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5x All Star, 3x Silver Slugger, 2x Gold Glove
Benji Cervantes was definitely a professional nomad. During his ten season career, he was traded four times and played in eight different cities with five different organizations.Wherever Certantes went though, he produced. He was a very solid all around player. He hit with power and for solid average. He was a very good defender, winning a gold glove in CF and also one in RF when he moved positions toward the end of his career. He was a five time All Star and won three Silver Slugger Awards. In all of the nine seasons in which he was a full time starter, he hit at least 20 home runs. In four of those season he hit 30+ homers, twice clearing the 40 home run mark. In five seasons he drove in at least 100 runs. He was also fast, stealing double digit bases in nearly every season. He was also named to the Satchel Paige News All Decade I team. Benji Cervantes was a rare player. You don't come across many Gold Glove CF who also have a career OPS of .874. Cervantes is now enjoying a quiet retirement at his home in the Dominican.
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6x All Star, 2x World Series Champion
Desi Gongora had a very good 12 season SPL career. He only played for three teams, all in the AL: the St. Louis Redbirds, the Baltimore Revolution and the Scottsdale Camels. He won two World Series rings. One was with the Redbirds in Season 4 and the other was with the Revolution in Season 10. Gongora was named to 6 All Star games and was also named to the Satchel Paige News All Decade I: Second Team. He was never the best pitcher on his team, but was always the perfect #2. He was very consistent and highly durable. In every one of his first nine big league seasons, he made at least 30 starts and hurled 188 innings. He never won 20 games during a season, but he did win at least 14 games in 8 of his first 9 seasons. He also had back-to-back 19 win seasons for the Redbirds in Seasons 5 and 6. For his career, he racked up nearly 2,000 strikeouts (1,957), 176 wins (against only 102 losses) and an ERA of 4.10.
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1x MVP, 4x All Star, 3x Silver Slugger
Ronald Lemon spent the first seven seasons of his fourteen year big league career, playing in the city of Salem for what is now the Vancouver Tragedy Twins organization. Lemon was one of the most feared left handed sluggers of his generation. In six of his first eight seasons, he crushed at least 40 home runs. In his MVP Season 6, Lemon had one of the best single seasons any player has ever had. Hit he .323 with 33 doubles, 60 home runs, 156 RBI, a .711 SLG and threw in 15 steals for good measure. He had 6 consecutive seasons of at least 120 RBI. The Vancouver franchise record book should actually be called the 'Ronald Lemon Book of Career Achievements' because his name is on pretty much every offensive record. He is the all time Vancouver leader in games played, doubles, hits, home runs, runs scored and RBI. He is 2nd in AVG and SLG. Lemon wasn't just a slugger though. He was a complete offensive player. He wasn't blinding fast, but he was a good base runner and accumulated 132 steals in his career. He hit for average, with a career line of .303, but was also a disciplined hitter. He drew 665 walks in his career and had a career OBP of .368 and a career OPS of .938. Lemon has now returned to Salem, where is he is beloved and spent so much of his career. He now does radio color commentary for the returned Salem Blues franchise.
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5x All Star, 3x Silver Slugger
Billy Ray Magee was one of the best offensive catchers in the early years of the SPL. He was named to 5 All Star teams in his 10 full time seasons and won 3 Silver Slugger Awards as well. He was also named to the Satchel Paige League News All Decade I: Second Team. In the first 8 seasons of his career, he hit less than 30 home runs only once, and drove in less than 100 runs only once. He was a very disciplined hitter as well, drawing 639 walks in his career. He had a career batting average of .298, a career OBP of .382 with 419 career home runs. His best year (and, arguably the best single season in league history) was in Season 1. He scored 154 runs, hit 26 doubles, 78 home runs, drove in 226 runs, drew 87 walks and only struck out 66 times… while playing in Petco Park! The 226 RBI he had that season is still an all time, single season record.
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4x All Star, 1x Gold Glove, 1x Cy Young
Mateo Manzanillo proved during the course of his career, he was one of the most versatile pitchers in baseball. He appeared in 383 games… starting 192 of them and coming out of the pen for the other 191. He won a Cy Young Award in Season 2, won a Gold Glove Award in Season 4 and was named to 4 All Star teams. He was also named to the Satchel Paige League News All Decade I: Second Team. He has a career record of 104-55, with 16 saves, 1140 strikeouts and a career ERA of 3.59. His best season (and his Cy Young season) was Season 2. He went 25-6 with a 2.13 ERA and 233 strikeouts. He was on his way to another great year in Season 3, before he needed major elbow surgery, ending his season. He recovered though, and was named to 2 of his 4 All Star games after his surgery. He earned a reputation as a great big game pitcher as well. In 37 postseason games (12 starts, 25 relief appearances) he pitched 124 innings. His record was 10-2 with 3 saves and an ERA of 2.82.
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7x All Star, 3x Silver Slugger
Newman was a professional, line drive hitter, who is capable of driving the ball to all fields. He has a well deserved reputation for being especially tough on left handed pitching. He was named to 7 All Star games, more than any other 2B, and won 3 Silver Slugger Awards. He was also named #8 on the Satchel Paige League News Top Ten Position Players list. At the time of his retirement, his 426 doubles ranks 5th all time. He has very similar offensive numbers to his positional counter part Chin-Hui Martin, although he wasn't quite as fast and was a weaker defensive player. Still, his offensive numbers are pretty impressive. He had 7 seasons with 190+ hits, 7 seasons with 30+ home runs, 8 seasons with 100+ RBI and 9 seasons with 30+ doubles. His Season 1 total of 65 doubles is still tied for the 3rd highest single season mark in SPL history. During his career, Newman totalled a batting average of .324, with an OBP .395, 340 home runs, 1292 RBI, 2036 hits and the aforementioned 426 doubles. Newman has been one of the best 2B in the early history of the SPL. Last season, Newman had his heart broking by finishing just one vote shy of being inducted into the HoF. He's hoping this year will be the year.
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7x MVP, 9x All Star, 8x Silver Slugger, 4x World Series Champion
There will never be another Pedro Pascaul. He is the hitter that all aspire to be, yet no one will ever become. He exploits have become the stuff of legend. His records are almost too many to count. But we'll try. Seven MVP... most ever. Eight Silver Sluggers... most ever. Nine All Star appearances and 4 World Series rings... well, second most ever (hats off to Damaso Solano). His career 478 doubles... most ever, 2888 hits... most ever, 665 home runs... most ever, 1.065 OPS... highest ever, 1688 runs scored... most ever, 1967 RBI... most ever, .342 AVG and .647 SLG... second highest ever. Pascual was the centerpiece around which one of the most successful franchises was built, leading Pittsburgh to Pennant after Pennant and World Series after World Series. He is, without a doubt the most feared and respected offensive force the SPL has ever seen. He had 8 seasons of 50+ home runs, 3 seasons of 60+ home runs and twice his 70+ home runs. He drove in at least 119 runs in twelve consecutive seasons. In ten different seasons he had at least 200 hits. Six times in his career he hit .350 or higher over the course of a full season. Pasucal never hit below .300 in any season until he was 38 years old. And as great as Pedro always was during the reguar season, he was at least that great during the playoffs. His career AVG and OBP were slightly higher during the postseason. Pascual should not only be an absolute lock for the HoF, but should probably be the first ever player to be unanimously voted into the Hall.
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2x MVP, 6x All Star, 4x Silver Slugger
While Pascual was busy terrorizing NL pitcher, Quinn was the most dominant and feared hitter in the AL. He was wildly popular, first in Mexico City, then in Monterrey. Terrell fell in love with Mexico and is without a doubt the most popular SPL player in that country. He was paired with current HoFer Kazuhiro Takada for much of his career forming a very potent 3-4 combination. Quinn is currently ranked 3rd on the SP All Time home run leader list, with 589. During Season 5, Quinn hit an incredible 80 home runs which is still the second highest single season total in league history. His career SLG of .629 is also the 3rd highest All Time. In six different seasons, Quinn hit at least 49 home runs, including 3 times hitting 60 or more and, of course, there was his 80 home run season. He had 9 straight seasons of 100 or more RBI, including 182 RBI in Season 5. He was also really tough to strike out and drew alot of walks. For his career he drew 909 walks compared to 922 strike outs. Although he is most known for his prodigious power, he was a very complete hitter with no holes in his swing. He had a career AVG of .316 and an OBP of .398. He also has 2155 career hits. Despite all of his individual success, he was plagued with playing for teams that never made the playoffs. In his fourteen ML seasons, he only made the playoffs three times. Quinn, who always loved the spotlight, has retired to a nice beach side villa in Monterrey. He still enjoys huge celebrity, and never has to buy his own drink. He can be seen frequently at the local cantina regaling any fans who will listen with the tales of his many exploits.
