Presidential Players

In honor of Independence Day, we're going to look at some of the most Presidential players in league history...

Hmmm, there's no Washington yet...Washburn is close...no cigar! I guess we'll have to start with number 2. Terry Adams was a somewhat useful reliever for Columbia earlier this decade. He first broke in with Newark in 1997, but was pretty mediocre (5-0, but with a 5.40 ERA in 40 games). He was pretty solid for the Crusaders in 2000 and 2001 so they decided to make him a starter. Yikes, what a disaster (1-8, 6.06 ERA). At least Terry was able to end it on a high note in 2004, when he was 5-2, with a 2.03 ERA back in the bullpen. Overall, he finished with a 24-19 record and 4.49 ERA.

Only one Jefferson, so Reggie Jefferson gets the nod by default. Reggie struggled in his rookie year in 1997 (.226/.254/.343) with Newark. The next season he got more of a regular role in Stanhope and had a very solid season (.324/.352/.496, 15 HR, 58 RBI, in 411 AB), but was never heard from again...kind of like the two-dollar bill.

No Madison...maybe Ryan Madson? Close enough, I guess, but can his wife make ice cream?

Next on the list we have Craig Monroe, who broke into the DMBL with Arkansas back in 2004, but he only got 33 at bats. His first starting gig was the next season with Phoenix, where he hit .272 with 17 HR and 75 RBIs. Of course he also struck out 106 times in 486 at bats, leading to a much diminished role the following season in Hillsborough. He only played in 65 games that year and was out of the league after that.

There were two Adams presidents so we get two Adams players on our roster. Unfortunately, that means we're stuck with either Willie Adams or Mike Adams, neither of which had much of an impact on the DMBL. I guess we'll take Willie, since he had a decent year in 1997 for Arkansas, going 16-8 with a 4.81 ERA in 31 games.

Well there were plenty of Jacksons in the list...we could have made our own Jackson 5 if we wanted to, but in honor of the King of Pop, we'll pick Mike Jackson, a premier reliever from 1992-2000. Jackson's best stretch was in Austin in 1998 and 1999. His first year there he was 11-3 with a 3.77 ERA, but the next year he had a nifty 1.67 ERA and 32 saves in 64 games.

We have to skip a bunch of guys here, since we don't have much for you until a Van Buren makes the bigs. Next on our list is Billy Taylor, a mediocre reliever/closer who played from 1997-99 on four teams. His best year was probably 1998, when he was 2-1 with 8 saves and a 3.63 ERA for New York. He only ended up playing in 128 games, all relief appearances.

Recently released Mike Lincoln is not exactly one of our greatest DMBLers. He previously played two seasons, way back in 2002-2003 for Carolina and Columbia before seemingly disappearing from the league. Newark found him bagging groceries and decided to give him a chance to relive his glory days. Lincoln pitched in two games, winning one and amassing a 3.38 ERA in 2.2 innings. He's back working at the Stop n' Shop now.

Randy Johnson is the easy pick for this position. Johnson is one of the game's great lefty pitchers, winning 223 games in his career and striking out 3361 batters. Johnson has won 18 or more games 7 times and struck out at least 200 batters 9 times in his career.

Charlie Hayes takes this spot easily over Von Hayes. Hayes only had one season in which he was a full-timer - 1994 with Arkansas. But he made the most of it, hitting .298 with 45 doubles, 17 HRs and 116 RBIs. Hayes never had a season with more than 61 at bats again.

Lots of Wilsons to choose from, but it really comes down to Dan Wilson or Preston Wilson. Both were pretty regular contributors to their teams. Well, let's just pick Dan for the heck of it. Wilson was involved in some big trades in his days - first in a deal that sent Bernie Williams to Jerusalem from Vancouver, then in 1998 in the blockbuster that sent Schilling to Arkansas. Wilson's bat was somewhat mediocre (.256/.302/.379), but it was his glove that kept him in the lineup.

Next on our list, we have Adam Kennedy - I suppose the crass thing to do would be to pick Joe Kennedy because of his untimely death, but we at DMBL News have too much class for that! Kennedy was the ultimate "fill-in" player. He was a guy who teams would pick up to plug in a hole or cover for someone while they were on the DL. Kennedy played for 6 different teams in his DMBL career. His only full-time season was in 2003 with Phoenix when he batted .291 with 7 triples and a .718 OPS and played in all 162 games.

Back to another Johnson, and this time we'll go with a batter. With due respect to Charles Johnson, we're going to go with speedster Lance Johnson. Lance batted .283/.329/.379 in his 8 seasons, amassing 110 stolen bases and 36 triples. He didn't become a regular player until 1996 with Toledo.

Two ways to go on the Nixon selection. Trot was a decent player at times, but Otis was a terror on the basepaths. Nixon stole 197 bases in his 7 seasons and was a sparkplug first for Columbia and then for Honolulu. Nixon also batted a solid .293 with a .358 OBP.

Only one Ford, and his time in the DMBL was rather short. Lew Ford played in 2005 and 2006 for Tijuana/South Boston. He had a very good year in '05, hitting .301/.356/.447 with 11 3Bs and 72 RBIs, but couldn't really work his way into a starting gig the next year and is now out of the DMBL.

Joe Carter was a big-time slugger in the early days of the DMBL/MicroLeague. In 1993, Carter hit 49 home runs for Columbia with 161 RBIs. Carter had a pretty decent 3-year stretch from 1992-1994, but never had a full-time job after that. He was relegated mostly to platoon roles, but retained his powerful bat.

Two Bushes. First there was Homer Bush, Pat Listach award winner in 2000 for Vancouver. Bush had a great rookie season, hitting .349 with 56 stolen bases. But he could never replicate his success and soon moved on to Carolina, and fell out of the league. The other Bush, pitcher David Bush came on the scene in Newark in 2005, winning 17 and losing 4, but with a 5.40 ERA. That ERA rose to 7.45 the next year, then to 10.80 the next. He only pitched in 4 total games in 2007 and 2008 combined. He's become a fill-in this year, first for Philadelphia (6-5, 6.04), then for Sardine City (0-1, 7.71).

Enjoy the weekend, and don't blow off any of your fingers or toes.