A strong Birthday Team today led by two World Series champion managers.

C: The Other Cliff Lee (2.6 WAR)
1B: Jake Beckley (61.1 WAR)
2B: Don Kolloway (2.5 WAR)
3B: B.J. Surhoff (34.4 WAR)
SS: Orlando Arcia (2.2 WAR)
LF: Cleon Jones (18.0 WAR)
CF: Johnny Grubb (16.6 WAR)
RF: Luke Easter (12.2 WAR)

SP: Roger Clemens (139.2 WAR)
SP: Dolf Luque (48.1 WAR)
SP: Eric Milton (16.5 WAR)
SP: Bill Hallahan (14.2 WAR)
SP: George Caster (8.5 WAR)
RP: Bob Howry (10.7 WAR)
RP: Scott Linebrink (9.3 WAR)

Co-Managers: John Farrell, Dallas Green
Bench bat: Troy O'Leary (7.2 WAR)
Fun name: Ski Melillo, Phonney Martin
Good glove, no bat: Ray Oyler (0.0 WAR)
-5.9 career WAR: Tuck Stainback (-5.9 WAR)

Good glove, no bat: Ray Oyler (0.0 WAR)

The enormously successful Ray Oyler Fan Club is one of the more endearing aspects of the Seattle Pilots story. The collective delusion that Oyler, who hit .165 for the Pilots and had a .175 lifetime batting average, was going to hit .300 is a leap of faith unparalleled in baseball fandom. The Fan Club card of the SOC IT TO ME .300 Club (signed by President Judy Carne)* actually states "Slugger Oyler Can, In Time, Top Our Manager's Estimate. He WILL hit .300! He will! He will..."

* For those who don't get the cultural reference, Judy Carne was one of the stars of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In", the top-rated TV show in 1969. "Sock it to me!" was one of the show's many catchphrases.

Jonathan India, HR by month in 2021

April, 1
May, 2
June, 3
July, 4

any bets on how many he hits in August? :-)

Oyler had been the most-regular shortstop for the pennant-winning 1968 Tigers, despite hitting an appalling .135/.213/.186 during the regular season, good for a 20 OPS+. In what became a famous move, Mayo Smith benched him for the World Series, moving his center fielder, Mickey Stanley, to shortstop.

I didn't realize till just now that Smith actually had Stanley start at short for the last week of the regular season, so he wasn't coming to the position totally cold in the World Series. Generally, when that story is told, it's that Stanley switched positions just for the World Series.

Craig Biggio and BJ Surhoff are an interesting matched set. Both catchers who ran well from the NYC area, both 1st round picks out of D-I colleges, but Biggio gets switched off catcher three years earlier than Surhoff (25 vs 28). If the Brewers switch Surhoff to 3B three years earlier does his bat improve then, like it did at 30? Is he a borderline HOF candidate?

Jonathan India, HR by month in 2021

April, 1
May, 2
June, 3
July, 4

any bets on how many he hits in August? :-)

August is the hottest month in India.

He has around a 1.40 ops so far in August!

Jonathan India, HR by month in 2021

April, 1
May, 2
June, 3
July, 4

any bets on how many he hits in August? :-)

I'll mark him down, in ink, for 5.

C: The Other Cliff Lee (2.6 WAR)

So who's the best pair with the same name? (Preferably not Jrs but I'm not sure the list is gonna be very long so we'll let them in).

The two Cliff Lees are at a respectable 45. The two Bill Lees are at 54 and both very good. The two Frank Thomases at 93.

Willie Mays Aiken does not count. There may need to be some minimum requirement on the 2nd guy but I suppose the two Randy Johnsons (and there's a third) do count. The second one made it to 550 PA and according to WAR was above-average in that time so that's not nothing. So that's 104 for the Johnsons.

The two 1980's William Wilson's have 86 WAR.

Typo? I think you'll see that's 68. But the two Mookies have already passed that at 71. (They don't count in this exercise.)

we're getting towards a team:

C: Cliff Lee
1B: Frank Thomas
2B:
SS:
3B: Randy Johnson
OF: Willie Wilson, William "Mookie" Wilson, Frank Thomas

SP: Randy Johnson, Cliff Lee, Bill Lee, Bill Lee ... rotation's looking good and we're probably not done yet.

We'll probably pick up another OF along the way and can move Frank Thomas to 3B (he wasn't very good there).

Huh, the 2nd Bob Gibson played more than I realized, 269 IP so they might qualify. The 2nd Billy Williams didn't play enough but there was a Bill Williams in the NeL who was above-average.

The two George Burnses add up to 74.8, but they were strictly a first baseman and an outfielder, so they're not going to help much with the team-building.

You've obviously got a couple of Bob Millers in the bullpen.

The second-best Pedro Martinez was worth 1.0 WAR, putting the two of them at 84.9.

Jose A. Valentin and Jose J. "Javier" Valentin add up to 32.4 WAR and get you a good shortstop or second baseman.

Hal W Smith can give you 4.2 as a catcher. He’s Tim Flannery’s uncle, as a bit of trivial trivia.
Hal R Smith only gives you 1.9.

The Alex Gonzalezes give you 20 WAR at SS.
Neither played 2B, although you’d think they could.

Sums are nice and all, but this is the sort of game that just begs for a harmonic mean.

The Bobs Johnson give you a great corner outfielder, and adequate utility guy, a kinda mediocre swing man, and I guess a back up catcher, although he's not a whole lot worse than the other Cliff Lee.

The two Billy Hamiltons give you 73 WAR in the outfield.

There have recently been two Austin Adamses and two David Carpenters, all 4 of whom were RHRP.

George Stone gives you a 26.0 WAR outfielder, and a pretty average pitcher who can start and relieve.

Hal W Smith can give you 4.2 as a catcher. He’s Tim Flannery’s uncle, as a bit of trivial trivia.
Hal R Smith only gives you 1.9.

Their combined cWPA is more impressive.

According to WAR, two Jeff D'Amico's is a bit worse than one.