - born Norfolk, VA in 1982. Plays for the New York Mets. So far - career average .306 in 316 games. .949 Fielding percentage. <stats> Player=David Wright Type=batting </stats>
Ryan Zimmerman - born Virginia Beach, VA in 1984. Plays for the Washington Nationals. So far - career average .303 in 107 games. .968 Fielding percentage (includes 1 game at SS where he committed 2 errors). <stats> Player=Ryan Zimmerman Type=batting </stats>
OF
Jim Lemon - born 1928 in Covington. All-Star. Career .262 hitter in 12 seasons (career .961 Fielding percentage). 1950-1963. Ages 22-35. Indians, Senators (the one that became the Twins), Twins, Phillies and White Sox. Lemon also managed the 1968 Washington Senators (the one that became the Texas Rangers) to a 65-96 record and 10th place in the American League. <stats> Player=Jim Lemon Type=batting </stats>
Steve Brodie - born in 1868 in Warrenton. Played for the Boston Beaneaters (1890-1891; eventually became the Atlanta Braves through Milwaukee) of the National League, the St. Louis Browns (1892-1893; became the Cardinals in 1900) of the National League, the Baltimore Orioles of the National League (1893-1896, 1898-1899; club existed from 1882-1899), the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League (1897-1898; started as the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1882-1890), the Baltimore Orioles of the American League (1901; later became the New York Yankees), and finally with the New York Giants of the National League (1902; became the San Francisco Giants in 1959; started off as the New York Gothams). Played 12 seasons, 1420 games in the Outfield with an additional 16 at 2B and 2 games at 3B. OF fielding percentage of .959 with 3139 PO, 208 A, 142 E, and 52 double-plays. Offensive numbers: .303 career batter, with 1726 hits in 5699 at-bats, 191 doubles, 89 3B, 25 HR, 900 RBI, 420 BB, just 148 SO, .364 OBP, .381 SLG, 289 SB (either 0 CS or a stat not kept while he played). <stats> Player=Steve Brodie Type=batting </stats>
Paul Hines - born in 1852 in Virginia. Played 20 seasons and ended up with a career batting average of .302 with 399 doubles, 93 triples, 57 HR, 855 RBI, and 163 SB (and 11 CS, a stat that apparently was kept from 1872-1875 and at no other time that Hines played). Played with the Washington Nationals (1872; just 1 year in existence; then played on another team that called itself the Washington Nationals 1886-1889 in the National League, it also folded), the Washington Blue Legs (1872, 1 year in existence; both Washington teams played in the National Association), the Chicago White Stockings (became the Chicago Cubs in 1903, oddly enough, played for both the National League and the National Association teams), the Providence Grays (which folded in 1885; National League team), the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the National League (which folded in 1889), the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (Pirates), with the Boston Beaneaters (Braves) and finally with the Washington Statesmen (which became the Washington Senators 1892-1899 of the American Association). <stats> Player=Paul Hines Type=batting </stats>
Michael Tucker born in South Boston, VA in 1971. .257 career hitter. <stats> Player=Michael Tucker Type=batting </stats>
DH
Willie Horton - born in Arno in 1942. All-Star. OF and DH (mostly OF). 18 seasons with the Tigers, Rangers, Indians, Athletics, Blue Jays, and Mariners (mostly with the Tigers). Career .273 hitter with 284 doubles, 40 triples, 325 HR, 1163 RBI, and 3332 TB. Fielding: .972 in 1190 games as an OF, and 1.000 in 1 game at 3B. <stats> Player=Willie Horton Type=batting </stats>
Pitchers
& Eppa Rixey - born in Culpeper in 1891. Played 1912-1933. Ended up with a Hall of Fame career and a record of 266-251 with an ERA of 3.15 in 692 games (552 GS), with 290 CG, 37 SHO, and 14 saves in 4494.7 innings pitched. <stats> Player=Eppa Rixey Type=pitching </stats>
Doc Ayers - born in Fancy Gap in 1890. Played 1913-1921. That WS1 in the stats refers to the Washington Senators which eventually moved on to become the Minnesota Twins. <stats> Player=Doc Ayers Type=pitching </stats>
Charlie Ferguson
Born in Charlottesville in 1863. Played 1884-1887 (age 21-24, died in 1888). Ended up with a record of 99-64 and an ERA of 2.67 in 183 games (170 GS), with 165 CG, 13 shut-outs, and four saves in 1514.7 innings pitched. Best year: 30-9 with an ERA of 1.98 in 45 GS. One of those odd things: had the most saves in the league in both 1886 & 1887. How many did he have? 2 in 1886 and 1 in 1887 (of course tied for the most in that year). He also had a career batting average of .288 with 13 triples. He also played OF, 2B and 3B. I’m not sure what happened to him, but he was just starting a great career when he died.
A different Ferguson shows up in the stats code.
Deacon Phillippe - born in Rural Retreat in 1872. Played 1899-1911. Phillippe started with the Louisville Colonels of the National League in 1899. The Colonels started as the Louisville Eclipse in 1882, and changed names to the Louisville Colonels in 1885. The Louisville franchise folded in 1899. The team started in the American Association but switched to the National League in 1892. <stats> Player=Deacon Phillippe Type=pitching </stats>
Ed Willett - born in Norfolk in 1884. Played 1906-1915. Willett played for the Detroit Tigers from 1906-1913 and then joined that upstart rival league, the Federal League for it's entire existance (1914-1915). When that league ended, so did Willett's career. Willett played for the St. Louis Terriers. <stats> Player=Ed Willett Type=pitching </stats>
And someone who actually played recently: Bobby Witt - born in 1964 in Arlington, VA. <stats> Player=Bobby Witt Type=pitching </stats>
Manager
Pat Sullivan - born in Lewisburg in 1854. At the age of 36, Sullivan managed three games for the 1890 Columbus Solons 1890 and acquired a record of 2-1 for a winning percentage of .667. That team played in the American Association and finished the year in second place with a record of 79-55. Sullivan would die six years later in 1896, when Billy Nash, also of Virginia, managed the Philadelphia Phillies.
or
Billy Nash - born in Richmond in 1865. At the age of 31, Nash managed and played in 130 games for the 1896 Philadelphia Phillies. His managing record of 62-68 for a winning percentage of .477 is the best percentage for any manager born in Virginia who has managed at least 4 games. The Phillies finished eighth in the National League with that 62-68 record. Nash played in 15 seasons in the majors, from 1884 (when he was 19) until 1898 (when he was 33), for a total of 1549 games. He ended up with a career batting average of .275 in 5849 at-bats, and had an impressively low 384 strike-outs (compared with 803 walks and 1606 hits). Nash hit 266 doubles, 87 triples, 60 home-runs, 977 RBI, and stole 265 bases. Nash also pitched in 2 games, for a total of 1.3 innings. He gave up 1 hit and 1 walk but zero runs. He had an overall fielding percentage of .896. He played 3B (1464), 2B (43), SS (36), OF (8), and pitcher (2).
& = in the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Date
Wed 07/12/06, 8:02 am EST
