Let's see how their team breaks down...
Vancouver Mounties All-Time Lineup
(Digging the old school logo)Catcher
Doc Dahl
Dahl takes us back to before the modern era with the Mounties, having spent most of his Vancouver days playing from 1985 to 1995. For catchers go, he was solid, but not a superstar. He was good for double digit homeruns and at least 60 RBI. Again, don't expect any awards for that but when you can do it over a 10-11 year period it gets you some recognition, at least within the organization. He had 2 seasons of a WAR over 5.0 which allowed me to go with him over the defensive stud Roark Dempsey. Dahl is 9th all-time in OBP and played long enough to rank 9th in the franchise in WAR. He's also top 10 in runs and hits. So, he wasn't that bad.
Firstbase
Brock Lee
Lee was the bomber in the middle of the lineup for those Landis Championship teams. From 1998 to 2003, Lee drove in at least 102 RBI every year, peaking out 129 in 2001. He spent 9 seasons with the Mounties and hit 20 or more homeruns in all 9. He wasn't just an all or nothing guy either. In a 3 year run, he hit .294, .296, and .302. He is 3rd in franchise history in homeruns and 2nd in RBI all-time. Since he was just consistent, and not a dominating force at the corner infield spot, he only appeared in 2 all-star games, but only 1 was with Vancouver.
Second Base
Douglas Newhouse
You will see this with several of our Vancouver players, Newhouse spent his entire 20 year career with the Vancouver organization. So, it makes it easy to state he owns numerous records during his stay. His 105.5 career WAR is a franchise record by 50. In fact, it ranks 8th all-time in the entire league. He played in 2,819 games (franchise high) in which he scored 1,962 runs, had 2,828 hits, 447 homeruns, and 1,444 RBI. All franchise records by substantial margins. He appeared in 11 all-star games and won a lone Sawyer Silk Award in 2001 when he hit .336 with a 1.078 OPS with 36 homeruns and 115 RBI. Oddly enough, he only had 2 30 homerun seasons and the 2nd one wouldn't come until 11 seasons later. 2001 was his only 100 RBI season. His WAR that season ranks 4th in the modern era. He was inducted into the MBWBA Hall of Fame in 2018, appearing on 95.5% of the ballots.
Shortstop
Matt Brunson
I'm surprised I don't know much about Brunson prior to typing this out. You'd think I would considering he played right in the middle of Vancouver's post-season run (which corresponded with Madison's). Brunson tallied 2,406 hits with the Vancouver franchise, ranking him behind Newhouse on the all-time list. What a middle infield! Is there another franchise that can claim their middle infield had over 5,200 total hits? Well, maybe one!
Oddly enough, Brunson never appeared in an All-Star game, this including his 2002 year in which he hit .312 with 230 hits. He hit over .300 3-times with Vancouver.Thirdbase
Nick Mannerden
Another infielder that played during the Vancouver hay-day. I think Joe and I expected this to be the case when constructing this lineup. Mannerden played in Vancouver from 1996-2008, spending his entire 13 year career with the Mounties organization. During those years he hit .313 which ranks tops all-time in franchise history. He hit this thanks to 7 consecutive seasons of batting over .300, including 2 years in which he hit over .350. He is 5th all-time in RBI and 8th all-time in Homeruns with the franchise. Despite doing so well for so long, he only appeared in 2 All-Star games. Perhaps more a testimony of the strong infield class in the league during this time. Mannerden would be a 6-7 time all-star in the JL at 3B if he played today.
Leftfield
Izzy Vaughn
Vaughn had a short but impactful career both in the MBWBA and with Vancouver. He entered the league at its inception in 1973 at the age of 27. He spent 5 seasons with Vancouver before moving to Buffalo. He'd return to Vancouver at age 35 to spend his final season in the league with the club that brought him in. Vaughn drew over 100 walks in each of his first 4 seasons with the Mounties that led him to posting a career best OBP of .410 for his career there. His on-base percentage those first 4 years were: .404, .404, .436, .460. Yes, he got on-base 46% of the time in 1976. That's the 2nd best single season OBP in team history behind Newhouse's Silk season. Izzy appeared in one all-star game, in 1974.
Centerfield
Scott Bucher
You have to go way back to find our Centerfielder for this squad. All the way back to the start of the league. Bucher played in Vancouver 1973 to 1981. He hit .289 during his career in Vancouver which ranks 8th all-time. Four different times he hit over .300 while wearing a Mounties uniform. He's tied for 9th all-time in franchise history in WAR with a 34.7 mark. He ranks 2nd all-time in franchise history in stolen bases with 434, trailing only Douglas Newhouse. In 1979, he hit .311 with 26 homeruns and 93 RBI en route to his lone Sawyer Silk Award. He only played in three all-star games, but somehow add all of this up and it was enough to get him inducted into the MBWBA Hall of Fame back in 1984. Several year ago I ranked the 56 Hall of Fame members in the league, I ranked Bucher at 48.
Rightfield
Jeremy Finch
Finch had sort of a roller coaster career in Vancouver with a monster season mixed in there. Finch was a solid player in Vancouver from 2003 to 2009, hitting for an average of around .300 during that time and was good for a mid 20s number of homeruns and at least 90 RBI. Definitely a solid run of seasons. But then 2010 came. Finch found some magic that year (or maybe some juice) that resulted in a season in which he hit .335 with a 1.031 OPS, 40 homeruns, and 145 RBI en route to a Sawyer Silk Award victory. He was never really a factor in the award prior to or since then. In fact, he only appeared in 3 all-star games. But don't let me sell him as a bum. He is 6th all-time in WAR in franchise history, 1st in OPS, and 4th all-time in homeruns. He was a solid player who had a magnificent season in there.
Designated Hitter
Jack Maverick
A starting second baseman on nearly every other team in the league, but not when you're blocked by Newhouse in this franchise. Maverick is second all-time in franchise history in homeruns with 255. I mean, how many teams can claim their top two homerun guys are second basemen? He's 4th in franchise history with 910 RBI. He's 5th in hits. He appeared in 5 all-star games in his career, the first 4 coming as a member of the Mounties.
Starting Pitcher
Robbie Sargent
An easy decision here at starting pitcher. Robbie Sargent is one of the top starting pitchers of all-time. You could very easily make a case that he's a top 5 guy in the history of the league when you break down the numbers. His 291 career wins rank 2nd all-time, trailing only the "Golden Boy" Steve Nebraska. He struck out 3,405 batters which ranks him 10th all-time. He spent his entire career in Vancouver so it is easy to say he has most of the records for starting pitchers. He only won 2 Nebraska Awards during his career despite posting 6 different 20-win seasons. 2005 was clearly his best season when he went 25-3 with a 2.21 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. He captured his first of those two Nebraska Awards that season. He appeared in 8 all-star games during his career. In 2018 he was inducted into the MBWBA Hall of Fame, appearing on 90.9% of the ballots.
Closer
Jason Egan
A slam dunk, no-brainer at closer for the Mounties squad. Arguably the best closer of all-time, his greatness spurred the league to change the Reliever of the Year award from the Gunga Oogalagunga Award to the Jason Egan Award and rightfully so. Look at his resume: 9-time Reliever of the Year Award Winner, 14 time All-Star, All-Time Saves leader with 753. Needless to say he owns countless Vancouver records as well. In 2007, he actually won the Steve Nebraska Award given to the overall top pitcher. I didn't do a thorough comparison, but to my knowledge he is the only pitcher to have won the Nebraska and Oogalagunga/Egan Award in the same season. He was inducted into the MBWBA Hall of Fame 2020, disappointingly receiving only 79.2% of the votes cast.
