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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 Cervantes 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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3x All Star, 1x Gold Glove (CF)
Barry Garcia was a rangy center fielder with a huge swing. In his time he probably had more power than any other center fielder in the league. He has now retired with 513 career home runs. Five times in his career he hit 50+ home runs, including a career high of 63. He still holds the 1st and 2nd highest single season records for HR and RBI in Philly franchise history. While he wasn't a great hitter for average (.263 for his career) he was a consistent run producer, driving in 100+ runs 9 times during his career and twice driving in 150+ runs. For a player who plays a defensive position, even winning a Gold Glove, having the offensive potential that he did was quite a luxury for whatever team he happened to be playing on. The biggest knock of Garcia would have to be his postseason hitting. Five times Garcia's teams made it into the playoffs. In his 17 career postseason games, Garcia hit an anemic .160 with an OBP of .208.
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3x All Star, 1x Gold Glove (RF), 2x World Series Champion
Derrick Hernandez was a very good power hitter. He has finished his career up with 552 home runs. His accumulated career totals are pretty impressive. He has 2,000 hits, 332 doubles, 1,510 RBI to go with a career line of .287/.359/.586. His Gold Glove award will attest to the fact that he was a pretty good defensive RF too. He hit at least 40 home runs 5 times during his career, including 2 seasons with at least 50. He also had 7 seasons with at least 100 RBI including 150 RBI in SPL's inaugural season. While you could certainly say more about Hernandez's regular season accolades, he really made a name for himself during the playoffs. During the two seasons in which he won the WS, Hernandez had two of the best offensive postseason hitting performances ever. In 13 playoff games in Season 2, he hit .436 with 9 HR and 17 RBI. His OPS was 1.423. He either scored a run, or drove in a run in 39% of his team's runs that postseason. In Season 5, he played in 19 playoff games. In those games he had an OPS of 1.230 with an AVG of .388 with 8 HR and 23 RBI. For his entire playoff career, he had an AVG of .342 and an OPS of 1.120. In Season 5, he either scored or drove in 36% of his team's runs.
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5x All Star, 2x Fireman of the Year, 2x World Series Champion
Time Kaye was one of the best relievers in the SPL for nearly all of his stellar 14 season career. When you look at the franchises that he played for (St. Louis, Baltimore, Milwaukee), and their track record of success, you can see that winning followed Kaye wherever he went. His accolades are solid: 5 All Stars, 2 FIR Awards and a couple of Championship rings; but you really have to look at his numbers to appreciate just how good Kaye really was. As a relief pitcher, Kaye had a winning record of 90-60 also picking up nearly 200 career saves. Most managers didn't want to waste Kaye in a closer's role due to his ability to pitch over 100 innings in a season; which he did 8 times in his 14 season career. He certainly would've picked up alot more saves if given the chance. His career ERA of 3.17 is excellent. Just to give some reference, Kaye's career ERA is better than All Time Great, and future HoFer Julian Castillo; better than perennial All Star and future HoFer Victor Delgado; and comparable to the greatest reliever to ever play in SP Shin-Soo Nakamura. He was one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the league, period. He combined a cutter that moved in the high 90's with near pinpoint control; and a hard sinker that was very difficult to hit out of the park. He has over 1,300 career strikeouts. For his career, he averaged 8.46 strikouts per nine (good for just out of the top 5 in SP history). That's better than last season's NL strikeout king Pepe Sosa (7.74 on his career) and the exact same as strikeout artist Hipolito Matos for his career (also 8.46). With only 397 walks, he has a masterful K/BB ratio of 3.29. His K/BB ratio is better than Matos, Sosa, Damaso Solano and Jimmie Brownson; all future HoFers. The only real knock on Kaye's career is his performance in the postseason. For all of his regular season dominance, he was not very good in his 103 postseason innings. He had a 1.48 WHIP and 5.12 ERA in his 69 playoff appearances. Despite his postseason struggles, its plain to see that Kaye was one of the absolute best relievers in the game. If you look past his position and compare his success to some of the greats in the league, it certainly makes a compelling argument to put Mr. Tim Kaye into the HoF. Tim is now doing color commentary on the Milwaukee Titans radio network.
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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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2x MVP, 5x All Star, 4x Silver Slugger
Kelly Nelson was the offensive force that the Salem Blues were built around. Durint his time with the team, it had more success than its ever had. He also owns nearly every record in franchise history including doubles, games played, hits, home runs, RBI and walks. He spent all but two seasons (those two with the Chicago Gray Stockings) of his seventeen season career with the Salem Franchise, through good times and bad. In the early days, he played in Colorado, San Diego and Seattle before the franchise finally settled in its permanant home in Salem. He was without a doubt one of the most feared hitters in the AL. His career numbers are HoF worthy. A .314 career average, .392 career OBP and a .571 career SLG are all elite numbers. Combine that with 513 home runs, 2461 hits, 1543 RBI and 1003 walks and you have the blueprint for what a sure fire Hall of Fame resume should look like. Kelly is now a highly paid minor league hitting coach for the Baltimore Revolution.
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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 (who was the 1st player ever elected into the HoF), although he wasn't quite as fast and was a weaker defensive player. His offensive numbers are 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 totaled 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 history of the SPL. Three seasons ago, Newman had his heart broken by finishing just one vote shy of being inducted into the HoF. He's hoping this year will be the year that he finally gets his due.
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3x Cy Young, 7x All Star
During the early SP years, the league was plagued by instability and teams were constantly relocating in an attempt to find financial stability. Telemaco only played with one franchise before settling in with the Gray Stockings. That organization though, was a model of inconsistency. In his seven seasons there, he played in six different cities with six different ownership groups. In SP's inaugural season, Telemaco's arm was abused. He pitched 169 innings with an ERA of 14.22 to a one-and-done owner who clearly didn't care about his team. If you were to take away that single season, Telemaco's career ERA drops from an 3.48 (which is very good) to an excellent 2.95. Once the current Chicago owner took over his franchise though, Telemaco blossomed into one of the most dominant pitchers in the NL. The 8 seasons he played with the Gray Stockings, age 31-38, were the height of his career. During that time he won three Cy Youngs in six seasons and was named to four All Star teams. His career ERA with Chicago of 2.86 is still a franchise record. Despite the troubled franchise he played on, Telemaco's name is still all over the SP record books. He is the SP all time leader in complete games and shutouts. He is 3rd all time in innings pitched, games started and quality starts. He is 4th in strikeouts and his 225 career wins is good for 6th all time. He was the model of a workhorse pitcher, making at least 30 starts and pitching at least 200 innings for 12 straight seasons. In 9 of those seasons he had an ERA of less than 3.00. His best season was Season 11, his second Cy Young Award. He pitched 261 innings with a 20-3 record and a 2.03 ERA. Telemaco is also one of only seven pitchers to win at least 3 Cy Youngs. He is in very good company, because the other six are Damaso Solano, Benji Armas, Jimmie Brownson, Clarence Thomas, Hipolito Matos and Pepe Sosa. All of those guys (other than Thomas) are sure fire HoFers.
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4x Fireman of the Year, 4x All Star
Buster Timmons is an interesting study. Some seasons he was as dominant a relief pitcher as there has been (as his 4 Fireman of the Year awards would provide evidence for). Some seasons, he was mediocre. Some seasons, he was downright terrible. In Season 8 for example, he had an ERA of 5.19. In Season 9, he had an ERA of 13.00! The very next season, Season 10, he saved 39 of 42 chances with an ERA of 2.65. Despite his ups-and-downs, he still racked up an incredible 433 saves in 488 chances (a success rate of 88%) and a career ERA of 3.96. He saved at least 30 games in 10 out of his 12 full seasons. His playoff resume is sterling too. In 22 postseason games, he saved 17 of 19 chances with an ERA of 2.42. In remains to be seen whether the voters will overlook his rocky seasons and focus on his really, really good ones. His good seasons are definitely HoF worthy.
Other Notable Season 19 Retirements
Louie Alvarez- SP
Ellie Bailey- 3B
Ken Beckett- C
Buddy Benes- 1B/COF
Peter Steenstra- SP/RP
Jared White- SP
