Post by Sha-Le Unique on Aug 7, 2015 17:26:45 GMT -5
Less than a month ago during the real life 2015 MLB All-Star Game festivities, each team's "Franchise Four" was revealed before the All-Star Game itself. Earlier in the season, fans were asked to vote for the 4 best players in each team's franchise history out of 8 nominees. This inspired me and got me thinking...what would each HOFFBL team's Franchise Four look like at this point?
Thus, I went through the site and CATO extensively to search through every team's history and see who their 4 best players were that had the biggest impact on the given team for a long period of time. I'll then show what they did for their team(s) to show what kind of impact they had. Players can be eligible for multiple teams as long as they played for 3 full seasons, but if they spent a significant portion of their careers with 1 team, I will try to not consider them as part of another team as well. Longevity with the same team will be valued quite a bit here. I'll also provide 4 additional players per team as honorable mention nominees to make it look like an 8-nominee fan ballot like it was in reality.
Expansion teams will not be included unfortunately in this edition because of their very limited histories. They need more time for this.
We'll start it off with the AL East teams.
Baltimore Orioles
2B Jack Bloomfield (1958-present)
- Is the Orioles' career leader in average, OBP, OPS, home runs and RBI
- Has hit .295 over 7 1/2 seasons with 141 doubles, 134 home runs, 551 RBI, and an .824 OPS
- Has been a 3-time All-Star in 1959, 1963 and 1964
- Has won 2 Gold Glove Awards in 1962 and 1963
CF Frank Howard (1961-1965)
- Has hit .252 over 4 1/2 seasons with 87 doubles, 112 home runs and 357 RBI
- Is 2nd in Orioles history in home runs and 3rd in slugging
SP Larry Jackson (1955-1965)
- Holds Orioles career records in wins, strikeouts, games started, complete games and shutouts
- Was a 2-time All-Star in 1961 and 1964
- Won 20 games in 1962 with a 3.06 ERA
- Posted a career best 2.67 ERA in 1964
LF John Weekly (1961-1965)
- Has hit .274 with 74 doubles, 113 home runs, 391 RBI and an .811 OPS in 4 1/2 seasons
- Has been a 2-time All-Star in 1962 and 1964
- Set career highs in home runs (32) and RBI (107) in 1964
Honorable Mentions: Mel Held, Brooks Robinson, Floyd Robinson, Bill Short
Boston Red Sox
SP Joe Albanese (1955, 1958-present)
- Won the 1962 AL Cy Young Award, with 28 wins (led AL), a 2.44 ERA, 128 strikeouts and 8 shutouts (led AL)
- 2nd in Red Sox history in ERA and 3rd in wins
- Has been a 3-time All-Star in 1960, 1962 and 1965
SS Luis Aparicio (1956-present)
- Has hit .285 over 9 1/2 seasons with 315 doubles, 120 home runs, 575 RBI and a .772 OPS, all with the Red Sox
- Is the Red Sox career leader in hits, doubles, runs, and stolen bases
- Has led the AL in triples 4 times and in stolen bases 5 times
- Has been a 4-time All-Star in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965
1B Dick Gernert (1952-1964)
- Spent his entire career with the Red Sox, hitting .262, with 218 doubles, 204 home runs (franchise record), 816 RBI (franchise record), 998 walks (franchise record), and a .788 OPS
- Made the All-Star team in his career best 1956 season, which featured career highs in average (.305), hits (156), home runs (20), RBI (83), walks (119), runs (97) and OPS (.914)
- Won a Gold Glove Award at first base in 1956
SP Don Rowe (1958-present)
- Won the 1961 AL Cy Young Award, with 23 wins (led AL) , a 2.62 ERA, 256 strikeouts (led AL), 19 complete games (led AL) and 2 shutouts
- Is the Red Sox career leader in ERA, strikeouts and shutouts, and 2nd in wins
- Has been a 3-time All-Star in 1961, 1962 and 1964
Honorable Mentions: Frank Baumann, Del Ennis, Mike Solomko, Frank J. Thomas
Detroit Tigers
CF Larry Doby (1954-1963)
- Hit .308 over 10 seasons with the Tigers, with 200 home runs, 808 RBI, 928 walks (franchise record), and a .905 OPS
- Made 8 All-Star teams with the Tigers in 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962
- Helped lead the Tigers to 3 playoff appearances and 2 championships in 1960 and 1963
SP Art Houtteman (1953-present)
- Won the 1960 AL Cy Young Award with 25 wins (led AL), a 3.11 ERA, 252 strikeouts, 21 complete games and 5 shutouts
- Is the Tigers' career leader in wins, strikeouts, complete games and shutouts
- Has been a 5-time All-Star in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960
- Helped lead the Tigers to 3 playoff appearances and 2 championships in 1960 and 1963
- Won the 1960 Postseason MVP Award
RF Al Kaline (1953-present)
- Has won 2 AL MVP Awards in 1956 (.330, 35 2B, 28 HR, 120 RBI, 87 BB, 126 R, 1.000 OPS) and 1963 (.349, 37 2B, 33 HR, 114 RBI, 79 BB, 119 R, 1.033 OPS)
- Is the Tigers' career leader in average, slugging, OPS, hits, triples, home runs, RBI, and stolen bases
- Has been an All-Star in all 13 seasons of his career so far, all of whom spent with the Tigers
- Led the Tigers to 3 playoff appearances and 2 championships in 1960 and 1963
- Won a Gold Glove Award in right field in 1958
SS Harvey Kuenn (1952-present)
- Won the 1960 AL MVP Award, hitting .337 with 42 doubles, 18 home runs, 138 RBI, and a .915 OPS
- Is the Tigers' career leader in doubles
- Helped lead the Tigers to 3 playoff appearances and 2 championships in 1960 and 1963
Honorable Mentions: Jim Bunning, Norm Cash, Dan Dobbek, Paul Foytack
New York Yankees
SP Whitey Ford (1950, 1953-1964)
- Won the 1956 AL Cy Young Award, with 26 wins (led AL), a 3.06 ERA, 166 strikeouts, 27 complete games (led AL) and 4 shutouts
- Is the Yankees' career leader in wins, strikeouts, games started, complete games and shutouts
- Made 6 consecutive All-Star appearances for Yankees from 1955-1960
- Helped lead the Yankees to 10 consecutive playoff appearances from 1953-1962, including 4 championships in 1953, 1955, 1957 and 1962
CF Mickey Mantle (1951-present)
- Has won 3 AL MVP Awards in 1953 (.342, 23 2B, 26 HR, 101 RBI, 111 BB, 98 R, 27 SB, 1.028 OPS), 1961 (.319, 30 2B, 47 HR, 140 RBI, 127 BB, 145 R, 64 SB, 1.126 OPS) and 1962 (.289, 25 2B, 59 HR, 149 RBI, 117 BB, 143 R, 44 SB, 1.075 OPS)
- Is the Yankees' career leader in slugging, OPS, hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, walks, and stolen bases
- Has made a Yankees record 11 trips to the All-Star Game from 1953-1959 and 1961-1964
- Has won 9 Gold Glove Awards in center field between 1954-1956 and 1958-1963
- Led the Yankees to 10 consecutive playoff appearances from 1953-1962, including 4 championships in 1953, 1955, 1957 and 1962
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SP Vinegar Bend Mizell (1957-1963)
- Won the 1958 AL Cy Young Award, with 25 wins, a 2.00 ERA (led AL), 204 strikeouts, 21 complete games and 6 shutouts
- Won 119 games over parts of 7 seasons with the Yankees, with a 2.79 ERA, 1,127 strikeouts and 21 shutouts
- Made 3 trips to the All-Star Game as a Yankee in 1958, 1961 and 1962
- Helped lead the Yankees to their 4th championship in 1962
1B/LF Norm Siebern (1956-present)
- Won the 1959 AL MVP Award, with a .351 average, 28 doubles, 35 home runs, 111 RBI, 92 walks, 123 runs, and a 1.067 OPS
- Is the Yankees' career leader in average and OBP
- Has made 7 trips to the All-Star Game in 1956, 1959-1963 and 1965
- Won 2 Gold Glove Awards in left field in 1960 and 1961
- Helped lead the Yankees to their 4th championship in 1962
Honorable Mentions: Yogi Berra, Tex Clevenger, Jim McDonald, Vic Raschi
AL West teams coming up next!
