MBBA 50- The "What If?" Team

[recte44]

Throughout the first 50 years of our history, there have been several players who flashed onto the scene but for whatever reason weren't able to sustain a lengthy career. Here's a "What If?" Team from the MBBA's first 50 years:

The All-Could Have Been Team (Less than 1000 IP, SP; Less than 200 IP, RP; Less than 4500 AB, Batters, based on RC/9 and ERA+)


C- Jake Taylor (.276/.361/.487, 147 HR, 493 RBI)
One of the great power hitting catchers of the early years, Taylor was a victim of circumstance in that he was 33 years old when the league started.


1B- Rick Habin (.308/.375/.494, 165 HR, 589 RBI)
Habin was 32 when the league started, and retired at age 38. High average with great power.


2B- Chris Coll (.303/.390/.546, 197 HR, 661 RBI)
Coll burst onto the scene in 1998 with the Calgary Marauders, quickly becoming one of the most outstanding offensive players in the league and an annual Silk contender. In 2005, at age 31, he suddenly lost it and was out of the game after that year.


3B- Freedom Nixon (.255/.345/.536, 118 HR, 312 RBI)
Nixon opened up as a 33 year old slugging third baseman for the Phoenix Talons, but he only played three years in the league and retired after his age 35 year.


SS- Wings Hauser (.284/.362/.492, 117 HR, 384 RBI)
Hauser came up in 1994 as a promising 21 year old rookie, and in the next few years he established himself as one of the best shortstops in the game. As quickly as he arrived, the talent faded somehow, and he lost a starting role by 1999. In 2004, at age 31, he found himself as a reserve infielder for Rome in the EBA, and then he called it a career.


LF- Manuel Aguilar (.347/.398/.609, 74 HR, 241 RBI)
He was on his way to re-writing the record books, when in spring 2004, an injury ended his career. Read this article. Do it now.


CF- Werner McConnell (.307/.415/.517, 70 HR, 192 RBI)
Another extremely promising young player whose career was cut short due to injury. In this case, it might have set the (then) Phoenix franchise back a decade. It really hurt.


RF- Joe Thomas (.299/.390/.556, 126 HR, 397 RBI)
Thomas was an under the radar prospect when Madison brought him up to the majors, but he quickly became more than that. His postseason heroics earned him the nickname "Big Show Joe". After his age 27 season, however, his talents faded and he went off to the EBA, where he actually was productive in part time roles for another five years, but he never again would perform as he did in his peak of 2005 when he had a 1.051 OPS.


DH- Casey Martin (.303/.381/.510, 112 HR, 362 RBI)
Another Madison player who kind of emerged out of nowhere to become a big star. Had just a four year run as a starter, though, despite posting great numbers then served as a bench guy for the Wolves for a year, then Calgary, and then Montreal before retiring after his age 32 season.


P- Jesus Calabro (58 - 38, 2.95 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 588 K)
Talk about a flash- Calabro was a mediocre AAA pitcher in the first two years of the MBBA. At age 33 he made it to the show for cup of coffee with the Salt Lake Missions. Having liked what they saw out of his dominating six game stint (1.25 ERA), they gave him a slot on their roster in 1976 but he barely pitched (13 games, 2 starts, 2.10 ERA). 1977 came along, and Calabro, now 35 years old, was given a rotation slot. No one could have saw this coming as he went 23-7 with a 2.90 ERA and made the All-Star team. The next year, he was 20-11 with a 2.57 and earned a return honor as an All-Star. 1979, at age 37, saw him serve as a workhorse again but with not quite the success, going 12-19 with a 3.67 ERA. That was it for a short but brilliant career that came from seemingly nowhere.

Honorable Mentions (Batters):
Kevin Rhomberg (.319/.359/.487, 59 HR, 387 RBI) , Rod Carew (.333/.379/.467, 27 HR, 255 RBI) , Bulldog Sanders (.257/.377/.469, 142 HR, 458 RBI) . Lorenzo Picou (.328/.371/.480, 130 HR, 663 RBI) , Simon Caesar (.322/.437/.387, 0 HR, 32 RBI) , Randy Bass (.275/.359/.476, 95 HR, 294 RBI) , Lou Collins (.276/.354/.483, 108 HR, 316 RBI) , Vince Milani (.253/.323/.557, 265 HR, 807 RBI) , Rick Leach (.294/.348/.488, 119 HR, 585 RBI) , Brett Favre (.305/.348/.530, 86 HR, 319 RBI) , Kal Daniels (.309/.373/.459, 77 HR, 381 RBI) , Sixto Lezcano (.276/.361/.458, 101 HR, 374 RBI) , Todd Schmidt (.285/.368/.471, 121 HR, 436 RBI) , Dhani Yetnikoff (.284/.329/.514, 69 HR, 240 RBI) , Jonathan Armas (.294/.375/.478, 64 HR, 243 RBI) , Pat Messlin (.289/.359/.456, 57 HR, 256 RBI) , Mike Micar (.289/.371/.438, 45 HR, 172 RBI) , Denny Walling (.323/.386/.402, 8 HR, 141 RBI)

Honorable Mentions (Pitchers):
Robert Yoo (29 - 16, 3.58 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 296 K) , Sidney Vanfleet (63 - 35, 3.27 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 702 K) , Ed Figueroa (18 - 21, 3.13 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 188 K) , Al Alexander (30 - 21, 3.44 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 363 K),Schmidt Meyer (29 - 22, 2.43 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 399 K) , Anthony Petit (6 - 14, 3.88 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 97 K) , Simon Degree (21 - 28, 3.20 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 308 K) , Cody Rollins (18 - 19, 3.34 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 276 K)

[7teen]

Love this one! Obviously no one tops Manny Aguilar on the "What If" team. Nice to see a couple former Wolves. Chris Coll another name I remember from my early times with Madison.

I think we all have guys we could talk about "What If". More recently for me, Sinclair Kooijman and Miguel Flores

[recte44]

Keep 'em coming!

[cheekimonk]

[7teen]

Buehler? Buehler? Buehler?

It is safe to say, that had I not lost Kooijman and Flores, I'd be in a different position at the moment than I currently am. Both of them would have been 28. The fire sale of last season would not have happened. This What If article reminds me so much of the Bill Simmons chapter in his Book of Basketball about what could have happened in the NBA had certain picks been made differently in the draft.

[cheekimonk]

This What If article reminds me so much of the Bill Simmons chapter in his Book of Basketball about what could have happened in the NBA had certain picks been made differently in the draft.

I was thinking the exact same thing. And that would make a really cool league feature, too. Probably worth "Special Project" status.


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[felipe]

Haven't had a lot of career enders, but I have had an inordinate amount of guys have one or two good seasons, and then just have their ratings dramatically plunge overnight.

I think that's even more frustrating...

[agrudez]

I'm pretty surprised Eric Rouse didn't make this list. Maybe he stuck around too long as a shade of his former self (though still productive), but he definitely fits the category of pre-mature ratings flame-outs.

[avery]

great feature!

[njherdfan]

I remember seeing that article about Aguilar on the OOTP boards and thinking about how cool this league was. I still think that!

[JohnC]

I cringe every time Aguilar's name get's brought up. I think Ben handled it better then I would have....

[scottsdale_joe]

Vancouver's Martini Ben Walsh - slow starter but 16-6 in his final season (2000), age 27, when a CEI ended his career. At least he retired with two championship rings.

Vancouver's Jimmy Joe Janero, now a manager in the Halifax system, had 877 hits by the time he was 23 years old when his career ended with a CEI in 2000. He was awarded a full share and a ring despite having played in only 44 games that season.

Those were two tough CEI's for a team to endure in one season, but the Mounties repeated as MBBA champs in 2000 without Walsh and Janero around for the playoffs. The Mounties never won another title despite making the playoffs ten more times in the next twelve years.

[nerfHerder]

Another great article. That is one hell of an outfield. Losing Werner McConnell was the first time in my life that I ever mourned a file from a computer game. Man did that hurt. On a side note, what about a guy like Bill Murray? He had a hell of a season a few years ago, after some solid ones before. Now he isn't anything more than a defensive replacement.

[jleddy]

**70th Anniversary Bump**

While reading the '42 Media Guide and perusing Randy's awesome leaderboards, I came across a name I've never heard in my three-plus seasons in the BBA: Chris Coll. Dude is 6th all-time in Runs Scored/Game at a whopping 124. Then I noticed Coll played just eight seasons. I fired up the game and looked up his player page and wow...debuted at 24 (back when that wasn't considered an old rookie!), won the Silk a year later and had five-straight seasons of at least 5.0 WAR. Then two years later, he's out of the game. I searched for forum for more answers and came across this awesome post.

This is some tremendous stuff that is a great supplement for our 70th anniversary.

(Aside: Could McConnell Jr. be falling in his old man's footsteps?)

[RonCo]

Just when I start to think I know a lot about this league.

Yes this is a great post.

[usnspecialist]

does alfredo Martinez qualify for this team now DESPITE being a hall of famer?

[RonCo]

Carlton Winson might.

[7teen]

I love it when old threads like this get dug up. Nice job, Joe!

[johnd2442]

C- Jake Taylor (.276/.361/.487, 147 HR, 493 RBI)
One of the great power hitting catchers of the early years, Taylor was a victim of circumstance in that he was 33 years old when the league started.

My heavens what an amazing post and thread. I got into the game and looked up Jake Taylor. Such an interesting player with those three terrific years and even a very good one at age 37 when he hit .281 with 20 homers. One more year and then he was done. I've bookmarked this so I can learn a bit more of long ago BBA history.

[recte44]

Thanks guys. I honestly forgot about this post. Fun to look back!