Merry Christmas everyone. For some holiday frivolity, here’s the best starting lineup among players born on Christmas Day.
| P | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | LF | CF | RF |
| Pud Galvin | Gene Lamont | Walter Holke | Nellie Fox | Gene Robertson | Bill Akers | Rickey Henderson | Ben Chapman | Jo-Jo Moore |
Strength on the mound, at second and in the outfield. The rest of the team is after the jump.
The rest of the pitching staff looks something like this.
- Starters: Charlie Lea, Ned Garver, Ted Lewis, George Haddock
- Bullpen: Lloyd Brown, Jack Hamilton, Hideki Okajima, Steve Montgomery, Mike Blyzka
The starters look solid, but the bullpen is a bit suspect. Brown and Hamilton were swingmen, and the rest were the only relief specialists with at least one season of regular use.
The reserves look like this:
- Infield: Manny Trillo, Morrie Roth, Jim Doyle
- Outfield: Red Barnes, Willy Taveras
- Catcher: Greek George
- Pinch-Hitter: Wallace Johnson
Overall, not a bad bench, but our starting catcher is really a reserve, and his backup … well, let’s just hope our starter is durable.
This team may not win the championship, but, with length from the starters, they should be competitive. And, just for the record, three members of our team were on a real team – the 1983 Expos had Charlie Lea, Manny Trillo and Wallace Johnson on the roster (though Trillo and Johnson were ships passing in the night and were not with the Expos at the same point in time that season). But, Lea and Johnson were teammates on six Expos teams, Barnes and Brown were on three Senators clubs, and Brown and George appeared with a pair of Cleveland teams.
