All-Time Fav Non-Star Yanks – Rotisserie Style
Picking up on the conversation stemming from yesterday’s post on Claudell Washington, I thought I would share some of my personal all-time favorite non-star Yankees. (And, by “non-star” I mean they were not stars by the time they got to New York – in case they were stars once somewhere else.) Here goes – using the classic rotisserie roster format:
C: Mike Stanley, Ron Hassey
1B: Steve Balboni
2B: Andy Stankiewicz
SS: Wayne Tolleson
3B: Aurelio Rodriguez
CM: Eric Soderholm
MI: Bert Campaneris
OF: Jerry Mumphrey, Claudell Washington, Bobby Brown, Dion James, Joe Lefebvre
UT: Henry Cotto
Pitchers: Tom Underwood, Bob Shirley, Rudy May, Jon Lieber, Ray Fontenot, John Candelaria, Doug Bird, Rich Bordi and Dick Tidrow
This is a quick stab at it – there’s probably at least 9 more guys I would like to squeeze on to the team. How about you? If you had to pick a 23-man roster, how would you fill it?
None from the last 15 years other than Lieber. Interesting.
DAN PASQUA!!! my fave player EVER. whenever i wear my “21″ jersey people start calling my “Pauly”. i correct them every time.
Henry Cotto!! Now that’s an oldie but a goodie!
My list is:
C: Mike Stanley, Rick Cerone
1B: Matt Nokes*
2B: Pat Kelly
3B: Mike Pagliarulo
SS: Alvaro Espinoza
CI: Charlie Hayes
MI: Randy Velarde
OF: Claudell Washington, Shane Spencer, Chad Curtis, Dan Pasqua, Roberto Kelly
UT: Ron Kittle
SP: Dennis Rasmussen, Melido Perez, Bob Tewksbury, Charles Hudson, Joe Niekro, Jim Abbott
RP: Bob Wickman, Jeff Nelson, Ramiro Mendoza
*I know Nokes never really played 1B for the Yanks but my entire childhood and young adulthood was dominated by Don Mattingly and Tino Martinez. I detested Steve Balboni for being a giant fatso that came over from the then-hated KC Royals and Jack Clark (formerly of the Cardinals) was arguably the most unlikeable player of the 1980′s. Arrogant jerk.
Seeing-eye specialist: Luis Sojo
Like MJ, I was going to say Randy Velarde. I always dug his versatility in the field and he was a respectable hitter. He was a super utility guy. Mendoza was another one I liked.
Two words: Luis Polonia…
sean mcnally wrote:
A few more words: 15 year-old
I’m not judging him, mind you, but that’s the first thing I think of when I hear Polonia’s name…
MJ wrote:
My recollection of that was that, to quote the former mayor of my fair city “B*tch set him up.” There was some shadiness about the girl telling him she was older than she was, then her mom calling the hotel room and the like, so I’m a little more forgiving than most.
Polonia was my adopted favorite player growing up after seeing him in the dugout with the A’s standing between McGwire and Canseco – giving this then very short 9-year-old faint hope at a big league career.
Off-field issues aside, Polonia almost won a batting title, was a career .300 hitter and a very good defensive outfielder. I wonder what some career stability in his early days would have done for him.
On Polonia:
In August 1989, a 15-year-old girl said Yankees outfielder Luis Polonia had sex with her in his room at the Pfister Hotel. The Yankees were in town for a series against the Brewers, and Polonia had met the teenager at a club after a game.
Polonia, then 24, said the girl told him she was 19, and said she consented to having sex.
Polonia was found guilty of having sex with a minor, sentenced to 60 days in jail, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $10,000 to Milwaukee’s Sexual Assault Treatment Center.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner had asked the Milwaukee judge to show leniency, calling Polonia “a little kid who really doesn’t know his way around.”
Steinbrenner added: “It isn’t like (Polonia) grabbed a girl, put her in the car, took her to the hotel and did something with her.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/1997/07/22/1997-07-22_in__89__polonia_was_yankee_i.html
@ Steve Lombardi:
out of curisotity, any idea if the club owners got in trouble for having a 16 year old girl in there? Honestly, If I was in a club, I wouldn’t even ask a girl how old she was unless it was obvious by her appearance or how she acted that she was a kid since your supposed to be of age there…kinda scary when you think about it
sean mcnally wrote:
Like I said, I’m not judging Polonia. What happened between him and the girl really doesn’t matter to me. It’s just that I can’t help but think about that topic no matter what. When I think of Polonia, I think of recently turning 14 and how someone my age ended up in the news with a ballplayer.
MJ wrote:
Recently turned 14?!? *sighs heavily and passes out from the effects of old age*
Don’t feel bad Sean – FWIW, in the summer of 1989 I was 26. And, also FWIW, when I was 25 – a year older than Polonia was in 1989 – I met a girl at a party…and let’s just say we hit it off pretty quickly.
I took her out another time after that party. And, the next time we went out after that, she confessed to me that she was a senior in high school. Luckily, she was 18 years old.
But, I had no idea – and never thought to ask when I met her at the party…since it was a house party and I assumed that everyone there was around “early to mid 20′s” to “early 30′s.” (The range being the difference between my age and the age of my friend who threw the party.)
Turns out this girl worked for my friend at the mall – and that’s how he knew her and how she got to the party. There was no way she looked 18. I would have guessed she was 23 or 24…just a little younger than me.
Needless to say, when she ‘fessed up, that was it. But, because of that, when the Polonia thing went down, and the facts came out, I felt bad for Luis – because I knew how easy it was for a girl to fool a guy…and how easy it was for a guy to forget to ask a girl how old she really was, etc.
Corey – no idea about the club. They should have been busted for letting Polonia’s girl in…but, that hardly ever seems to happen…or at least back in the 1980′s.
sean mcnally wrote:
Sorry, I guess I didn’t phrase it well or was unclear. I turned 14 in July of 1989. Unless I’m reading it wrong, you were 9 when you saw Polonia on the A’s so you’re roughly my age now (I just turned 34 about 5 weeks ago).
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Indeed. Obviously, in this case, the offending club was in Wisconsin, but I remember being 14-15 years old and getting into tons of bars around NYC’s Upper West Side, back when Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues were considered “dangerous.” I used to drink pitchers at McGlade’s Snug on 85th & Columbus….
…then Giuliani showed up and the party was over.
I started working in a bar @ 16. Well, it was a bar/restaurant.
From general observations, if you acted cool, most people left you alone to drink, if you were underaged.
sean mcnally wrote:
I know he almost won a batting title, and IIRC he held it against the Yanks. I don’t know about him being a good defensive outfielder. I remember some unique routes he took, as well as having a glove that seemed to be bigger than him
Raf wrote:
Too funny! I totally forgot about that but, yeah, he had a huge piece of leather on his hand.