Thursday, April 21, 2016

Expos Money


Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports "Hardball Talk," posted a piece yesterday on Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.  Which was really just an excuse to do a baseball version of currency.  Calcaterra went $1 Ruth, $5 Mays, $10 Walter Johnson, $20 Aaron, $50 Earl Weaver, $100 Jackie Robinson.  This of course was met with universal agreement from everyone on the internet.  Rather than nitpick with Calcaterra's choices (which are fine), I decided to hi-jack his idea and do team specific sets.  At it's core it's the standard Mt. Rushmore exercise, but with seven guys instead of four, and the added debate of placement presteige (I figure it goes 1/5/100/20/10/50 with 2 as the oddball).  The Expos are the only ones to get a full on photoshop treatment (and poor Steve Rogers doesn't get one because the app I found didn't do non-Grant bearded $50's), but I filled in the rest below sans D'Backs, Rays, Rockies and Marlins.  My general criteria was, no current or recently retired players (for the most part), as there are no recent Presidents (I don't dare share my personal picks for recent Presidents, as both Republicans and Democrats send me Wallach cards).  Hence, none of the teams above.  Also, players can only appear for one team, I have a personal bias against guys who played much before 1930 (sorry Christy Mathewson), and a strong bias in favor of guys who played in the 1980's

Here are my picks for the Montreal Expos, Tim Raines on the $1 is above (Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong for the Expos or any other team below):

 $2 Otis Nixon

 $5 Andre Dawson

 $10 Dennis Martinez

 $20 Tim Wallach

$50 Steve Rogers (sorry, no picture)

$100 Gary Carter

National League East (Pre-Wild Card Non-Sense)

New York Mets:
$1 - Tom Seaver
$2 - Mookie Wilson
$5 - Darryl Strawberry
$10 - Howard Johnson
$20 - Dwight Gooden
$50 - Jerry Koosman
$100 - Keith Hernandez

Philadelphia Phillies
$1 - Steve Carlton
$2 - Juan Samuel
$5 - Mike Schmidt
$10 - Richie Ashburn
$20 - Von Hayes
$50 - Steve Bedrosian
$100 - Robin Roberts

Pittsburgh Pirates
$1 - Honus Wagner
$2 - Kent Tekulve
$5 - Willie Stargell
$10 - Dave Parker
$20 - Manny Sanguillen
$50 - Bill Mazeroski
$100 - Roberto Clemente

Chicago Cubs
$1 - Ryne Sandberg
$2 - Don Zimmer
$5 - Ernie Banks
$10 - Fergie Jenkins
$20 - Ron Santo
$50 - Lee Smith
$100 - Harry Caray

St. Louis Cardinals
$1 - Stan Musial
$2 - Willie McGee
$5 - Ozzie Smith
$10 - Enos Slaughter
$20 - Bob Gibson
$50 - Mark McGwire
$100 - Curt Flood

National League West

San Francisco Giants
$1 - Willie Mays
$2 - Gaylord Perry
$5 - Willie McCovey
$10 - Orlando Cepeda
$20 - Will Clark
$50 - Juan Marichal
$100 - Barry Bonds

San Diego Padres
$1 -  Tony Gwynn
$2 - Gene Richards
$5 - Dave Winfield
$10 - Garry Templeton
$20 - Nate Colbert
$50 - Eric Show
$100 - Trevor Hoffman

Los Angeles Dodgers
$1 -  Sandy Koufax
$2 - Kirk Gibson
$5 - Steve Garvey
$10 - Pee Wee Reese
$20 - Don Drysdale
$50 - Roy Campanella
$100 - Jackie Robinson

Houston Astros 
$1 -  Jose Cruz
$2 - Glenn Davis
$5 - Joe Niekro
$10 - Bob Watson
$20 - Cesar Cedeno
$50 - J.R. Richard
$100 - Mike Scott

Atlanta Braves
$1 -  Hank Aaron
$2 - Tom Glavine
$5 - Dale Murphy
$10 - Phil Niekro
$20 - Warren Sphan
$50 - Eddie Mathews
$100 - Greg Maddux

Cincinnati Reds
$1 - Pete Rose
$2 - Dave Concepcion
$5 - Barry Larkin
$10 - Frank Robinson
$20 - Joe Morgan
$50 - Eric Davis
$100 - Johnny Bench
American League East
New York Yankees
$1 - Mickey Mantle 
$2 - Derek Jeter  
$5 - Yogi Berra
$10 - Bernie Williams 
$20 - Don Mattingly 
$50 - Thurman Munson 
$100 - George Steinbrenner

Toronto BlueJays
$1 - Dave Steib
$2 - Duane Ward
$5 - Tony Fernandez
$10 - Jesse Barfield
$20 - George Bell 
$50 - Jimmy Key 
$100 - Joe Carter

Baltimore Orioles
$1 - Eddie Murray  
$2 - Earl Weaver 
$5 - Brooks Robinson
$10 - Boog Powell
$20 - Jim Palmer 
$50 - Dave McNally
$100 - Cal Ripken Jr.   

Detroit Tigers
$1 - Ty Cobb 
$2 - Mark Fidrych
$5 -  Mickey Lolich
$10 - Lou Whitaker 
$20 - Norm Cash
$50 -  Alan Trammell
$100 - Al Kaline   

Boston Red Sox
$1 - Ted Williams  
$2 - Manny Ramirez  
$5 - Jim Rice 
$10 - Carlton Fisk
$20 - Wade Boggs 
$50 - Dwight Evans 
$100 - Carl Yastrzemski   

Milwaukee Brewers
$1 - Robin Yount  
$2 - Dan Plesac   
$5 - Paul Molitor 
$10 - Cecil Cooper
$20 - Gorman Thomas
$50 - Teddy Higuera 
$100 - Bob Uecker

Cleveland Indians
$1 - Chief Wahoo (sorry) 
$2 - Sandy Alomar Jr.
$5 - Bob Feller
$10 - Albert Belle
$20 - Sam McDowell
$50 - Kenny Lofton
$100 - Larry Doby  

American League West
Oakland Athletics
$1 - Rickey Henderson
$2 - Vida Blue
$5 - Dennis Eckersly
$10 - Dave Stewart
$20 - Catfish Hunter
$50 - Bert Campaneris
$100 - Reggie Jackson  

Seattle Mariners
$1 - Ken Griffey Jr.
$2 - Jim Bouton (I know it doesn't really fit)
$5 - Alvin Davis
$10 - Jay Buhner
$20 - Harold Reynolds
$50 - Mark Langston
$100 - Edgar Martinez

Chicago White Sox
$1 - Harold Baines
$2 - Ozzie Guillen
$5 - Frank Thomas
$10 - Minnie Minoso
$20 - Luis Aparicio
$50 - Bobby Thigpen
$100 - Nellie Fox   

Kansas City Royals
$1 - George Brett
$2 - Hal McCrae
$5 - Willie Wilson
$10 - Brett Saberhagen
$20 - Amos Otis
$50 - Frank White
$100 - Bo Jackson 

California Angels
$1 - Chuck Finley
$2 - Wally Joyner
$5 - Jim Fregosi
$10 - Frank Tanana
$20 - Chilli Davis
$50 - Brian Downing
$100 - Bob Grich  

Minnesota Twins
$1 - Kirby Puckett
$2 - Frank Viola
$5 - Harmon Killebrew
$10 - Kent Hrbeck
$20 - Tony Oliva
$50 - Bert Blyleven
$100 - Rod Carew  

Texas Rangers
$1 - Nolan Ryan
$2 - Oddibe McDowell
$5 - Jim Sundberg
$10 - Jeff Russell
$20 - Ruben Sierra
$50 - Charlie Hough
$100 - Ivan Rodriguez 


 


 


 


 


 


 




9 comments:

  1. If you are doing a $2 bill for the expos as the oddball, how is Bill Spaceman Lee not on it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought about Lee, but ultimately just thought he was more of a Red Sock. I also considered Youppi, but I never liked him much, even as a young kid.

      Hubie Brooks, Ellis Valentine, and Bryn Smith were my toughest omissions.

      Delete
  2. As a Phillies Phan, I'd replace Bedrock with Tug McGraw. Hayes could be replaced by Johnny Callison or Darren Daulton unless you consider him too recent. Good stuff and great argument fodder!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure you're absolutely right about McGraw. I didn't do a whole lot of research, mostly just to confirm the number of years a player spent with a given team.

      Von Hayes was always a player I liked, and I saw him in Cooperstown as a kid/teen when Schmidt was inducted. He was one of Schmidt's guest up in the seated area.

      Delete
  3. Nice idea, and this could certainly generate tons of debate, which is one of my favorite things about the game. I'd take Billy Williams over Lee Smith, but the Cubs look pretty solid overall. I love Zim getting the $2 bill. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your right I should have used Williams. I had him on my initial list and thought he was included. The non-player people were all last minute revisions, Williams must have been deleted then. But I agree, he should be there instead of Smith. I had Jerome Walton on the 2 before I went back and filled in non-players for a few teams (I know Zim played, but I'm pretty sure most of us view him as a manager/coach)

      Delete
    2. I came to post pretty much what Tom did but guess I'm a week late! I'm bump Ernie to the $50 spot and Billy/Santo/Fergie are all pretty interchangeable for $5/$10/$20 to me.

      Delete
  4. For the Yankees I would switch Rivera for Williams and Jackson for Munson.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Yankees had no shortage of options. Mariano was too recent with me (I was reluctant to go with Jeter, but the $2 bill just seemed too obvious).

      I used Jackson as an Athletic, figuring 3 rings > 2 rings, and the Yankees were going to be tough enough to narrow down as it was. Maris, Ford, Guidry, and Randolph were the other guys I gave long looks at.

      Delete