A few weeks back there was a comment about the best players in Ohio history. I'm going to try to choose the best Cleveland players instead.
And just what is a Cleveland player? Is it the city boundaries? For this exercise I have used three distinct sets of criteria. First I'll determine the best players from Cuyahoga County. Then I'll add players from the Greater Cleveland Area: Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties. Later in the week I'll add players from Ashland, Ashtabula, Carroll, Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne counties to look at Northeast Ohio, what might be considered Indians territory.
In addition to players born in these places, I also included those who played at high schools, junior colleges and/or universities there.
Cuyahoga County Batters
|
Hitter |
Years |
PA |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
OPS+ |
bWAR |
C |
Terry Kennedy |
1978-91 |
5421 |
264 |
314 |
386 |
96 |
21.5 |
1B |
Joe Kuhel |
1930-47 |
9094 |
277 |
359 |
406 |
104 |
26.6 |
2B |
Jim Delahanty |
1901-15 |
4688 |
283 |
357 |
373 |
122 |
19.1 |
3B |
Sal Bando |
1966-81 |
8287 |
254 |
352 |
408 |
119 |
61.4 |
SS |
Roger Peckinpaugh |
1910-27 |
8381 |
259 |
336 |
335 |
86 |
45.0 |
LF |
Ed Delahanty (HOF) |
1888-1903 |
8400 |
346 |
411 |
505 |
152 |
69.5 |
CF |
Dode Paskert |
1907-21 |
6988 |
268 |
350 |
361 |
108 |
24.4 |
RF |
Elmer Flick (HOF) |
1898-1910 |
6414 |
313 |
389 |
445 |
149 |
53.2 |
DH |
Mike Easler |
1973-87 |
4061 |
293 |
349 |
454 |
118 |
12.9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
Ed McFarland |
1893-1908 |
3364 |
275 |
335 |
369 |
103 |
18.7 |
1B/3B |
Bill Bradley |
1899-1915 |
6047 |
271 |
317 |
371 |
108 |
37.1 |
2B/SS |
Bill Wambsganss |
1914-26 |
6107 |
259 |
328 |
327 |
78 |
3.8 |
OF |
Joe Vosmik |
1930-44 |
6088 |
307 |
369 |
438 |
104 |
12.9 |
That lineup looks pretty decent, including two Hall of Famers. The catching spot was basically a toss-up between Kennedy and McFarland. Jim Leyritz was another option, but he really didn't catch a ton. I can honestly say I didn't know of Kuhel before this. He had a long career with the Senators and White Sox. But the only other real option at first was Mike Hegan. I like having Bradley as a reserve as he was regarded as one of the best defensive players in the game and is one of the Top 100 Indians.
Jim Delahanty was the easiest choice over Ray Mack and Wambsganss. Delahanty is one of four brothers (all from Cleveland to play in the nineteenth century. Mack had more WAR than Wambsganss, but unassisted triple play in the World Series gives him the nod as well. Peckinpaugh was another easy choice and could be the manager as well. I unfortunately could not add Jerry Dybzinski to the squad as much as I wanted to.
Having two Hall of Famers in Ed Delahanty and Flick make this outfield very strong. Paskert is another guy I didn't know, but he had a very solid career for the Reds, Phillies and Cubs. Vosmik can play all three outfield spots while Easler was the only player truly to have been a DH. Mickey Hatcher would be my first call up for an injury as he was a true utility guy and solid pinch hitter.
Overall there were 103 hitters to choose from with 36 of them exceeding 1000 PAs, while 43 had fewer than 100 PAs.
Cuyahoga County Pitchers
|
Pitcher |
Years |
W-L |
GS |
WHIP |
K/9 |
ERA+ |
bWAR |
SP-R |
Urban Shocker |
1916-28 |
187-117 |
412 |
1.256 |
3.3 |
124 |
54.9 |
SP-L |
Rube Marquard |
1908-25 |
201-177 |
536 |
1.237 |
4.3 |
103 |
34.2 |
SP-R |
George Uhle |
1919-36 |
200-166 |
513 |
1.405 |
3.3 |
106 |
44.4 |
SP-R |
Ed Seward |
1885-91 |
89-72 |
176 |
1.225 |
3.6 |
107 |
20.8 |
SP-R |
Steve Stone |
1971-81 |
107-93 |
320 |
1.355 |
5.4 |
98 |
18.9 |
|
SV |
GR |
|
|
|
|
||
CL-R |
Jeff Shaw |
1990-2001 |
203 |
614 |
1.244 |
5.8 |
119 |
13.8 |
RP-R |
Matt Guerrier |
2004-14 |
6 |
552 |
1.262 |
5.9 |
119 |
7.8 |
RP-R |
Dale Mohorcic |
1986-1990 |
33 |
254 |
1.313 |
4.3 |
119 |
4.4 |
RP-R |
Tom Murphy |
1968-79 |
59 |
204 |
1.328 |
3.9 |
94 |
8.5 |
RP-R |
Dave Tobik |
1978-85 |
28 |
194 |
1.283 |
5.8 |
111 |
3.4 |
RP-L |
Buddy Schultz |
1975-79 |
12 |
165 |
1.333 |
7.2 |
103 |
1.1 |
RP-R |
Jim Bagby Jr. |
1938-47 |
9 |
105 |
1.454 |
2.3 |
97 |
8.9 |
As decent as the lineup looks, the staff isn't quite as nice. Having another Hall of Famer in Marquard is nice, but to me Shocker has the better numbers, and he spent half of his career with the pitiful St. Louis Browns. Uhle is another Indian I am happy to have on the staff. Stone makes an alright #5 guy. Seward is another of those nineteenth century players I know nothing about. He did pitch briefly for the Cleveland Spiders in 1891, but 98% of his games came with the Philadelphia Athletics from 1887-1890.
There were only fourteen starters to pick from that made 100 career starts. Bagby I decided to make my swing man for doubleheaders. Other options included Brett Tomko and Dave Mlicki.
Jeff Shaw is a fine closer to have on board. Guerrier and Murphy would be the setup men. But I would have liked and upgrade to Schultz, or to find another decent lefty. But almost every other choice is right-handed: Gary Glover, Al Aber, Art Decatur, Bob Kelly.
Overall, the lineup is good (not great) and the starters are solid, but the bullpen is lacking.
Normally I would have made a separate post for the Greater Cleveland Area (Cuyahogaa, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties). Adding the four surrounding counties of the Cleveland metro area brings only 32 more players to choose from, so it turns out there isn't much to change:
Changes for the Greater Cleveland Batters:
|
Hitter |
Years |
PA |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
OPS+ |
bWAR |
2B |
Ed McKean |
1887-99 |
7626 |
302 |
365 |
417 |
114 |
38.5 |
2B/SS |
Scott Fletcher |
1981-95 |
5976 |
262 |
332 |
342 |
85 |
32.0 |
Of the 13 hitters to choose from, three had over 5000 PAs while the other 10 had fewer than 200. McKean played for both the Cleveland Blues and Spiders and is an easy replacement for Delahanty. Fletcher is another easy choice to replace Wambsganss on the bench as he can actually play more positions.
Changes for the Greater Cleveland Pitchers:
None. There were only 13 pitchers to sort. Lee Richmond and Andy Sonnanstine being the best of them. The pitching staff doesn't change.