Fun With Presidential Surnames

As the election season and the division races heat up, I thought I’d get on baseball-reference.com and see how common presidential last names are to baseball players.

There are no McCains or Obamas in the history of Major League Baseball. No Palins or Bidens either. There is a Marcus McCain who last played 84 games batting .284 and stealing 19 bases for the high A Florida State League champion St.Petersburg Devil Rays in 1997. In 2006, Jacob Barrack pitched alongside Kyle Kendrick on the Phillies high A team pitching 30 innings in 25 games.

These are unconventional candidates, but in the long history of WASP presidents with very common last names one would think that the names would transfer proportionally to baseball players. One would be wrong. There are only three Washingtons with at least 150 career games, only three Jeffersons period, and zero Roosevelts. Prior to Cincinatti reliever Mike Lincoln, the only Lincoln in baseball history is Ezra Perry Lincoln, a left-handed starter born three years after Abraham Lincoln’s Assasination. Ezra (3-14 5.28 career) pitched on the 44-88 1890 Cleveland Spiders that included a 19 year-old George Davis, and a 23 year-old Denton True Young. I got to thinking, if there are two Roosevelts out of 42 presidents, and 0 out of thousands of baseball players, what other inconsistencies can I find in the depths of baseball-reference.com? I decided to form a team out of the Presidential surnames:

Lineup

SS Travis Jackson- A member of the great Giants teams of the `20s and `30s who are disproportionately represented by the hall of fame. It would be like if Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill, and Jorge Posada were all inducted for being good players on a great team.

New York Giant	career games	years	hof standards	hof monitor	WS games	similar hitter
George Kelly	1622	`15-`32	22.0	48.0	26	Bob Watson
Freddie Lindstrom	1438	`24-`36	26.9	56.0	11	Jeff Cirillo
Dave Bancroft	1913	`15-`30	24.9	84.5	24	Steve Sax
Ross Youngs	1211	`17-`26	32.1	72.5	26	Ichiro Suzuki
Travis Jackson	1656	`22-`36	25.9	28.0	19	Carlos Baerga

2B Tony Taylor- The Cuban Taylor is the only Taylor ever to play in the all-star game.

CF Hack Wilson- With Willie, Mookie and Preston, the best last name to have if playing centerfield.

RF Joe Carter - Could have chose Gary Carter behind the plate, Adam Kennedy on the bench, UL Washington at SS, and Reggie Jackson in RF.

3b Howard Johnson- HoJo hit 157 homers and stole 160 bases from `87 to `91, and hit only 228 homers and stole 231 bases in his 14 year career. Judy Johnson would probably be a much better pick, but I limited this to MLB players.

LF Gus Zernial- There are no Eisenhowers in MLB history, so, “I like Ike”, Ozark Ike that is, in left field. Led the AL in hrs, rbis, and extra-base hits in 1951, and was not only not an All-Star, but was traded, and finished 20th in the MVP voting.

1b Reggie Jefferson- A switch hitting athlete with tons of potential cut short by injuries, strikeouts, poor defense, and an inability to hit left-handed pitching. In 122 games for BOS in `96 his numbers were .347/.388/.593. In 136 games in `97, they were .319/.388/.470. Three years later he played his final season in Japan.

C Terry Kennedy- There have been two John Kennedys- John Irvin Kennedy, a shortstop who went 0-2 in 5 games for the `57 Phillies, a back up for Chico Fernandez who PHI traded 3 major leaguers, two minor leaguers , and $75,000 to get from the Dodgers after they decided to move Granny Hamner to 2B. And John Edward Kennedy who played in Washington in `62, and `63, while JFK was serving, and was involved in the Frank Howard/Claude Osteen deal. He later played in 6 World Series games for LAD in `65 and `66. Terry, a second generation player, has always seemed like a perfect candidate for a manager, and has been very successful as a minor league manager being named Baseball America’s Manager of the Year in 1998.

Pitching Staff

SP Walter Johnson- The Big Train or The Big Unit you can’t go wrong here. The Big Train hit .433 with 6 doubles, a triple and 2 homers in 97 atbats in 1925

SP Whitey Ford- An obvious choice, but I was tempted to pick Lew Ford, a player I always liked who seemed to just disappear as soon as he left the Twins. He was the quintessential Twins over-achiever.  

SP Joe Bush- Fred Merkle was the first player to play in the World Series with three different franchises, but he was never on a world champion. In `23, Bush and battery mate Wally Schang became the first players to win a World Series with three different franchises, both with PHA, BOS, and NYY.

SP Billy Pierce- Pierce was a seven-time all-star with 2000 ks, and 200 wins. He was the Sporting News pitcher of the year in `56 and `57, both 20-game win seasons, and is 1-1 with a 1.89 ERA in five World Series games.

SP Babe Adams- The Pirates 2^nd all-time leader in wins, and 1st in shutouts. In the 1909 World Series, Adams won game one, four and seven with three complete games.

World Series Pitcher	Record	IP	K/BB	WHIP	ERA
Babe Adams 1909 vs. DET	3-0	27.0	11/6	0.888	1.33
Christy Mathewson 1905 vs. PHA	3-0	27.0	18/1	0.555	0.00
Bob Gibson 1967 vs.BOS	3-0	27.0	26/5	0.703	1.00

RP Lefty Tyler-A mediocre 127-116 career pitcher that caught fire during the miracle `14 Braves second half. The Braves went 68-19 after July 4. In August, Tyler pitched two consecutive extra inning shutouts against Red Ames and Christy Mathewson. They went on to sweep the mighty A’s in the World Series under Manager George Stallings whose only rule was, “Do what you want , but don’t wind up in jail and come to play everyday.”

RP Mudcat Grant- Mudcat won 21 games for the AL champion Twins in `65, and later founded the black aces.

RP Ted Lilly- Theodore Roosevelt Lilly has been a work horse in his career and currently leads the NL in games started. His postseason record is 0-2 with a 6.61 ERA in five games, but it looks like he’ll get a chance to improve that this season.

RP Reggie Cleveland-

Canadian Born Pitchers	W	L	GS
Ferguson Jenkins	284	226	594
Kirk McCaskill	106	108	242
Reggie Cleveland	105	106	203
Russ Ford	99	71	170
John Hiller	87	76	43

RP Cal McLish- Calvin Coolidge Julius Ceasar Tuskahoma McLish won 19 games for the 89-56 `59 Indians who finished 2^nd to the Go-Go Sox. Manager Joe Gordon had his hands full with a roster that could out zoo the Bronx Zoo, and Billy Martin was in the middle of both. The Cast of characters included Martin, McLish, the flamboyant 1B Vic Power, an eccentric OF of Minnie Minuso, Jimmie Piersall, and Rocky Colavito, the intelligent out-spoken Mudcat Grant, Herb Score psychologically recovering from a batted ball to the face, and Al Cicotte, the great nephew of one of the Black Sox.

RP Phil Regan- Regan’s 1966 season – 14-1, 1.62 era, .934 whip, 21 svs, 48 gf, 116.7 ip, 65 gms. Bill James called it the 8^th best season by a reliever.

Bench

C Frankie Hayes- Hayes was a six-time All-Star in the `30s and `40s. He caught 312 consecutive games, and 155 in `44, only Randy Hundley caught more in one season.

SS Donie Bush-Much has been made about Honus Wagner outplaying Ty Cobb in the `09 World Series, but comparing Wagner to his opposite position, the 21 year-old rookie Bush held his own.

1909 World Series Shortstop	ave/obp/slg	hits/abs	runs	rbis	sbs
Donie Bush	.318/.483/.364	7/22	5	3	1
Honus Wagner	.333/.467/.500	8/24	4	6	6

SS UL Washington- Growing up in Kansas City, I was obsessed with UL Washington.  He was flashy defensively, fast, had a great afro, I knew his real name was actually UL, and he played every inning with a toothpick in his mouth. He was everything a 5 year old kid looks for in a ball player. I read somewhere that the league actually outlawed toothpicks sometime in the mid-`80s.

OF Taffy Wright- Taft Shedron Wright has a career .799 OPS, and a career .311 batting average- 97^th best all-time. The right fielder lost three and a half years to WWII.

OF Otis Nixon- 16^th all-time in stolen bases, 7^th all-time in caught stealing.

OF Max Venable- William McKinley Venable- His son Will, who he was the hitting coach for at AAA Portland, may end up being a better all around player, but Max hit .371 as a pinch hitter for the Reds in `85, and could be a late inning replacement for Zernial in left.

Manager Ron Polk- Former Mississippi State manager who had 8 career College World Series appearances, and was named Manager of the Year twice. Managed Will Clark, Rafeal Palmeiro, Jeff Brantley, and Bobby Thigpen.

C Ches Crist- There are no Arthurs in MLB history, so Chester Arthur Crist will give the team a third catcher. Crist backed up Red Dooin on the `06 Phillies, in 6 games going 0-11 and commiting 2 errors.  

1b Chuck Harrison- He made his debut in the NL in `65. Not a good year to debut if you’re a hitter. Pitchers Ken Holtzman, Steve Carlton, Fergie Jenkins, Tug McGraw and Nelson Briles all made their debut that year, and the league batting average was .249.

UT Scotti Madison-Played 26 games for the Reds at 3B in `89. Played 28 games in the 4 previous years with DET and KC. Eight at C, eight at DH, six at 1B, one at 3b, two in LF, one in RF.

SS Joe Hoover- During WWII, every team struggled in places, and Hoover was part of a string of shortstops for Detroit in the 40s after Billy Rogell was traded away, and before Johnny Lipon emerged. Hoover was caught stealing for the third out in the 12^th inning of Game 6 in the 1945 World Series by Cubs backup catcher Dewey Williams. The Cubs won in the bottom of the 12^th on a Stan Hack double, but Detroit bounced back and won Game 7 convincingly.

IF Bobby Adams- Adams finished 22^nd in the MVP voting for the Reds in 1952, but was generally an all-purpose infielder, and a similar batter to Joey Cora and Mickey Morandini. For those who talk of the good old days when the stolen base mattered, Adams was in the top 10 in sbs three times in his career with 16, 9, and 11 in `46, `47, and `52 respectively.

OF Craig Monroe- A valuable part of the `06 Tigers, his career seems to be at its end.

OF Brian Buchanan- Originally a Yankees 1^st rnd pick, involved in the first of the veteran for multiple prospects that have been the building block for the Twins resurgence. The Twins got Buchanan, Christian Guzman, and Eric Milton for Chuck Knoblauch.

OF Lou Clinton- Clinton, a strong armed Red Sox right fielder, combined for 40 homers in `62 and `63, but was traded away in `64, not coincidentally the year Tony Conigliaro made his debut.

P Jermaine Van Buren- A 2^nd rnd pick by COL, has bounced around appearing in 16 career games.

P Roric Harrison- Harrison won 11 and struck out 130 in 177.3 innings for Atlanta in `73. He the last pitcher to hit a home run in an AL game before the dh rule, and 6 of his 15 career hits were homers .

P Phil Morrison- There are no Fillmores in MLB history so this will have to do. Morrison faced only three hitters in his career giving up one hit and striking out one on the 1921 Pirates. His brother Johnny won 89 games for the Pirates, including 25 in 1923.

P Mike Lincoln- After two elbow surgeries, and almost four seasons out of baseball, Lincoln has returned to the majors, and appeared in 59 games for the Reds.

P Harry Shuman- Sorry, it’s either Shuman or the Washington reliever Truman Eugene “Tex” Clevenger. Shuman pitched in 30 games from `42-`44 without a decision.

P Bill Garfield- Garfield was 1-9 over 13 career games, and a staffmate of Ezra Perry Lincoln and Cy Young on the 1890 Cleveland Spiders.

P Charlie Harding- Pitched only 2 career innings giving up 1 run.

P Ted Wieand- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Wieand- I considered Jack Roosevelt Robinson or even Roosevelt Brown, but ended up with Lilly and Wieand. Wieand was traded with pitchers Marty Kutyna, and Willard Schmidt by the Cardinals to get Curt Flood. The three pitchers combined won 20 total games after the trade.

Sources: baseball-reference.com, BillJamesonline.net, minorleaguebaseball.com, baseballalmanac.com, baseballlibrary.com, wikipedia.com