Franchise leaders for possible World Series opponents
Posted by Andy on October 2, 2011
Once the two teams for this year's World Series are determined, there will be a small bit of attention paid to some player on one team who also played on the other team.
Let's take a peek at the players with a lot of plate appearances or innings pitched for each possible combination. I got these results using the Multi-Franchise tool.
Phillies-Yankees:
Bobby Abreu, Oscar Gamble, Charlie Hayes, Ricky Ledee
Sparky Lyle, Tom Gordon, Shane Rawley
Phillies-Tigers:
Placido Polanco, Lance Parrish, Glenn Wilson
Jim Bunning, Schoolboy Rowe, Willie Hernandez
Phillies-Rangers:
Del Unser, Pete Incaviglia, Marlon Byrd, Ricky Ledee
Mitch Williams, Vicente Padilla, Sparky Lyle
Phillies-Rays:
Pat Burrell, Travis Lee, Kevin Stocker, Marlon Anderson
Roberto Hernandez, Danys Baez, Cory Lidle
Brewers-Yankees:
Willie Randolph, Gary Sheffield, Gerald Williams, Charlie Hayes
Bob Wickman, Graeme Lloyd, Mike Myers
Brewers-Tigers:
Ben Ogilvie, Rob Deer (yay!), Gary Sheffield, Alex Sanchez
Mike Myers, Jim Slaton, Steve Sparks
Brewers-Rangers:
Jim Sundberg, Darryl Hamilton, Dave May, Darrell Porter
Brian Shouse, Francisco Cordero, Danny Darwin, Doug Davis
Brewers-Rays:
Greg Vaughn, Gabe Gross, Gerald Williams, Ben Grieve
Alberto Reyes, Brian Shouse, Seth McClung
Diamondbacks-Yankees:
Tony Womack, Tony Clark, Andy Fox
Randy Johnson, Mike Myers, Brian Bruney, Randy Choate
Diamondbacks-Tigers:
Tony Clark, Luis Gonzalez, Danny Bautista
Jose Valverde, Mike Myers, Brandon Lyon, Gregg Olson
Diamondbacks-Rangers:
David Dellucci, Rod Barajas, Royce Clayton
Doug Davig, Rick Helling, Mike Morgan
Diamondbacks-Rays:
Travis Lee, Quinton McCracken
Randy Choate, Lance Cormier
Cardinals-Yankees:
Enos Slaughter, Johnny Mize, Tino Martinez, Roger Maris
Cardinals-Tigers:
Placido Polanco, Edgar Renteria, Juan Encarnacion
Syl Johnson, Doug Bair, Juan Acevedo
Cardinals-Rangers:
Don Blasingame, Luis Alicea, Todd Zeile, Royce Clayton
Cris Carpenter, Rick Honeycutt
Cardinals-Rays:
Miguel Cairo, Randy Winn, Mike Difelice, Tino Martinez
Trever Miller, Alberto Reyes
Trivia question 1: can you name the only player to play for each of the 4 AL playoff teams? Answer
Trivia question 2: can you name the only three players to play for each of the 4 NL playoff teams? Answer
Trivia question 3: can you name the only four players to play for each of the 4 "old" playoff teams? (Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals, and Tigers)? Answer
Trivia question 4: can you name the only player to play for each of the 4 "young" playoff teams? (Diamondbacks, Brewers, Rays, and Rangers)? Answer
October 2nd, 2011 at 8:44 am
Ian Kennedy beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series is still my dream scenario
October 2nd, 2011 at 9:44 am
Great post, Andy!!! And super hard trivia questions, I thought. Very nice!
October 2nd, 2011 at 10:28 am
I like how one of your answers is among the few players to have played for more than one team in each league all in one season.
October 2nd, 2011 at 10:45 am
Doug Davig! Ack.
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:49 pm
I have to confess to getting Kelly Stinnett and Kelly Shoppach mixed up! I thought that the catcher who had that big game on Friday was the same one who was Jesse Levis' backup for the Brewers in 1997 but got the call over Levis by the Phillies during September 2003, thus denying Philadelphia native Levis his dream of playing in Veterans Stadium.
Oh, and I hope I'm not spoiling the fun for anyone here, but I knew that Stinnett also played for the Diamondbacks, and I was pretty sure he played for the Cardinals, too. He played for the Brewers when they were still in the American League.
I'm getting slow loads here due to the ads, even though this was supposed to be fixed. Otherwise, I would have had some more interesting tidbits regarding the four questions asked at the end of the post. I will say that I found that one of the players who was an answer to a 4-of-a-kind question also played for one of the other 4 postseason teams, but I don't remember
who it was right now, and I'm not going to go look at all of them again.
Interesting to see Don "Blazer" "no apparent relation to Wade" Blasingame listed under Cardinals-Rangers. He played for the Rangers franchise when it was still the Washington Senators.
The postseason rosters for the Phillies-Cardinals series includes all three still-active pitchers who combined on the no-hitter for the Astros in Yankee Stadium on June 11, 2003 - Roy Oswalt (starter), Brad Lidge (winner), and Octavio Dotel (I know that one of the pitchers struck out four in an inning, and I think he was the one).
Oswalt, one of the few players named Roy to have placed high in ROY (Rookie-of-the-Year) balloting, is also in another group of three involving these two teams' rosters. I wonder how many ROY winners or high vote-getters are still doing well 10 years later. Well, the top three vote-getters for twenty-oh-one NL ROY are on these two teams and have had fairly decent careers - 1. Albert Pujols, 2. Roy Oswalt, and 3. Jimmy Rollins.
October 2nd, 2011 at 5:11 pm
I actually love your posts here. Great blog, nice influence folks.
October 2nd, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is Placido Polanco the only player who is still on one of the teams he is mentioned for?
Also- The Cardinals must just really, really like the name 'Cris/Chris Carpenter'.
October 2nd, 2011 at 7:11 pm
@ 5 Double D:
I agree about the Slow Loads due to Ads, seemed to start yesterday
October 2nd, 2011 at 9:26 pm
I find this sort of thing interesting when we are talking about active players.
It gets realllly interesting when a player on one World Series team played earlier that year for the other team.
It's down right delicious when that player is a catcher and is in a position to help sway the series by just sharing information above and beyond what he can do in the field.
Kudos to you if you can remember this happening recently.
October 2nd, 2011 at 11:15 pm
#9 Benji Molina, last year, from the Giants to Texas.
October 2nd, 2011 at 11:32 pm
The hypetastic matchup would be Cliff Lee vs. the Rangers. He didn't play for 'em long, but...
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:20 pm
@10...didn't help Texas much though.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
@5: Don . . . Blasingame . . . (Cardinals-Rangers) . . . played for the Rangers franchise when it was still the Washington Senators.
Phillies-Rangers plate-appearances leader Del Unser never played for the Rangers either. He was traded to Cleveland in the offseason of 1971-72, when the Senators were being transferred to Arlington.