Don Sutton, 1945-2021

I guess Tommy Lasorda needed a pitcher. But he may have to flip Harvey Kuenn for him.

Donald Howard Sutton was born on April 2, 1945, in Clio, Alabama. It was the same day as his future Dodger teammate, Reggie Smith. Unfortunately, it was the same hometown as Alabama's notorious Governor George Wallace.

His father was 18, his mother was 15, and they were sharecroppers. Howard Sutton looked for better work, and found it outside Pensacola in Molino, Florida. Don went to J.M. Tate High School in nearby Cantonment. That should has also produced major league players Jay Bell, Travis Fryman, Stover McIlwain, Scotti Madison and Brad Salmon; and NFL players Fred Robbins (with the Giants when they won Super Bowl XLII), Brannon Condren (with the Jets when they reached the 2009 and '10 AFC Championship Games) and Graham Gano (a current Giant).

Don led Tate's baseball team to a State Championship in his junior year, 1962, and went to Gulf Coast Community College in nearby Panama City. He later transferred to Whittier College outside Los Angeles. Whittier was also the alma mater of future President Richard Nixon.

This is mildly significant because, as is often the case for star athletes in Los Angeles, Don would be in demand for TV shows. He was occasionally a panelist on Match Game. On May 8, 1978 -- by which point, his permed hair no longer seemed so unusual -- this question was asked: "The American dollar is in really bad trouble. Yesterday, I saw a crisp new dollar bill that said, 'In (blank) we trust.'"

The contestant said, "In no one we trust," and got a match from Brett Somers. Don said, "In Richard Nixon we trust." Host Gene Rayburn said, "That's a heap o' trouble." And Brett said, "Isn't that how we got here in the first place?"

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Don as a free agent on September 11, 1964. The 1st MLB Amateur Draft happened the next year. On April 14, 1966, he made his major league debut. He started for the Dodgers against the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium, and pitched well, going into the 8th innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, on 7 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7. But 2 solo home runs from Jim Lefebvre were all the support he got, and he was the losing pitcher, 4-2.

The Dodgers had won the World Series the year before, and won the National League Pennant again. As a rookie, Sutton was 12-12, but with a 2.99 ERA, on a staff with future Hall-of-Famers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, and All-Star Claude Osteen. He did not appear in the World Series, and the Dodgers were swept by the Baltimore Orioles.

Injuries led Koufax to retire after that season, and Drysdale to do so in 1969. Sutton became the ace of the Dodger staff. Since Don Drysdale was nicknamed "Big D," Don Sutton became known as "Little D." He went 17-18 in 1969, 15-13 in 1970, 17-12 in 1971, and 19-9 in 1972, making the All-Star Game for the 1st of 4 times.

He went 18-10 in 1973, and 19-9 in 1974, as the Dodgers finally finished rebuilding. They won the NL Western Division for the 1st time, and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates for the Pennant. He started and won Game 2 of the World Series against the Oakland Athletics, but that would be the only game the Dodgers won. He started Game 5, which the A's won after he left, to clinch.

He went 16-13 in 1975, and 21-10 in 1976. He finished 3rd in the voting for the NL Cy Young Award, the closest he would ever come to winning it. Despite only making 1 fewer start in 1977, he only went 14-8. But the Dodgers won the Pennant again, beating the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series, and faced the Yankees in the World Series. Don started Game 1, and did not figure into the decision as the Yankees won in 12 innings. He won Game 5, but the Yankees won Game 6 on Reggie Jackson's 3 home runs.

On August 20, 1978, the Dodgers were at Shea Stadium to play the Mets. Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post had written a column quoting Sutton as being critical of the biggest star on the Dodgers, 1st baseman Steve Garvey. Garvey had won the NL Most Valuable Player award in 1974, and the Dodger organization had no problem with him being promoted by the Los Angeles media as not just a great player, but as an ideal. Not like that Yankee hot dog Reggie Jackson, or those self-promoters on the Cincinnati Reds, Pete Rose and Johnny Bench.

According to Boswell, Sutton said, "All you hear about on our team is Steve Garvey, the All-American Boy. But Reggie Smith was the real MVP. We all know it... He has carried us the last two years. He is not a facade. He does not have the Madison Avenue image." (Garvey was white. Smith was black. That may have had something to do with it.)

In the locker room, a furious Garvey confronted Sutton over it. Sutton admitted he'd said it. One thing led to another, and Sutton said something unkind about Garvey's wife Cyndy. They came to blows, and it took 2 minutes for coach Preston Gomez and general manager Al Campanis to break it up. Sutton had a large bruise on his face, Garvey several cuts. The Dodgers went on to beat the Mets anyway, 5-4. (The Mets were pretty bad at the time.)

Sutton went 15-11 that season. The Dodgers went on to win the NL West again, beat the Phillies in the NLCS again, and took a 2-0 lead over the Yankees in the World Series, as Sutton won Game 2. But the Yankees won the next 4, including beating Sutton in Game 6 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers had an off-year in 1979, and Don went just 12-15. However, he got his start in broadcasting that year. At the time, both ABC and NBC sometimes used active players whose teams had not qualified for the postseason to be the 3rd man in the booth for the League Championship Series and the World Series. NBC hired Don for the '79 NLCS between the Reds and the Pirates.

In 1980, he went 13-5, and led the NL with a 2.20 ERA. But the Dodgers lost a single-game Playoff for the Division title to the Astros. Don's contract ran out, and the Astros, desperate for a star pitcher alongside Nolan Ryan after J.R. Richard's stroke, signed Don.

In the strike-shortened 1981 season, he went 11-9, as the Astros made the split-season Playoffs, but lost the NL Division Series -- to the Dodgers. In other words, the Dodgers and the Astros had played each other in back-to-back Playoffs, and Don had played for each, and lost each time. The Dodgers finally won the World Series without him, beating the Yankees.

On August 30, 1982, the Milwaukee Brewers, who had also made the split-season Playoffs the year before, but lost the American League Division Series to the Yankees, sent Kevin Bass, Frank DiPino, Mike Madden and cash to the Astros, all to get one player, Sutton.

Managed by Harvey Kuenn, a 10-time All-Star, the AL's 1953 Rookie of the Year and its 1959 batting champion, the Brewers had an attack that earned them the nickname "Harvey's Wallbangers," including future Hall-of-Famers Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Ted Simmons, plus sluggers Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie, Cecil Cooper and Don Money. Yount, Molitor, Cooper and Jim Gantner batted between .295 and .331; Yount, Simmons, Thomas, Oglivie and Cooper hit between 23 and 39 home runs; while Yount, Simmons, Thomas, Oglivie and Cooper had between 91 and 121 RBIs. (Under previous manager George Bamberger, they had been "Bambi's Bombers.")

And Don joined a pitching staff that had future Hall-of-Famer Rollie Fingers, the previous year's AL Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player winner, who had pitched against him for the A's in the 1974 World Series; Pete Vukovich, who would win that season's AL Cy Young; and Mike Caldwell, who had perhaps the best curveball in the major leagues at the time. (Doug Jones was a rookie on that team, and got hit hard, and didn't return to the majors until 1986, but would eventually save 303 games, almost as many as Fingers' 314, mostly for the Cleveland Indians.)

With Don going 17-9 between the 2 teams, the Brewers won the AL Eastern Division, but fell 2-0 behind the California Angels in the ALCS. But Don won Game 3, and the Brewers came from behind to take the Pennant.

He did not pitch well in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, leaving after 6 innings in Game 2, which the Brewers later lost, and losing Game 6. The Cardinals won in Game 7, and that's the closest that Don would ever get to a World Championship.

He tailed off in 1983, going 8-13. But he did reach a major milestone that year: On June 24, he struck out Alan Bannister of the Cleveland Indians, for the 3,000th strikeout of his career.

He recovered in 1984, going 14-12. Then the Brewers traded him to the A's. He went 13-8 for them in 1985, but was traded on September 10, to the Angels, going back to the Los Angeles area. He went 2-2 for them, and then, at age 41, 15-11 for them in 1986. On June 18, he pitched a complete game against the Texas Rangers, for his 300th victory.

He started Game 4 of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox, and did not figure in the decision, as the Angels won in 11 innings. They took a 3-1 lead, but lost a classic Game 5, and were already losing Game 7 at Fenway Park when he gave up a home run to Dwight Evans. The Angels already had a history of choking, but to choke to the Red Sox? At the time, that was considered a deep dishonor.

Speaking of dishonor: He was 43 as the 1987 season dawned, but it looked like he could keep going. But how was he doing it? We come back to Thomas Boswell. In his 1982 book How Life Imitates the World Series, he wrote that Sutton:

...has been accused of cutting, scuffing, sandpapering, and generally disfiguring balls in so many ways that he says, 'I ought to get a Black & Decker commercial out of it. The only fun I get now is hiding dirty notes in my uniform pockets for the umpires to find when they search me. I have a bet with [PGA golfer] Gary McCord that if I'm searched on national TV, I'll strip to my undershirt and jock.'"

In a 2013 interview, he was asked if he ever cheated. He said, "No, I never got caught cheating." The hell he didn't: On August 24, 1987, the Angels were playing the Yankees at Anaheim Stadium. Don started, and left after 7 innings, with the game tied 2-2. At one point, Yankee broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, sure that Sutton was cheating, asked to have a camera stay on Sutton.

Sure enough, an instant replay was provided, catching Sutton red-handed -- or, more accurately, sand-handed: He had a small piece of sandpaper taped to his left hand, under his glove. The Scooter yelled, "Oh, yes! Holy cow, we got him! We got him!" Sutton wasn't punished, but justice prevailed: The Yankees won 3-2 in 11 innings.

After going 11-11 that season, the Angels released him. The Dodgers brought him back for a last hurrah, but it was not to be: He went 3-6, and was released on August 10. And then, just as happened in 1980-81, for a 2nd time, they won the World Series after getting rid of him.

He finished his career with 324 wins and 256 losses, 3,574 strikeouts, an ERA of 3.26, an ERA+ of 108 (not especially impressive), and a WHIP of 1.142 (which is very impressive). He started 756 games in the major leagues. Only 2 pitchers have started more: Cy Young with 815, and Nolan Ryan with 773. The active leader is Zack Greinke with 459.

Some fans thought he didn't deserve to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Like Gaylord Perry and Phil Niekro, who were also members of both the 300 Wins Club and the 3,000 Strikeouts Club (at the time, the only other members were Walter Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton), he was considered "one of these guys who hung around for a long time, amassing a lot of stats."

Certainly, he was not considered by many to be an all-time great. When The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Players in 1999, he was not included.

But Baseball-Reference.com, a website which is your friend whether you know it or not, has a "Hall of Fame Monitor," on which a player at 100 is considered to be a "Likely HOFer." Sutton was at 149, well ahead of the mark. B-R also has "Hall of Fame Standards," which is more weighted toward career statistics, and on which the "Average HOFer" is at 50. Sutton was at 58, so he qualifies there, too.

B-R also has "Similarity Scores," and the top 10 pitchers most statistically similar to Don Sutton are, in descending order: Gaylord Perry, Bert Blyleven, Steve Carlton, Phil Niekro, Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux, Tommy John, Warren Spahn, Fergie Jenkins and Early Wynn.

All but Blyleven, John and Jenkins have at least 300 wins. All but John, Spahn and Wynn have at least 3,000 strikeouts. And all but John are in the Hall. So, by B-R's measure, Sutton belonged. What's more, every pitcher with at least 300 wins is in the Hall, except for Roger Clemens, whose reason for being kept out was demolished with 2 words: "Not Guilty." And every pitcher with 3,000 strikeouts who is eligible is in except for Clemens and Curt Schilling, either of whom could be elected in the next few days. (The recently-retired CC Sabathia and the active Justin Verlander are not yet eligible.)

In the end, the thought of keeping out a pitcher who was in both the 300 Wins Club and the 3,000 Strikeouts Club proved to be ridiculous. In 1998, his 5th year of eligibility, Don Sutton was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Dodgers subsequently retired his Number 20.

Sandy Koufax and Don Sutton were teammates for only 1 season, 1966,

but are enshrined together forever, both at Chavez Ravine and in Cooperstown.

(They only retire numbers for Hall-of-Famers, making a sole exception when coach and former player Jim Gilliam, Number 19, died late in the 1978 season. Steve Garvey's 6 is rarely given out, and Fernando Valenzuela's 34 has never been, but neither man has been elected to the Hall of Fame, and so their numbers have not been officially retired.)

*

There have been many star baseball players who have gone on to become star broadcasters as well. Many have done so for the teams for whom they played. But a few have done so for teams for whom they had never played: Bill White and Ken Singleton for the Yankees, Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver for the Mets, Duke Snider for the Montreal Expos (although he had played for the minor-league Montreal Royals), Bob Uecker for the Milwaukee Brewers (though he was a Milwaukee native and had played for the Milwaukee Braves), Tony Kubek for the Toronto Blue Jays, and Ken Harrelson for the Chicago White Sox.

In 1989, Don began broadcasting for the Dodgers, but in 1990, he moved to TBS to call games for the Atlanta Braves, not a team he had ever played for, but the major league team closest to his Alabama birthplace, and the one closest to his Florida hometown. (Atlanta is 300 miles from Molino. Both the Houston Astros and the Tampa Bay Rays are more than 500 miles from it.)

He survived cancer in 2002, and continued to broadcast for the Braves until 2006, The following year, he joined MASN to broadcast for the Washington Nationals, formerly the Montreal Expos, another team for whom he had never thrown a pitch. After the 2009 season, he returned to the Braves.

At the new home of the Braves, since renamed Truist Park

The Braves elected him to their team Hall of Fame, where he joined fellow broadcasters Ernie Johnson Sr. (who had pitched for the Braves in Milwaukee, and whose son Ernie Jr. is also a broadcaster), Skip Caray (son of Harry, father of Chip), and Pete Van Wieren. A section of U.S. Route 29, between his hometowns of Clio and Molino, has been named the Don Sutton Highway. A youth baseball complex in Molino has also been named for him.

Don and his wife Mary had 2 daughters, Staci and Jacquie; and a son, Daron. Daron Sutton pitched in the Braves' and Angels' organizations, but didn't make the major leagues. He broadcast alongside Don for the Braves in 1997, '98 and '99. He has since broadcast for the Brewers, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the basketball team at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and college events on Fox Sports. He has also hosted a show on MLB Network Radio.

Don and Daron have both hosted celebrity golf tournaments. Apparently, Don was one of the better golfers among baseball players, and was part of NBC's golf broadcasting team, even while still an active pitcher.

Don and Daron Sutton

Don broke his leg before the 2019 season, and upon further examination, it was found that his cancer had returned. He died this past Monday, January 18, 2021, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, outside Palm Springs. He was 75 years old.

There's an old joke: A baseball team is flying, and the plane runs into turbulence. Two of the players are roommates, and they're sitting together, and they're sure they're going to die. The plane straightens out, it lands safely, and they can relax. At the hotel that night, they start talking about life and death, and they wonder if there's life after death, and if there's baseball in Heaven. They make a pact: Whichever of them dies first will find out if there's baseball in Heaven, and find a way to let the other know.

Time pass. The players finish their careers, retire, settle into post-baseball life, and get old. One of them dies. A week later, the other player is watching a game on television, when suddenly, the other player appears:

Harry: "Jim! It's me, Harry!"

Jim: "Harry? How did you get on TV?"
Harry: "Jim, I got good news and bad news!"

Jim: "What is it?"

Harry: "The good news is, There is baseball in Heaven!"

Jim: "Great! So, what's the bad news?"

Harry: "You're pitching tomorrow!"

Like Whitey Ford, Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson, all of whom died within the last year, Don Sutton can now take the mound in Heaven. But for which of his former managers? Walter Alston? Tommy Lasorda? Gene Mauch? Harvey Kuenn? (Bill Virdon, his manager in Houston, is still alive.)

One thing is for sure: He won't be allowed to use sandpaper up there. He'll have to rely on his wits.

Tampa Bay's All-Time Baseball Team

When you consider that North and Central Florida is such a baseball-rich area, even though it didn't have a major league team until 1998, and that the team has now been a Playoff contender for 6 straight seasons, you'd think the locals would support that team better.

But they don't. They don't even support a winning team.

I wonder if they'd support this one. It has a very good infield, a solid outfield, a decent catcher, and a very interesting (to say the least) pitching staff.

And if any Rays fans are reading this, and don't like that I've posted a picture of a Yankee, tough cookies. And if any Red Sox fans are reading this, and don't like that I've posted a picture of this particular Yankee, tough shit.

27. Tampa Bay's All-Time Baseball Team

To be eligible for this team, you need to be from the Tampa Bay Rays' region, which includes every Florida County except the following: Broward, Collier, Dade, Lee, Martin, Monroe, Palm Beach and St. Lucie. Anyone from one of those will be assigned to the Miami Marlins' region.

I don't name general managers for these teams. Even if I did, I would not make Billy Beane the GM for this team. A weak-hitting outfielder from Orlando, he's been GM in Oakland since 1998, but anybody who's a big-league GM for as long as he's been, and has never built a Pennant-winner, is no genius. Maybe if the A's still had "genius" manager Tony LaRussa (who I'll get to later), LaRussa and Beane would have won one together. Maybe not.

1B Fred McGriff of Tampa. The Yankees had him at Class A ball when, on December 9, 1982, they traded him, didn't-work-out speedster Dave Collins, and pitcher Mike Morgan to the Toronto Blue Jays for an injured Dale Murray and a never-made-it Tom Dodd. How bad a trade was this? Aside from the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees with 665 homers to go, McGriff's 493 post-Yankee homers may be the most round-trippers ever traded away.

But the Yanks already had Mattingly, and McGriff still didn’t reach the majors until 1986, by which point Mattingly was the best player in baseball, and they had plenty of DHs, so, really, what could the Yanks have done? However, McGriff and Morgan were still productive players 19 years later -- and don’t forget, the Arizona Diamondbacks would not have won the 2001 World Series against the Yanks without Morgan.

McGriff, known as Crime Dog after the public-service announcements starring animated canine detective McGruff the Crime Dog, made 5 All-Star teams, led each League in homers once, helped make the Jays respectable and the Atlanta Braves a quasi-dynasty, including 2 homers in the 1995 World Series. He became the 1st Tampa Bay-area native to play for the Devil Rays when they started in 1998, along with Wade Boggs. Its a shame he couldn't get the 7 more homers to reach 500, but he was done. He should be in the Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention to Tino Martinez of Tampa. Four years behind McGriff at Tampa's Jefferson High School, the Bamtino was a big part of the Seattle Mariner team that saved big-league baseball in the Northwest with that 1995 American League Western Division title, and he sure didn't let up in the Division Series against the Yankees.

So out went Donnie Regular Season Baseball, and in came Tino, who had worn Number 23 in Seattle, and didn't need enough reminders of who he was replacing. So he switched to 24, and with a lefty swing tailor-made for Yankee Stadium’s short right-field porch, and a glove not that far behind Mattingly's, Tino helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1996 (immediately placing him ahead of Mattingly in my mind), 1998, 1999 and 2000, and almost in 2001.

In 1997, a year when the Yankees didn't win the Pennant, he got the hit that clinched the first-ever regular-season series against the Mets, which makes him a huge hero in my eyes. That same year, he hit 44 homers (most by a Yankee between 1961 and 2005) with 144 RBIs (most by a Yankee between 1985 and 2007). His grand slam in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series and his down-to-the-last-out, game-tying homer in Game 4 in 2001 still rank among the most thrilling homers in Yankee history.

The Yankees made a mistake in letting him go after 2001, especially since Jason Giambi never lived up to the hype. Tino went to St. Louis and helped the Cardinals reach the 2002 postseason, and did he ever get a nice hand in 2003 when the Cards game to The Bronx for an Interleague series. Tino played for his hometown Devil Rays in 2004 before one last, reasonably productive season with the Yanks. With 339 homers (192 as a Yankee), he’ll never make the Hall of Fame, but so what. He deserves a Plaque in Monument Park at the new Stadium.

Honorable Mention to Prince Fielder of Melbourne. He doesn't turn 30 until May 9, but in 8 full seasons, he's already batted .286, put up a 141 OPS+, and hit 285 home runs. The 25 he hit last year was his lowest full-season total; he led the National League 50 in 2007 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He's had 6 100+ RBI seasons.

He helped the Brewers win the NL Wild Card in 2008 and the NL Central Division in 2011 -- and that's as many Playoff berths in 4 seasons as the Brewers have otherwise reached without him. He has since added 2 more, including the 2012 AL Pennant, with his father Cecil's former team, the Detroit Tigers. Cecil qualifies for the Dodgers' region -- and for comparison's sake, due to a late start, he finished with just 319 homers, meaning Prince could pass him this season. Cecil was named to 3 All-Star teams, Prince has already been named to 5.

Honorable Mention to Glenn Davis of Jacksonville. A 2-time All-Star, in 1986 he led the Houston Astros to the NL West title and finished 2nd to Mike Schmidt in the Most Valuable Player voting. He was, for a time, the Astros' all-time home run leader, hitting 166 despite playing his home games in the pitcher-friendly Astrodome. A good fielder, too.

But a back injury in 1990 curtailed his career. Before the 1991 season, the Astros traded him to the Baltimore Orioles for Steve Finley, Pete Harnisch and Curt Schilling. It looked like a good trade for both teams, but it turned into a bad one for both: Finley didn't get good until after he left the Astros, Harnisch had personal issues that wrecked his career, and Schilling didn't blossom until the Astros traded him to Philadelphia. As for Davis, the injury meant he wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the close RF wall at Camden Yards. His career OPS+ was 123, but because of the injury he was finished at 32, with "only" 192 homers.

Honorable Mention... sort of... to Steve Garvey of Tampa. Like Kirk Gibson, he played both baseball and football at Michigan State University. Ten times an All-Star, 5 times a Gold Glove, 5 times a 100-RBI man, once an MVP in the NL (1974) and twice in the All-Star Game. He was the Los Angeles Dodgers' Mr. Clean, their Captain America, their... let’s face it, their Ken Doll.

He was the red-white-and-blue good guy of the 1970s, in contrast to the green-and-gold gangbangers in Oakland; the funky, Afro-wearing (including a couple of the white guys) street hustlers in Philly; the garish, black-and-gold disco pimps in Pittsburgh; and the wiseass goombas in The Bronx. Or so the believers in the O'Malley/Lasorda/Garvey Dodger Blue myth tried to tell us.

Garvey played every day (his 1,207 consecutive games played is still an NL record and 4th all-time), and he played well, winning 5 Pennants (4 with L.A. and 1, as Chicago Cub fans don't like to be reminded, with the San Diego Padres) and the 1981 World Series. That year, at a point in his career when it looked like he would one day rank among the game's all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.

So why isn't this guy in the Hall of Fame? On Baseball-Reference.com, their Hall of Fame Monitor, which has a Likely HOFer at 100, has Garvey at 130; but their Hall of Fame Standards, which has the Average HOFer at 50, has him at only 32.

So what gives? Well, it's not that he didn't just plain stop hitting or get his career curtailed by injury: His last productive season was at age 37. But, while from age 25 to 31, he was one of the top 10 players in baseball, after that, he was only a pretty good one, not putting together the kinds of seasons true greats still do in their early 30s. Only once did he hit more than 28 home runs (granted, Dodger Stadium is a pitcher's park), finishing with 272, not a HOF total. He collected 2,599 hits, a very good total but not, by itself, HOF material. His career OPS+ was 116, very good but, again, not HOF level. And, with Reggie Smith and usually at least 2 really good pitchers, a case can be made that Garvey was never even the best player on his own team.

It has nothing to do with the fact that Garvey's Mr. Clean image was shattered, leading to the infamous bumper sticker (probably most popular with Giants and Angels fans), "STEVE GARVEY IS NOT MY PADRE." At least the Padres retired his Number 6; the Dodgers still haven't.

Very Honorable Mention to John "Buck" O'Neil of Carrabelle, in the Florida Panhandle. The longtime star and manager of the Kansas City Monarchs became a household name thanks to Ken Burns' miniseries Baseball, and afterward founded the Negro Leagues Museum, just a few blocks from the site of the Monarchs' (and minor-league K.C. Blues', and Athletics', and original Royals') ballpark, Municipal Stadium. That he is not in the Hall of Fame is, as the French say, worse than a crime, it is a blunder.

2B Rickie Weeks of Altamonte Springs. I considered putting former Met manager Davey Johnson here, since he was born in Orlando. But he went to high school in San Antonio, which would put him in the Astros' region. But until Weeks blossomed, I would have had to cheat and put Davey there.

Weeks has spent his entire career with the Brewers, and was Fielder's teammate on their Playoff teams of 2008 and '11. He's only a .247 lifetime hitter, but his OPS+ is a slightly better-than-average 103. He's got some power, peaking at 29 home runs and 83 RBIs in 2010. He was an All-Star the next year. He's also an expert in getting hit by pitches, twice leading the NL. But he also strikes out a lot, having seasons of 184 and 169 K's. (Oddly, Prince has never topped 138, which is still a lot.)

SS David Eckstein of Sanford. I had the good fortune to watch him a few times for the Trenton Thunder in their 1999 Division Title-winning season (though they didn't win a Pennant until 2007). But, with former Thunder player Nomar Garciaparra having a hammerlock on the position at the big-league level, the Boston Red Sox let him go, and he made his debut with the Anaheim Angels (as the team was then officially known).

In 2002, he batted .293 with 63 RBIs, and led the AL in both sacrifice hits and hit-by-pitch, and became the 1st Thunder alumnus to play on a World Champion, hitting .310 with 3 RBIs in the Series. The Angels traded him to the Cardinals in 2005, and he helped them win a Series in 2006, being named the Series' MVP. Now retired, the Thunder have retired his Number 22, along with Nomar's Number 5 and Tony Clark's Number 33 (and, of course, Jackie Robinson's Number 42). He now works as an agent -- not for athletes, but for his wife, actress Ashley Eckstein.

Honorable Mention to Jay Bell of Pensacola, who split time between short and second, and had 195 homers, but I couldn’t bring myself to put him at either position on this team.

3B Wade Boggs of Tampa. I almost missed him, because he was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He won 5 batting titles, including a peak of .368 in 1985. Career batting average of .328, career OPS+ of 130. The first man to hit a home run for his 3,000th career hit. Only 118 homers, but a whopping 578 doubles. An All-Star 12 times... in a row. Six straight times led the AL in intentional walks, despite being in a powerful Boston lineup. Won 2 Gold Gloves. Hall of Fame. When The Sporting News announced its 100 Greatest Baseball Players in 1999, he came in at Number 95.

After the heartbreak of the 1986 World Series with the Red Sox, he finally won one with the Yankees in 1996, and who will ever forget him riding behind the police officer on the horse around the warning track at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox have not yet retired his Number 26, although they have elected him to their team Hall of Fame. Nor have the Yankees retired his Number 12 or given him a Monument Park Plaque. But when he closed his career with his hometown Devil Rays, they retired Number 12 for him. Yeah, he had his issues, and maybe trying to avoid them makes me... chicken. So what.

Honorable Mention... sort of... to Larry Wayne Jones Jr. of Deland. Yeah, Chipper. A .303 batting average, a 141 OPS+, 468 home runs, 549 doubles, 2,726 hits, the 1999 NL MVP, 8 All-Star Games, and 12 postseason appearances for the Atlanta Braves... but only 1 ring. As far as I know, he's clean, and will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2018.

Honorable Mention to Howard Johnson of Clearwater. By a weird occurrence, the Mets have won 2 World Series, and each time, the starting 3rd baseman was from the Tampa Bay region. In 1969, they platooned a pair of Tampa Bay guys, Ed Charles of St. Petersburg and Wayne Garrett of Sarasota (who also started on their 1973 Pennant-winners).

After helping the Detroit Tigers win the 1984 World Series, the Mets got HoJo for pitcher Walt Terrell, and he platooned with Ray Knight for a couple of years, including 1986. Knight breaks the pattern, but not by much: He's from Albany, Georgia, but the Rays aren't that much further to the south than the Braves are to the north.

In 1987, '89 and '91, HoJo was the 2nd Met, after Darryl Strawberry, to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season; I often joked that he was actually a 30-30-30 man, having also made 30 errors, but the most he ever made was 24, not good but hardly an atrocious total for a 3rd baseman. With a .249 lifetime batting average and 228 homers, he'll never make the Hall of Fame, but he's still the best hot-corner man the Mets have ever had -- and will be until David Wright wins a World Series (don’t hold your breath). He's now the Mariners' hitting instructor.

Honorable Mention to Larry Parrish of Winter Haven. An All-Star once with the Montreal Expos and once with the Texas Rangers, statistically he had a better career than HoJo (256 homers despite not playing in a hitters' park), but his only trip to the postseason was in 1981 with the Expos, so HoJo made a bigger impact. Not to be confused with Lance Parrish, nor any relation.

Honorable Mention to Dean Palmer of Tallahassee. Also a 3rd baseman for the Rangers, and later for the Tigers. Hit 275 home runs and had 4 100-RBI seasons.

LF Tim Raines of Sanford. This seems like a tough one at first, because I could have gone with a very similar player, Vince Coleman of Jacksonville, who stole 752 bases in his career, including at least 107 in each of his 1st 3 seasons, but really tailed off before he was 30 years old. By contrast, "Rock" Raines batted .304 as a 21-year-old rookie with the 1981 Expos, and .290 as a 38-year-old veteran with the 1998 Yankees, making the postseason each time.

He had to get to the Yankees to win a ring in 1996 and another in '98, but it was well worth it. He led the NL with a .336 batting average in 1986, but fell victim to collusion, and in his 1st 2 games back with the Expos in '87, on May 1 and 2, torched the Mets -- I was at the May 2 game at Shea, and the Met fans gave him a nice hand because they knew he was a good guy who got screwed.

Actually, he wasn't always a good guy, as he had to overcome a cocaine addiction, but overcome it he did. His lifetime batting average was .294, OPS+ 123, 2,605 hits and 808 stolen bases. He has been eligible for the Hall of Fame since 2008, Baseball-Reference.com's HOF Monitor has him at 90 of a "necessary" 100, their HOF Standards has him at 47 out of 50. He belongs, but, as Coleman did to him, he may be suffering in comparison to Rickey Henderson.

His son, center fielder Tim Raines Jr., played briefly with the Orioles, including the 2002 season with his father, joining the Ken Griffeys as the only father-son combo to play for the same team at the same time. Tim Sr. is now the manager of the Atlantic League's Newark Bears, and Tim Jr. plays for them.

I could have given an Honorable Mention to Luis Gonzalez of Tampa, a Jefferson H.S. teammate of Tino. Not to do so would suugest that I'm still upset over his World Series-winning hit against the Yankees in 2001. (Well, I am.)

But he's just too suspicious. He debuted in 1990, and from then until 1997, his peak homer year was 18. Then, in 1998, at age 30, he suddenly starts jacking them out: Seasons of 23, 26 and 31, and then, in the Arizona Diamondbacks' World Championship year of 2001, 57. And, just like that, he drops again, to 28, 26, 17, 24, 15, 15, and 8 when he retired. He finished with 354 homers. Something's not right there. The D-backs retired his Number 20, making him the 1st player they so honored.

CF Johnny Damon of Orlando. I missed him at first because he was born at Fort Riley, Kansas, where his father was stationed at the time (and where Jackie Robinson was stationed in World War II). But he grew up in Orlando, putting him in the Rays' territory.

He did not play in 2013, but hopes to play this year at age 40. He has a .284 lifetime batting average, 2,769 hits, and 235 home runs and 408 stolen bases. He led the AL in hits and stolen bases in 2000 (with the Kansas City Royals), led it in triples in 2002 (with the Red Sox), and, along with Ramiro Mendoza and Eric Hinske, is one of only 3 men in the last 95 years to have won World Series with both the Red Sox and the Yankees.

But Baseball-Reference has him at 90 on its Hall of Fame Monitor and 45 on its HOF Standards, meaning he doesn't quite make it. If he doesn't play again, he'll be eligible for the Hall in 2018, just like Chipper.

RF Lou Piniella of Tampa. Now best known as a chunky manager, who led the Cincinnati Reds to the 1990 World Championship, the Mariners to every postseason berth they've ever had, and the Cubs to a couple of NL Central titles, he was one heck of a hitter. Won the 1969 AL Rookie of the Year award with the Royals, before being traded to the Yankees after the 1973 season, a great trade for the Yanks as all they gave up was aging reliever Lindy McDaniel.

He had 6 .300 seasons, and although he always seemed to be platooning between left, right and the DH spot with Reggie Jackson and Roy White, he was productive when it counted. It seemed like he saved his best games for the arch-rival Red Sox (including 2 tremendously important defensive plays in the 1978 AL East Playoff), the ALCS against the Royals (revenge for getting rid of him, maybe?) and the World Series against the Dodgers (his 10th-inning single drove home White with the winning run in Game 4 in 1978).

Known as "Sweet Lou" for his swing, not for his personality: While his teammates loved him, he had a temper that Everett would have envied. I'll never forget him getting nailed at the plate in the '78 ALCS -- looking at the replay years later, it's clear that he was out -- and then going into a tirade that led one sportswriter to call him "the Wild Man of Borneo."

As manager in The Bronx, Cincy, Seattle, Tampa and North Side Chicago, everyone waited for bad calls by the umpires to see "the Eruption of Mount Lou." (He's been compared to Italian volcanoes Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. Etna, but is, in fact, descended from immigrants from Spain.) From the time I first became aware of baseball, he's been one of my favorite personalities in the game. If you don’t like Lou Piniella, you’re a sad case. Or a Red Sox, Royals or Dodgers fan.

Honorable Mention to Derek Bell of Tampa, one of the "Killer B's" with Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio on the Astros' 1997-98-99 NL Central Champions. He also helped the Mets win the 2000 NL Pennant, but got hurt and was out of baseball after just one more year. Had he played longer, he might have the starting nod here.

Dishonorable Mention to Gary Sheffield of Tampa. Dwight Gooden's nephew seems to have Hall of Fame credentials, including the 1992 NL batting title, a career OPS+ of 140, 2,689 hits, 509 home runs, 467 doubles and, surprisingly, 253 stolen bases. And, let's face it, we all had to applaud when he faced that guy who was trying to extort his wife, who posed for some racy photos before becoming a gospel singer. Sheff called first his bluff and then the cops. Great.

But... Eight different teams wanted to get him, but all 8 teams ended up wanting to get rid of him. He reached the postseason with 3, but only won 1 Pennant, winning the 1997 World Series with the Marlins. When the Yankees got him in 2004, I was against it, using the cliche "clubhouse cancer."

Well, he didn't look like it through that regular season, but he disappeared at the plate during those last 4 ALCS games against the Red Sox. He put up another great regular season in 2005, but again didn't get the job done in October. In 2006, he got hurt, and didn't get the job done in any month, including the embarrassing ALDS loss to the Tigers, and my prophecy was, sadly, fulfilled. He played with the Mets in 2009, and gave them some big hits at age 40, but got hurt again, and was released.

And then, of course... Seriously, Gary, you didn't know "the cream" had a steroid in it? He may be many things, but he's not stupid. But he didn't respect the baseball establishment, or baseball fans, enough to give us the truth, or even enough to give us a plausible lie. He does not make this team, and, while he stands to become eligible for the Hall of Fame next year, I hope he doesn't get in.

DH Hal McRae of Sebring. One of the first players to make his name as a designated hitter, he helped the Kansas City Royals to 10 postseason appearances -- every one they've ever made, including the 1980 Pennant and the 1985 World Championship. A career OPS+ of 122, he led the AL in doubles in 1977 and in doubles and RBIs in 1982. He was less successful as a manager, and although his son Brian McRae also played in the majors, he wasn’t nearly as successful as his father.

UT Desmond DeChone "Chone" Figgins of Brandon -- originally missed by me because he was born in Leary, Georgia. He's played every position except 1st base, catcher and pitcher, and not just once or twice: Each position he's played, he's played at least 27 times, with 3rd base his most frequent position.

A rookie with the Anaheim Angels' World Champions of 2002, he drove the Yankees crazy in the 2002, '05 and '09 postseasons, and was a big reason why the Angels reached the postseason 6 times in 8 years. He has a .277 lifetime batting average and 337 stolen bases, leading the AL with 62 in 2005. After sitting out last season, he has been signed to a contract by the Dodgers. He's 36 and versatile, and he may be just the kind of player the "nearly men" Dodgers need to get over the hump.

C Al Lopez of Tampa. A very good defensive catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates, and in fact once held the record for most games played at the position. Not a great hitter, but did bat .301 in 1933.

And the next-best catchers for the Rays' region are Mike Heath of Tampa, Thurman Munson's backup on the 1978 World Champions, who later became a starter in Oakland and Detroit; and Zack Taylor, Gabby Hartnett’s backup on the 1929 NL Champion Cubs, who is better known as the St. Louis Browns manager who Bill Veeck usurped for "Grandstand Managers Night" in 1951. I originally had him as the manager on this team, but subsequent achievements by another led me to change my mind.

Honorable Mention to Anthony John "A.J." Pierzynski of Orlando. Went to Dr. Phillips H.S. with Damon. A 2-time All-Star, he reached the postseason with the 2003 Minnesota Twins, before becoming a key figure in the Chicago White Sox' 2005 World Series run, with that controversial missed 3rd strike in the ALCS. A lot of people who aren't White Sox fans hate him. I think he's a gamer, and if the Yankees ever got him, I'd be fine with it.

SP Jack Billingham of Orlando. Helped the Cincinnati Reds win 3 Pennants and 2 World Series in the 1970s, on his way to 145 career wins.

SP Don Sutton of Pensacola -- originally missed by me because he was born in Clio, Alabama, which also happens to be the birthplace of another somewhat disreputable character, George Wallace. True, Sutton was caught cheating (sandpaper taped to his glove hand, good way to hide it until, of course, he couldn't), but he apparently didn't do it for his entire career. He only won 20 once, in 1976, but won 324 games in his career, and struck out 3,574 batters. Of pitchers with more wins – Nolan Ryan has exactly as many – only Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton have more strikeouts. His career WHIP is 1.142.

Hall of Fame, Number 20 retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom he got to the postseason in 1974, '77, '78 and (through a one-game Playoff for the NL West title) '80. He also reached the postseason with the Houston Astros in '81, the Milwaukee Brewers in '82, and the California Angels in '86. He never won a World Series, though: He was re-signed by the Dodgers in 1988, but was released in August, just before they won the Series (as they had in '81, when he was in Houston).

SP Dwight Gooden of Tampa. At age 19 and 20, Doctor K was one of the best pitchers we'll ever see. From 21 to 26, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. From 27 to 35, he was just another pitcher as he battled his demons -- which, don't forget, included injuries as well as drugs. And at 35, much too soon, he was done.

He should have been 194-112 at the 2/3rds mark of his career, but that was his final record. But he did pitch a no-hitter (as a Yankee, not a Met), and he did win 3 World Series (1986 as a Met, 1996 and 2000 as a Yankee).

SP Mike Hampton of Crystal River. A 2-time All-Star, he helped the Astros to 3 straight postseason appearances, going 22-4 in the last of those seasons, 1999. So the Mets made him a rent-a-star in 2000, and he led them to a Pennant, pitching the NLCS clincher in Game 5 at Shea. But the Mets chose not to sign him to a new contract, and he chose to sign with the Colorado Rockies.

So, Hamp, how good are the schools in the Denver area? Injuries dogged him thereafter, and he retired after the 2010 season, having appeared in only 44 games after 2005. His career record was 148-115.

SP Tim Wakefield of Melbourne. From 1991 to 2012, the Boston Red Sox reached the postseason 8 times in 21 seasons, and he was there for all of them: 1995, '98, '99, 2003, '04, '05, '07 and '08. Before that, he was on the Pirates' 1992 NL East Champions, their last postseason bid for 21 years.

He knuckleballed his way to an even 200 wins, and that doesn't count beating the Yankees in Games 1 and 4 of the 2003 ALCS, before giving up Aaron Boone’s homer in Game 7. Still, he has been as much a part of the Sox’ success, throughout their history, as anyone.

Honorable Mention to Zack Greinke of Orlando. He won the 2009 AL Cy Young Award, going 16-8 with an ERA of 2.16, an ERA+ of 205, and a WHIP of 1.073, all leading the League. A far cry from the 5-17 he had with the Kansas City Royals in 2005. Last year, with the Dodgers, he went 15-4 and led the NL with a .789 winning percentage.

That awful '05 season has left his career record at a relatively pedestrian 106-82, but his career ERA+ is 116, and at only 30, pitching in pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium, with their run support, he should be very effective for some time to come. I'm not sure whether he would surpass Billingham, Hampton or Wakefield when he makes the rotation, though.

Dishonorable Mention to Kenny Rogers of Plant City (initially missed by me because he was born in Savannah, Georgia, Braves territory). True, he went 219-156 for a .528 winning percentage, and his career ERA of 108 isn't bad, but his career WHIP is 1.403, and he's a known cheater and a massive jackass.

Plus, how many players can say they screwed over both New York baseball teams? The Yankees came back from 6-0 down in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series, but the reason they were in that hole is because Rogers, 12-8 that regular season but with a 14.14 ERA in the postseason, put them there. And he threw the biggest base on balls in baseball history in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS, walking Andruw Jones with the bases loaded to give the Atlanta Braves the Pennant against the Mets. His name may have been Kenny Rogers, but it was a manager bringing him in who was "The Gambler."

RP Tom Gordon of Avon Park. A pretty good starter for the Royals, finishing 2nd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1989, he became a great reliever for the Red Sox. In 1998, he saved 46 for the Sox, and Sox fan Stephen King wrote a fantasy novel titled The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. This is how strong the Curse of the Bambino -- if it actually existed -- was: Gordon got hurt the next season, which may have prevented the Sox from beating the Yanks in the ’99 ALCS.

He was with the Yankees in 2004, and... lost in the ALCS to the Red Sox! He finally got a ring with the 2008 Phillies. A 3-time All-Star, he finished with 138 wins and 158 saves. But a good career.

Honorable Mention to Bobby Thigpen of Tallahassee. For a few years, he was a great closer with the Chicago White Sox. In 1990, he saved 57 games, a record that stood until 2008. But injury cut his career short at age 30, with 201 saves. He did make it into a World Series, with the Phillies in 1993.

Dishonorable Mention to Jonathan Papelbon of Jacksonville. Yes, he has 286 career saves going into the 2014 season. Yes, he's a 5-time All-Star. And, yes, he helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2007, and was on the mound for the final out, a strikeout. But he got rocked in the 2009 AL Division Series against the Angels, was a big factor in the Sox' 2011 choke, and wasn't especially effective for the Phillies the last 2 seasons after the Sox decided his antics were no longer worth it.

At his best, Papelbum hasn't been better than the best of either Gordon or Thigpen -- and, at 33, we may have seen the last of his best.

MGR Tony LaRussa of Tampa. He made his big-league debut with the Kansas City Athletics in 1963, only 18, while still at Jefferson High, the same alma mater as McGriff, Tino and Gonzalez. But only once did he have more than 53 major league at-bats in a season, and he played his last game in 1973, only 28, with a lifetime batting average of .199. (Bob Uecker jokes about his playing and his lifetime batting average of exactly .200. But that was better than LaRussa's.)

But this weak-hitting middle infielder did what a lot of guys who had brains and a love of the game, but not the talent to match, did: He went into coaching and managing. He managed his 1st big-league game in 1979, when Jimmy Carter was President, desktop computers were new, portable phones were a foot long. and fans of the team he was hired to manage, the Chicago White Sox, were telling us that disco, the dominant form of popular music of the time, sucked (and they were right).

He managed his last big-league game in 2011, when Barack Obama was President, computers could fit in your pocket, they essentially had a telephone among their apps, and Justin Bieber was making teenage girls scream with lust and everyone else scream with indignation.

He managed the White Sox to the 1983 AL West title, their only 1st-place finish between 1959 and 1993. He managed the Oakland Athletics in their steroid-ridden "Bash Brothers" years, in a span of 5 seasons winning 4 AL West titles, 3 AL Pennants and the 1989 World Series. He moved on to the St. Louis Cardinals, and made 9 postseason appearances, including winning 3 Pennants (and just missing 1 other) and the 2006 and 2011 World Series. That last big-league game I mentioned that he managed? Game 7 of the 2011 World Series, following a thrilling Game 6, and he won it.

After Sparky Anderson, he was just the 2nd manager to win World Series in both Leagues. (The only other managers to win Pennants in both Leagues: Joe McCarthy, Yogi Berra, Alvin Dark, Dick Williams and Jim Leyland.) He won 2,728 games as a manager. He was just elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Cards' team Hall of Fame, and they also retired his Number 10 -- which the A's haven't done.

Tampa Bay's All-Time Baseball Team

The Yankees begin a big series with the Rays tonight, although it's overshadowed by the deaths of Yankee owner -- and Tampa native -- George Steinbrenner and public-address announcer Bob Sheppard.

So, with the Rays as the opponent, here's one of the strongest of these squads, as North & Central Florida is a baseball-rich area...

Tampa Bay's All-Time Baseball Team

To be eligible for this team, you need to be from the Tampa Bay Rays' region, which includes every Florida County except the following: Broward, Collier, Dade, Lee, Martin, Monroe, Palm Beach and St. Lucie. Anyone from one of those will be assigned to the Florida Marlins' region, whenever I decide to do that region’s all-time team.

One thing is for sure: I will not make Billy Beane the general manager. A weak-hitting outfielder from Orlando, he's been GM in Oakland since the late 1990s. But anybody who’s a big-league GM for as long as he’s been, and has never built a Pennant-winner, is no genius. Maybe if the A’s still had "genius" manager Tony LaRussa (who I’ll get to later), LaRussa and Beane would have won one together. Maybe not.

1B Constantino "Tino" Martinez of Tampa. The Bamtino was a big part of the Seattle Mariner team that saved big-league baseball in the Northwest with that 1995 American League Western Division title, and he sure didn't let up in the Division Series against the Yankees.

So out went Donnie Regular Season Baseball, and in came Tino, who had worn Number 23 in Seattle, and didn't need enough reminders of who he was replacing. So he switched to 24, and, sorry, Robinson Cano, but it's going to be a while before I can imagine any other Yankee wearing the number.

With a lefty swing tailor-made for Yankee Stadium's short right-field porch, and a glove not that far behind Mattingly's, Tino helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1996 (immediately placing him ahead of Mattingly in my mind), 1998, 1999 and 2000, and almost in 2001.

In 1997, a year when the Yankees didn't win the Pennant, he got the hit that clinched the 1st-ever regular-season series against the Mets, which makes him a huge hero in my eyes. That same year, he hit 44 homers (most by a Yankee between 1961 and 2005) with 144 RBIs (most by a Yankee between 1985 and 2007). His grand slam in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series and his down-to-the-last-out, game-tying homer in Game 4 in 2001 still rank among the most thrilling homers in Yankee history.

The Yankees made a mistake in letting him go after 2001, especially since Jason Giambi never lived up to the hype. Tino went to St. Louis and helped the Cardinals reach the 2002 postseason, and did he ever get a nice hand in 2003 when the Cards game to The Bronx for an Interleague series. Tino played for his hometown Devil Rays in 2004 before one last, reasonably productive season with the Yanks. With 339 homers (192 as a Yankee), he'll never make the Hall of Fame, but so what. He'll make Monument Park at the new Stadium.

Very Honorable Mention to John "Buck" O'Neil of Carrabelle, in the Florida Panhandle. The longtime star and manager of the Kansas City Monarchs became a household name thanks to Ken Burns' miniseries Baseball, and afterward founded the Negro Leagues Museum, just a few blocks from the site of the Monarchs' (and minor-league K.C. Blues', and Athletics', and original Royals') ballpark, Municipal Stadium. That he is not in the Hall of Fame is, as the French say, worse than a crime, it is a blunder.

Honorable Mention to Fred McGriff of Tampa -- in fact, preceded Tino at Tampa's Jefferson High School by just a little bit, being 4 years older. The Yankees had him at Class A ball when, on December 9, 1982, they traded him, didn't-work-out speedster Dave Collins, and pitcher Mike Morgan to the Toronto Blue Jays for an injured Dale Murray and a never-made-it Tom Dodd.

How bad a trade was this? Aside from the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees with 665 homers to go, McGriff’s 493 post-Yankee homers may be the most round-trippers ever traded away. But the Yanks already had Mattingly, and McGriff still didn't reach the majors until 1986, by which point Mattingly was the best player in baseball, and they had plenty of DHs, so, really, what could the Yanks have done? Still, McGriff and Morgan were still productive players 19 years later -- and don’t forget, the Arizona Diamondbacks would not have won the 2001 World Series against the Yanks without Morgan.

McGriff made 5 All-Star teams, led each League in homers once, helped make the Jays respectable and the Atlanta Braves a quasi-dynasty, including 2 homers in the 1995 World Series. He became the 1st Tampa Bay-area native to play for the Devil Rays when they started in 1998, along with Wade Boggs. It’s a shame he couldn’t get the 7 more homers to reach 500, but he was done.

Honorable Mention to Prince Fielder of Melbourne -- as suggested by a reader (see comment below). I initially missed Prince because he was born in Ontario, California, but grew up in Melbourne and attended Eau Gallie High School (as did Tim Wakefield, listed below).

In just 5 full seasons, plus this half-season, he's already hit 180 home runs, with an OPS+ of a whopping 140, and this while playing his home games at Miller Park in Milwaukee, not exactly a hitter's paradise. He's also helped the Brewers nearly reach the postseason in 2007 and finally do so in 2008, only their 3rd berth in their 40-year history. He led the NL in homers in 2007 and in RBIs in 2009.

To give you an idea: He's only 26, the age at which his father Cecil broke out. Cecil last played at age 34, and finished with 319 homers. Hmmmm... We could say that both Cecil and Prince are too fat to be suspected of steroids, but look at David Ortiz. Still, while Cecil may never make the Hall of Fame, Prince may be on his way.

Honorable Mention to Glenn Davis of Jacksonville. A 2-time All-Star, in 1986 he led the Houston Astros to the National League West title and finished 2nd to Mike Schmidt in the Most Valuable Player voting. He was, for a time, the Astros' all-time home run leader, hitting 166 despite playing his home games in the pitcher-friendly Astrodome. A good fielder, too.

But a back injury in 1990 curtailed his career. Before the 1991 season, the Astros traded him to the Baltimore Orioles for Steve Finley, Pete Harnisch and Curt Schilling. It looked like a good trade for both teams, but it turned into a bad one for both. Finley didn’t get good until after he left the Astros, Harnisch had personal issues that wrecked his career, and Schilling didn't blossom until the Astros traded him to Philadelphia. As for Davis, the injury meant he wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the close RF wall at Camden Yards. His career OPS+ was 123, but because of the injury he was finished at 32, with "only" 192 homers.

Honorable Mention... sort of... to Steve Garvey of Tampa. Like Kirk Gibson, he played both baseball and football at Michigan State University. Ten times an All-Star, 5 times a Gold Glove, 5 times a 100-RBI man, once an MVP in the NL (1974) and twice in the All-Star Game.

He was the Los Angeles Dodgers' Mr. Clean, their Captain America, their... let’s face it, their Ken Doll. He was the red-white-and-blue good guy of the 1970s, in contrast to the green-and-gold gangbangers in Oakland; the funky, Afro-wearing (including a couple of the white guys) street hustlers in Philly; the garish, black-and-gold disco pimps in Pittsburgh; and the wiseass goombas in The Bronx. Or so the believers in the O'Malley/Lasorda/Garvey Dodger Blue myth tried to tell us. 

Garvey played every day (his 1,207 consecutive games played is still an NL record and 4th all-time), and he played well, winning 5 Pennants (4 with L.A. and 1, as Chicago Cub fans don't like to be reminded, with the San Diego Padres) and the 1981 World Series. That year, at a point in his career when it looked like he would one day rank among the game's all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.

So why isn't this guy in the Hall of Fame? On Baseball-Reference.com, their Hall of Fame Monitor, which has a Likely HOFer at 100, has Garvey at 130; but their Hall of Fame Standards, which has the Average HOFer at 50, has him at only 32. So what gives?

Well, it's not that he didn't just plain stop hitting, or get his career curtailed by injury: His last productive season was at age 37. But, while from age 25 to 31, he was one of the top 10 players in baseball, after that, he was only a pretty good one, not putting together the kinds of seasons true greats still do in their early 30s. Only once did he hit more than 28 home runs (granted, Dodger Stadium is a pitcher's park), finishing with 272, not a HOF total. He collected 2,599 hits, a very good total but not, by itself, HOF material. His career OPS+ was 116, very good but, again, not HOF level. And, with Reggie Smith and usually at least 2 really good pitchers, a case can be made that Garvey was never even the best player on his own team. Tha'’s why I have him behind Tino here: He wasn't that, either, and he's not in the Hall, but he helped his team win more.

It has nothing to do with the fact that Garvey's Mr. Clean image was shattered, leading to the bumper sticker (probably most popular with Giants and Angels fans), "STEVE GARVEY IS NOT MY PADRE." At least the Padres retired his Number 6; the Dodgers still haven't, and manager Joe Torre has it now.

2B Davey Johnson of Orlando. I cheated a little on this one: Davey went to high school in San Antonio, which would put him in the Houston Astros' region; but I didn't see another 2nd baseman in the Rays' region that I thought was good enough, and, besides, Davey's not going to finish above Rogers Hornsby in the race for Texas' best at that position.

While he's known now as the only living person to manage the Mets to a World Championship (rest in peace, Gil Hodges), Davey was a pretty good player with the Baltimore Orioles' semi-dynasty of 1966-71, including making the last out in the only other World Series the Mets won, in 1969. He was a 4-time All-Star, a 3-time Gold Glove, and had a little power.

Only once did he hit more than 18 homers in a season, but in that year, 1973, with the Atlanta Braves, he hit 43 -- with "only" 99 RBIs. Those of you familiar with Brady Anderson must have an alarm going off in your head, but it wasn't due to steroids, it was due to Fulton County Stadium being at the highest elevation in the majors in those pre-Coors Field days, and it became known as the Launching Pad; if the Braves had stayed in Milwaukee and Hank Aaron had stayed with them, he still might have hit 600 homers, but he wouldn’t have hit 755.

Davey finished with 136, but with 2 World Series rings (1966 and 1970) -- and, of course, a 3rd as a manager (1986), although with all the talent he had to manage in Flushing, Cincinnati, Baltimore and L.A., he should have won more, which is why he’s not also the manager of this team.

SS David Eckstein of Sanford. I had the good fortune to watch him a few times for the Trenton Thunder in their 1999 Division Title-winning season (though they didn't win a Pennant until 2007). But, with former Thunder player Nomar Garciaparra having a hammerlock on the position at the big-league level, the Boston Red Sox let him go, and he made his debut with the Anaheim Angels (as the team was then officially known)

In 2002, he batted .293 with 63 RBIs, and led the AL in both sacrifice hits and hit-by-pitch, and became the first Thunder alumnus to play on a World Champion, hitting .310 with 3 RBIs in the Series. The Angels traded him to the Cardinals in 2005, and he helped them win a Series in 2006. Now 35, he is still a productive player as the starting second baseman for the Padres. The Thunder have retired Nomar's Number 5 and Tony Clark's Number 33 (and, of course, Jackie Robinson's Number 42), so why not Eckstein's Number 22? He is, after all, if not their greatest, then their most accomplished player. (UPDATE: They have since retired it.)

Honorable Mention to Jay Bell of Pensacola, who split time between short and 2nd, and had 195 homers, but I couldn't bring myself to put him at either position on this team.

3B Wade Boggs of Tampa. I almost missed him, because he was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He won 5 batting titles, including a peak of .368 in 1985. Career batting average of .328, career OPS+ of 130. The only man to hit a home run for his 3,000th career hit. Only 118 homers, but a whopping 578 doubles. An All-Star 12 times... in a row. Six straight times, he led the AL in intentional walks, despite being in a powerful Boston lineup. Won 2 Gold Gloves.

After the heartbreak of the 1986 World Series with the Red Sox, finally won one with the Yankees in 1996, and who will ever forget him riding behind the police officer on the horse around the warning track at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox have not yet retired his Number 26, nor have the Yankees retired his Number 12 or given him a Monument Park Plaque, but when he closed his career with his hometown Devil Rays, they retired Number 12 for him. Yeah, he had his issues, and maybe trying to avoid them makes me... chicken. So what.

(UPDATE: The Red Sox have since retired his number, and Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have also made their 3,000th hits home runs.)

Honorable Mention... sort of... to Larry Wayne Jones Jr. of Deland. Yeah, Chipper. A 142 OPS+, 433 home runs thus far, 488 doubles, 2,468 hits, the 1999 NL MVP, and 11 postseason appearances for the Atlanta Braves... but only 1 ring. Baseball-Reference.com has him at 162 on their Hall of Fame Monitor and 65 on their Hall of Fame Standards, meaning he would make it... although he wouldn't exactly be the last player I'd suspect of steroid use.

Honorable Mention to Howard Johnson of Clearwater. By a weird occurrence, the Mets have won 2 World Series, and each time, the starting 3rd baseman was from the Tampa Bay area. In 1969, they platooned Ed Charles of St. Petersburg and Wayne Garrett of Sarasota (who also started on their 1973 Pennant-winners). After helping the Detroit Tigers win the 1984 World Series, the Mets got him for pitcher Walt Terrell, and he platooned with Ray Knight for a couple of years, including 1986. (Knight breaks the pattern, but not by much: He's from Albany, Georgia, but the Rays aren’t that much further to the south than the Braves are to the north.)

In 1987, '89 and '91, HoJo was the 2nd Met, after Darryl Strawberry, to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season; I often joked that he was actually a 30-30-30 man, having also made 30 errors, but the most he ever made was 24, not good but hardly an atrocious total for a 3rd baseman.

With a .249 lifetime batting average and 228 homers, he'll never make the Hall of Fame, but he's still the best hot-corner man the Mets have ever had -- and will be until David Wright wins a World Series (don't hold your breath). He’s now the Mets' 3rd-base coach, and has managed in their minor-league system, so some people think he'll be the next manager when Jerry Manuel is fired.

Honorable Mention to Larry Parrish of Winter Haven. An All-Star once with the Montreal Expos and once with the Texas Rangers, statistically he had a better career than HoJo (256 homers despite not playing in a hitters' park), but his only trip to the postseason was in 1981 with the Expos, so HoJo made a bigger impact. Not to be confused with Lance Parrish, nor any relation. Also to Jim Presley of Pensacola, a pretty good slugger for the mid-1980s Seattle Mariners, but burned out quickly.

Honorable Mention to Dean Palmer of Tallahassee. Also a 3rd baseman for the Rangers, and later for the Tigers. Hit 275 home runs and had 4 100-RBI seasons.

LF Tim Raines of Sanford. This seems like a tough one at first, because I could have gone with a very similar player, Vince Coleman of Jacksonville, who stole 752 bases in his career, including at least 107 in each of his 1st 3 seasons, but really tailed off before he was 30 years old. By contrast, "Rock" Raines batted .304 as a 21-year-old rookie with the 1981 Expos, and .290 as a 38-year-old veteran with the 1998 Yankees, making the postseason each time. He had to get to the Yankees to win a ring in 1996 and another in '98, but it was well worth it.

He led the NL with a .336 batting average in 1986, but fell victim to collusion, and in his first 2 games back with the Expos in '87, on May 1 and 2, torched the Mets -- I was at the May 2 game at Shea, and the Met fans gave him a nice hand because they knew he was a good guy who got screwed.

Actually, he wasn't always a good guy, as he had to overcome a cocaine addiction, but overcome it he did. Lifetime batting average .294, OPS+ 123, 2,605 hits and 808 stolen bases. He has been eligible for the Hall of Fame since 2008, Baseball-Reference.com’s HOF Monitor has him at 90 of a "necessary" 100, their HOF Standards has him at 47 out of 50. He belongs, but, as Coleman did to him, he may be suffering in comparison to Rickey Henderson. (UPDATE: He's now in the Hall.)

His son, center fielder Tim Raines Jr., played briefly with the Orioles, including the 2002 season with his father, joining the Ken Griffeys as the only father-son combo to play for the same team at the same time. Tim Sr. is now the manager of the Atlantic League's Newark Bears, and Tim Jr. plays for them.

I could have given an Honorable Mention to Luis Gonzalez of Tampa, a Jefferson High School teammate of Tino Martinez. Not to do so would suugest that I'm still upset over his World Series-winning hit against the Yankees in 2001. (Well, I am.) But he's just too suspicious. He debuted in 1990, and from then until 1997, his peak homer year was 18. Then, in 1998, at age 30, he suddenly starts jacking them out: Seasons of 23, 26 and 31, and then, in the Arizona Diamondbacks' World Championship year of 2001, 57. And, just like that, he drops again, to 28, 26, 17, 24, 15, 15, and 8 when he retired. He finished with 354 homers. Something's not right there.

CF Johnny Damon of Orlando. I missed him at first because he was born at Fort Riley, Kansas, where his father was stationed at the time (and where Jackie Robinson was stationed in World War II). But he grew up in Orlando, putting him in the Rays' territory.

A .288 lifetime batting average, he just passed the 2,500 hit mark, he has 213 home runs, he led the AL in hits and stolen bases in 2000 (with the Kansas City Royals), led it in triples in 2002 (with the Red Sox), and, along with Ramiro Mendoza and Eric Hinske, is one of only 3 men in the last 86 years to have won World Series with both the Red Sox and the Yankees.

RF Lou Piniella of Tampa. Now best known as a chunky manager, who led the Cincinnati Reds to the 1990 World Championship, the Mariners to every postseason berth they've ever had, and the Cubs to a couple of NL Central titles, he was one heck of a hitter.

He won the 1969 AL Rookie of the Year award with the Kansas City Royals, before being traded to the Yankees after the 1973 season, a great trade for the Yanks as all they gave up was aging reliever Lindy McDaniel. He had 6 .300 seasons, and although he always seemed to be platooning between left, right and the DH spot with Reggie Jackson and Roy White, he was productive when it counted. It seemed like he saved his best games for the arch-rival Red Sox (including 2 tremendously important defensive plays in the 1978 AL East Playoff), the ALCS against the Royals (revenge for getting rid of him, maybe?) and the World Series against the Dodgers (his 10th-inning single drove home White with the winning run in Game 4 in 1978).

He was known as "Sweet Lou" for his swing, not for his personality: While his teammates loved him, he had a temper that Carl Everett would have envied. I'll never forget him getting nailed at the plate in the '78 ALCS -- looking at the replay years later, it's clear that he was out -- and then going into a tirade that led one sportswriter to call him "the Wild Man of Borneo."

As manager in The Bronx, Cincy, Seattle, Tampa and North Side Chicago, everyone waited for bad calls by the umpires to see "the Eruption of Mount Lou." (He's been compared to Italian volcanoes Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. Etna, but is, in fact, descended from immigrants from Spain.) From the time I first became aware of baseball, he's been one of my favorite personalities in the game. If you don’t like Lou Piniella, you’re a sad case. Or a Red Sox, Royals or Dodgers fan.

Honorable Mention to Derek Bell of Tampa, one of the "Killer B's" with Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio on the Astros' 1997-98-99 NL Central Champions. He also helped the Mets win the 2000 NL Pennant, but got hurt and was out of baseball after just one more year. Had he played longer, he might have the starting nod here.

Dishonorable Mention to Gary Sheffield of Tampa. Dwight Gooden's nephew seems to have Hall of Fame credentials, including the 1992 NL batting title, a career OPS+ of 140, 2,689 hits, 509 home runs, 467 doubles and, surprisingly, 253 stolen bases. And, let's face it, we all had to applaud when he faced that guy who was trying to extort his wife, who posed for some racy photos before becoming a gospel singer. Sheff called first his bluff and then the cops. Great.

But... Eight different teams wanted to get him, but all 8 teams ended up wanting to get rid of him. He reached the postseason with 3, but only won 1 Pennant, winning the 1997 World Series with the Marlins. When the Yankees got him in 2004, I was against it, using the cliche "clubhouse cancer." Well, he didn't look like it through that regular season, but he disappeared at the plate during those last 4 ALCS games against the Red Sox. He put up another great regular season in 2005, but again didn't get the job done in October. In 2006, he got hurt, and didn't get the job done in any month, including the embarrassing ALDS loss to the Tigers, and my prophecy was, sadly, fulfilled. He played with the Mets last season, and gave them some big hits at age 40, but got hurt again, and was released.

And then, of course... Seriously, Gary, you didn't know "the cream" had a steroid in it? He may be many things, but he's not stupid. But he didn't respect the baseball establishment, or baseball fans, enough to give us the truth, or even enough to give us a plausible lie. He does not make this team, and, while he's currently not on any roster, and thus stands to become eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2015, I hope he doesn't get in.

DH Hal McRae of Sebring. One of the first players to make his name as a designated hitter, he helped the Kansas City Royals to 10 postseason appearances -- every one they've ever made, including the 1980 Pennant and the 1985 World Championship. A career OPS+ of 122, he led the AL in doubles in 1977 and in doubles and RBIs in 1982. He was less successful as a manager, and although his son Brian McRae also played in the majors, he wasn't nearly as successful as his father.

UT Chone Figgins of Brandon -- originally missed by me because he was born in Leary, Georgia. He's played every position except 1st base, catcher and pitcher, and not just once or twice: Each position he's played, he's played at least 27 times, with 3rd base his most frequent position.

A rookie with the Anaheim Angels' World Champions of 2002, he drove the Yankees crazy in the 2002, '05 and '09 postseasons, and was a big reason why the Angels reached the postseason 6 times in 8 years. He's now with the Seattle Mariners, and at age 32 has a .285 lifetime batting average and 322 stolen bases, leading the AL with 62 in 2005.

C Al Lopez of Tampa. A very good defensive catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates, and in fact once held the record for most games played at the position. Not a great hitter, but did bat .301 in 1933. And the next-best catchers for the Rays' region are Mike Heath of Tampa, Thurman Munson's backup on the 1978 World Champions, who later became a starter in Oakland and Detroit; and Zack Taylor, Gabby Hartnett's backup on the 1929 NL Champion Cubs, who is better known as the St. Louis Browns manager who Bill Veeck usurped for "Grandstand Managers Night" in 1951.

Speaking of managers, Lopez is also the manager of this team. From 1949 to 1964, only twice did the Yankees not win the American League Pennant. That was in 1954 with the Cleveland Indians, and in 1959 with the Chicago White Sox. Both teams had Lopez as their manager. He makes it ahead of Tony LaRussa of Tampa. True, LaRussa has now joined Sparky Anderson as the only managers to win World Series from both Leagues, but if he was really a "genius," he'd have a better World Series won-lost record than 2-3 in series and 9-12 in games, and would have a lot more than the 2 titles in 10 trips to the postseason. In other words, if Bobby Cox were from this region, I wouldn't take him over Lopez, either.

What Lopez did, beating out the Yankee Dynasty of Casey Stengel, was a lot harder. And that, more than his catching, is what got Lopez into the Hall of Fame. Actually, it's amazing how many managers the Tampa Bay area produced, because I could also have tried Davey or Sweet Lou.

Honorable Mention to Anthony John "A.J." Pierzynski of Orlando. Went to Dr. Phillips H.S. with Damon. A 2-time All-Star, he reached the postseason with the 2003 Minnesota Twins, before becoming a key figure in the Chicago White Sox' 2005 World Series run, with that controversial missed 3rd strike in the ALCS. A lot of people who aren't White Sox fans hate him. I think he's a gamer, and if the Yankees ever got him, I'd be fine with it.

SP Jack Billingham of Orlando. Helped the Cincinnati Reds win 3 Pennants and 2 World Series in the 1970s, on his way to 145 career wins.

SP Don Sutton of Pensacola -- originally missed by me because he was born in Clio, Alabama, which also happens to be the birthplace of another somewhat disreputable character, George Wallace. True, Sutton was caught cheating (sandpaper taped to his glove hand, good way to hide it until, of course, he couldn't), but he apparently didn't do it for his entire career. He only won 20 once, in 1976, but won 324 games in his career, and struck out 3,574 batters. Of pitchers with more wins – Nolan Ryan has exactly as many – only Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton have more strikeouts. His career WHIP is 1.142.

Hall of Fame, Number 20 retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom he got to the postseason in 1974, '77, '78 and (through a one-game Playoff for the NL West title) '80. He also reached the postseason with the Houston Astros in '81, the Milwaukee Brewers in '82, and the California Angels in '86. He never won a World Series, though: He was re-signed by the Dodgers in 1988, but was released in August, just before they won the Series (as they had in '81, when he was in Houston).

He was also an occasional panelist on Match Game, one of many Dodgers to take advantage of Hollywood being nearby. He has parlayed that into a broadcasting career for the Atlanta Braves.

SP Dwight Gooden of Tampa. At age 19 and 20, Doctor K was one of the best pitchers we'll ever see. From 21 to 26, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. From 27 to 35, he was just another pitcher as he battled his demons, which, don't forget, included injuries as well as drugs. And at 35, much too soon, he was done.

He should have been 194-112 at the 2/3rds mark of his career, but that was his final record. But he did pitch a no-hitter (as a Yankee, not a Met), and he did win 3 World Series (1986 as a Met, 1996 and 2000 as a Yankee).

SP Mike Hampton of Crystal River. He helped the Astros to 3 straight postseason appearances, going 22-4 in the last of those seasons, 1999. So the Mets made him a rent-a-star in 2000, and he led them to a Pennant, pitching the NLCS clincher in Game 5 at Shea. But the Mets chose not to sign him to a new contract, and he chose to sign with the Colorado Rockies. So, Hamp, how good are the schools in the Denver area?

Injuries have dogged him ever since. Officially, he's not retired, but it looks like his current career record of 148-115 is going to hold.

SP Tim Wakefield of Melbourne. Since 1995, the Boston Red Sox have reached the postseason 8 times in 15 seasons, and he's been there for all of them. He's still at it at age 43, having won 192 games, including Games 1 and 4 of the 2003 ALCS, before giving up Aaron Boone's homer in Game 7. Still, he has been as much a part of the Sox' success, throughout their history, as anyone.

Honorable Mention to Zack Greinke of Orlando. He won last year's AL Cy Young Award, going 16-8 with an ERA of 2.16, an ERA+ of 205, and a WHIP of 1.073, all leading the League. A far cry from the 5-17 he had with the Kansas City Royals in 2005. For a career, he’s only 55-61... but he's only 26, and the next-best choice for a 5th starter for the Tampa Bay region was Brett Myers of Jacksonville. Greinke will be there, especially if he can get away from Kansas City and get to a contender.

Dishonorable Mention to Kenny Rogers of Plant City (initially missed by me because he was born in Savannah, Georgia). True, he went 219-156 for a .528 winning percentage, and his career ERA of 108 isn't bad, but his career WHIP is 1.403, and he's a known cheater and a massive jackass.

Plus, how many players can say they screwed over both New York baseball teams? The Yankees came back from 6-0 down in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series, but the reason they were in that hole is because Rogers, 12-8 that regular season but with a 14.14 ERA in the postseason, put them there. And he threw the biggest base on balls in baseball history in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS, walking Andruw Jones with the bases loaded to give the Atlanta Braves the Pennant against the Mets. His name may have been Kenny Rogers, but it was a manager bringing him in who was "The Gambler."

RP Tom Gordon of Avon Park. A pretty good starter for the Royals, he became a great reliever for the Red Sox. In 1998, he saved 46 for the Sox, and Sox fan Stephen King wrote a fantasy novel titled The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

This is how strong the Curse of the Bambino -- if it actually existed -- was: Gordon got hurt the next season, which may have prevented the Sox from beating the Yanks in the '99 ALCS. He was with the Yankees in 2004, and... lost in the ALCS to the Red Sox! He finally got a ring with the 2008 Phillies. At age 41, he appears to be done, with 138 wins and 158 saves. But a good career.

Honorable Mention to Bobby Thigpen of Tallahassee. For a few years, he was a great closer with the Chicago White Sox. In 1990, he saved 57 games, a record that stood until 2008. But injury cut his career short at age 30, with 201 saves. He did make it into a World Series, with the Phillies in 1993.