Hall of Fame

Roster of the Month: 2019 Hall of Fame Teammates

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The votes have all been tallied, and the Hall of Fame will induct a monster class of six players in 2019. Four players were elected by the BBWAA: Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina. Additionally, Harold Baines and Lee Smith were blessed by the Today’s Game Era Committee (which is a dumb name for a dumb committee).

Surely, each of us agrees with the enshrinement of some of the inductees and disagrees about the others. Whether or not you think they all belong, they will all soon have a plaque in Cooperstown.

The six honorees combined to play 111 major league seasons. Naturally, they played with hundreds of teammates. This Roster of the Month selects the best 25-man roster from the teammates of the 2019 Hall of Fame class. Here are the ground rules:

  1. Each player on this roster merely had to share a uniform once with one of Rivera, Mussina, Halladay, Martinez, Smith, or Baines to be eligible. For example, Vladimir Guerrero and Smith both played for the 1997 Montreal Expos, so Vlad is eligible, even though he didn’t make the team. (It’s a REALLY good roster!)
  2. The 2019 Hall of Fame class itself is not eligible. Even though Rivera was a teammate of Mike Mussina’s, he is not available for this roster.

Starting Lineup

Every single player in the lineup is of Hall of Fame caliber.

  1. LF Rickey Henderson:The stolen base king played with Baines on the A’s in the early 90s, then later on joined Martinez on the Mariners.
  2. 3B Alex Rodriguez: ARod debuted with the Mariners in 1994 as a teammate of Martinez’s, then later joined up with Mussina and Rivera in New York.
  3. CF Ken Griffey, Jr.: The entirety of Griffey’s Mariners career coincided with Martinez’s (not counting his brief return to Seattle in 2009 and 2010). In 2016, he set the record for highest Hall of Fame vote share with 99.3%, which was broken this year by Rivera’s unanimous election.
  4. 1B Frank Thomas: When Baines returned to the White Sox in 1996-97, The Big Hurt was the star of the show. Later in Thomas’ career, he joined the Halladay-led Blue Jays.
  5. SS Cal Ripken, Jr.: Ripken, Mussina, Smith, and Baines all played together for the 1994 Orioles, as did Rafael Palmeiro.
  6. DH Wade Boggs: Boggs collected 606 hits from 1988-90 with Lee Smith in the Boston bullpen. He was then present with the Yankees for Rivera’s ascension.
  7. 2B Ryne Sandberg: Sandberg, Roberto Alomar, and Robinson Cano all qualify for this team, making second base a difficult decision. We’ll go with Sandberg, who played with Smith for the Cubs in the 80s.
  8. C Carlton Fisk: Fisk and Baines both starred for the White Sox in the 80s.
  9. RF Ichiro Suzuki: Suzuki’s glory days with the Mariners began towards the end of Martinez’s career, but it’s easy to forget he also played with Rivera on the Yankees.

Bench

This deep bench is full of borderline and not-so-borderline Hall candidates.

  • 2B Roberto Alomar: It’s easy to remember that Alomar played with Mussina on the Orioles, but it’s less obvious that he also played with Baines on the 1999 Indians.
  • SS Derek Jeter: Gee, did Jeter play with Rivera and Mussina? That’s a tough one…
  • C Jorge Posada: See above vis-a-vis Jeter.
  • OF Tim Raines: Okay, this is a Yankee you actually might not recall, but Raines did indeed play with Rivera from 1996-98.
  • OF Manny Ramirez: Ramirez also suited up for that 1999 Cleveland team with Baines and Alomar.

Rotation

Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton were both teammates with Baines. Neither are good enough to make this rotation.

  1. RHP Roger Clemens: Clemens is the only player to share a clubhouse with four of the six inductees. Smith saved more than a few of his wins with the 1988-90 Red Sox, Halladay was a rookie while he was a Blue Jay in 1998, and he later joined Mussina and Rivera as a Yankee.
  2. LHP Randy Johnson: With The Big Unit, Griffey, ARod, and Edgar, how did the late 90s Mariners not win more games? Johnson was somewhat less brilliant later on as a Mussina/Rivera teammate.
  3. RHP Greg Maddux: Maddux wasn’t yet Maddux during those early years with the Cubs, but he did play with Smith.
  4. RHP Pedro Martinez: Smith’s final MLB destination was the 1997 Expos, for which Pedro won his first Cy Young.
  5. RHP Tom Seaver: Seaver won his 300th game on August 4, 1985 with the White Sox. Baines played right field, batted third, and singled twice.

Bullpen

Rivera’s and Smith’s induction now brings the total of Hall of Fame relievers to seven. Those two are ineligible, of course, but three of the remaining five are on this roster.

  • RHP Dennis Eckersley: Eck shared a clubhouse with Smith in Chicago and Baines in Oakland.
  • RHP Tom Gordon: Like many others on this roster, Flash played with Mussina and Rivera as a Yankee.
  • RHP Rich Gossage: Goose’s last two MLB teams were the A’s with Baines from 1992-93, then the Mariners with Matinez in 1994.
  • LHP Sparky Lyle: Lyle joined the White Sox in August, 1982, where he shared the field with Baines.
  • RHP David Robertson: The one and only active player, unless you count Ichiro! Robertson sat in the bullpen with Rivera early in his career.
  • RHP Bruce Sutter: The 1980 Cubs featured both Sutter and Smith out of the bullpen.

This roster is SO incredible, and these Hall of Famers are SO well-traveled, that we can actually make a very good “B” team. In fact, Mark McGwire, Jim Rice, Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt, and Cliff Lee don’t even make the “B” squad!

“B” Lineup

  1. CF Kenny Lofton (Baines, Mussina, Rivera)
  2. 3B Gary Sheffield (Mussina, Rivera)
  3. DH Jim Thome (Baines, Halladay)
  4. RF Vladimir Guerrero (Smith)
  5. 2B Robinson Cano (Mussina, Rivera)
  6. LF Sammy Sosa (Baines)
  7. 1B Rafael Palmeiro (Baines, Mussina, Smith)
  8. C Jim Sundberg (Smith)
  9. SS Ozzie Smith (Smith)

“B” Bench

“B” Rotation

  1. LHP Steve Carlton (Baines)
  2. RHP Nolan Ryan (Baines)
  3. RHP Fergie Jenkins (Smith)
  4. LHP CC Sabathia (Rivera)
  5. RHP David Cone (Rivera)

“B” Bullpen

-Daniel R. Epstein

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