American League “Franchise” Players

In this post, I attempt to match up each of the 14 American League franchises with at least 1 player who shares a name with that franchise or its home city.

For each franchise, I’ll name one “Franchise Player,” and in many cases, a bunch of honorable mentions. I awarded bonus points for players who actually played for the franchise in question (these players are marked with asterisks). I also looked at any past cities and names used by a franchise, though these are listed separately under the “Past Life Franchise Player” section.

Okay, let’s get to it. Franchises are listed in alphabetical order by team name.

Angels of Anaheim

Franchise Player: Angel Moreno

* (the only Angel to play for the Angels)

Honorable Mentions: Angelo Encarnacion

*; Norm Angelini ; and the 17 other MLB players named Angel . One of these other Angels is Angel Bravo , who will be making another appearance when I get to the NL teams.

Past Life Franchise Player: Carmen Cali

for the California Angels days

Oakland Athletics

Franchise Player: Don Aase

Honorable Mentions: Rebel Oakes

and Live Oak Taylor

Past Life Franchise Player: None that wouldn’t overlap with the Phillies or Royals.

Toronto Blue Jays

Franchise Player: Jim Bluejacket

Honorable Mentions: Vida Blue

, Lu Blue , and Bert Blue ; Blue Moon Odom ; Joey Jay and Jon Jay ; plus the 40 players with the first name “Jay ,” none of whom have played for the Blue Jays (unless I’m missing something). It’s pretty remarkable that the Blue Jays never employed any Jays, not even well-traveled ones like Jay Johnstone , Jay Howell , or Jay Witasick .

Cleveland Indians

Franchise Player: Reggie Cleveland

Honorable Mentions: Elmer Cleveland

and Brent Clevlen

Past Life Franchise Player: Nap Lajoie

* of course; from 1903 to 1914 the franchise was known as the Naps, after Lajoie, the team’s star player, and for a while, its manager as well. There’s also Nap Kloza , Nap Rucker , Nap Shea , and Nap Reyes .

Seattle Mariners

Franchise Player: Jhan Marinez

Honorable Mentions: Marino Pieretti

, Marino Salas , and Marino Santana ; Kim Seaman ; Johnnie Seale

Baltimore Orioles

Franchise Player: I’m going to go with Mel Almada

*. Why? His real first name is “Baldomero” and he played for the franchise (albeit when they were the Browns).

Honorable Mentions: Merito Acosta

(real 1st name also “Baldomero”); Orel Hershiser , Joe Orrell , and Oral Hildebrand * (Browns).  Also, I’m hoping for this guy  or his brother to make the show someday (and not just because both are farmhands for my favorite team).

Past Life Franchise Player: For their time as the St. Louis Browns, I’ll go with Willard Brown

, who made the Hall of Fame thanks to his great years in the Negro Leagues but who also played 1 year in MLB with the Browns (breaking the color barrier for the franchise).

Texas Rangers

Franchise Player: Mark Teixeira

* (bonus points for actually playing for Texas)

Honorable Mentions: Kanekoa Texeira

; also the 17 players named “Tex,” although all of them were retired by the time the Texas Rangers began.

Past Life Franchise Player: None. Though they also played as the Washington Senators, so did the Twins. Besides, there are no players named anything near “Senator” that I can find, unless you count Matt Sinatro

.

Tampa Bay Rays

Franchise Player: Rey Ordonez

* or Rey Sanchez * (both spent a year with the Devil Rays)

Honorable Mentions: Jeff Tam

; Jason Bay ; any of the 50+ guys with the first name or 9 guys with the last name “Ray .” (By the way, how odd is it that 2 of the 4 players named “Rey” played for the Rays but none of the many Rays did?)

Past Life Franchise Player: For the “Devil Rays” era, how about Art Devlin

?

Boston Red Sox

Franchise Player: Red Cox

Honorable Mentions: Daryl Boston

or perhaps Lyman Bostock . Also, Socks Seibold and Socks Seybold (though they’ll have to pull double duty with the White Sox). There are also 9 guys named “Red” who played for the franchise, led by Hall of Famer Red Ruffing *, who spent 7 seasons with the Red Sox, most of any “Red.” The others are Red Bluhm *, Red Kellett *, Red Kleinow *, Red Morgan *, Red Nonnenkamp *, Red Rollings *, Red Shannon *, and Red Steiner *. The many other guys named “Red” we’ll save for Cincinnati’s list.

Past Life Franchise Player: For their time as the Boston Americans (1901-1907), Rico Petrocelli

*, whose full first name is “Americo” and who spent his entire career with the franchise (albeit during the Red Sox years).

Kansas City Royals

Franchise Player: Keith Creel

* (the only player in Royals history with the initials “K.C.”)

Honorable Mentions: Hunky Shaw

and Roy Castleton (both have the real first name of “Royal”); Max Alvis (real name: Roy Alvis); Roy Hartzell (middle name: Allen); Neal Wagner (middle name: Kannas)

Detroit Tigers

Franchise Player: Bill McTigue

*

Honorable Mentions: Tige Stone

; Cliff Mapes * (nickname: Tiger); Tom Dettore and George Detore . This may be a bit of a stretch, but how about Tigers great Dizzy Trout * (aka D. Trout)? Then there’s Jack Tighe , who wasn’t an MLB player but managed the Tigers in 1957 and ’58. It’s also too bad that this guy never made the majors.

Chicago White Sox

Franchise Player: Whitey Ock

Honorable Mentions: Chico Garcia

; Chick Autry *, Chico Carrasquel *, Chico Escarrega *, and Chick Gandil *; Socks Seibold and Socks Seybold (shared with the Red Sox); Doc White *, Ed White *, and Rick White *; and Whitey Platt *. Plus the many other Whites and Whiteys who didn’t play for the White Sox.

New York Yankees

Franchise Player: Jim York

*

Honorable Mentions: Yank Terry

and Yank Robinson ; Esteban Yan ; Lefty York , Mike York , Rudy York , Tom York , and Tony York (shared with the Mets).

Past Life Franchise Player: From 1903 to 1912, the franchise was known as the New York Highlanders, so I’ll suggest John Hiland

. Runner-up: Hy Gunning (real first name: Hyland).

=========

If you have any suggestions (for AL or NL franchises), please let me know in the comments below, on Twitter (@junkstats) or by email (see the top of the sidebar for the address). Thanks for reading!