Maryland is a very underrated state. It’s got a lot of amazing stuff and wonderful people, and in the past few years, was one of my favorite states to visit. The baseball culture has also been consistently excellent. We’ll find this state definitely pulls well above its weight when comparing the total player count to the quality of the team.
As of the time of writing, 360 Major League ballplayers were born in Maryland.
Stadium
One of the greatest stadiums in baseball, Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore is the obvious choice.
Manager
Maryland has seen a fair few managers, but none have managed for more than 4 seasons, and only one has managed more than 2 and maintained an overall winning record. Dave Foutz of Carroll County managed Brooklyn from 1893 to 1896, and the first three of those seasons, had a winning record as manager.
Pitchers
Three Hall-of-Famers in the rotation, though one of them will be the fifth starter rather than the third.
The Starting Rotation
Lefty Grove (Lonaconing, 1925-1941, 3940.2 IP, 3.06 ERA, 300 W, 2266 K, 113.24 WAR)
Lefty Grove. Credit: Chicago Tribune Vic Willis (Cecil Co.1, 1989-1910, 3996 IP, 2.63 ERA, 249 W, 1651 K, 67.70 WAR)
Bobby Matthews (Baltimore, 1871-1887, 4956 IP, 2.86 ERA, 297 W, 1528 K, 62.64 WAR) — It’s always tough to rate the old-time pitchers a bit, but he’s not really that far behind the two Hall of Fame pitchers ahead of him. Should he be in the Hall? I’m not really sure.
Eddie Rommel (Baltimore, 1920-1932, 2557 IP, 3.54 ERA, 171 W, 599 K, 50.25 WAR)
Babe Ruth (Baltimore, 1914-1935, 1221.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 94 W, 488 K, 20.36 WAR) — I guess this spoils who’s getting the photo on offense, but yes, he’s a two-way player and one of Maryland’s best starter options.
Bullpen (Short Relief)
Josh Hader (Millersville, 2017-present, 514.1+ IP, 2.62 ERA, 228+ S, 833+ K, 15.01 WAR)
Steve Farr (Cheverly, 1984-1994, 824.1 IP, 3.25 ERA, 132 S, 668 K, 18.12 WAR)
Jeff Nelson (Baltimore, 1992-2006, 784.2 IP, 3.41 ERA, 829 K, 14.72 WAR) — One of baseball’s consummate setup men.
Tom Phoebus (Baltimore, 1966-1972, 1030 IP, 3.33 ERA, 725 K, 6.26 WAR) — We get into the ‘starters moved into the short relief role’ part of the bullpen here.
Dave Boswell (Baltimore, 1964-1971, 1065.1 IP, 3.52 ERA, 882 K, 10.69 WAR)
Steve Barber (Takoma Park, 1960-1974, 1999 IP, 3.36 ERA, 121 W, 1309 K, 18.14 WAR)
Bullpen (Long Relief)
Dave Foutz (Carroll Co., 1884-1896, 1997.1 IP, 2.84 ERA, 147 W, 790 K, 22.66 WAR) — The manager could argue to start himself, but it’s harder to bring two-way guys in out of the pen.
Geoff Zahn (Baltimore, 1973-1985, 1849 IP, 3.74 ERA, 111 W, 705 K, 20.47 WAR)
Shane McClanahan (Baltimore, 2020-present, 503.2+ IP, 3.04 ERA, 547+ K, 10.13 WAR) — He’s certainly building up his stats, and before too long might be insistent upon an actual starting job here. Either way, he’s definitely too good to ignore.
Batters
The Starting Nine/Ten
2B Cupid Childs (Calvert Co., 1888-1901, 1721 H, 269 SB, .306/.416/.389, 44.15 WAR)
CF Al Kaline (Baltimore, 1953-1974, 3007 H, 399 HR, 137 SB, .297/.376/.480, 92.79 WAR) — Kaline is the first of several Hall-of-Fame bats in this lineup. He primarily played right but did play center and we have right field well covered with Hall of Famers even without him.
RF/DH/SP Babe Ruth (Baltimore, 1914-1935, 2873 H, 714 HR, 123 SB, .342/.474/.690, 162.26 WAR) — Does the Babe really need further introduction? He can’t play the outfield when he’s pitching, or the day after, so we’ll have a roster-spot platoon later on in the lineup. Also can play left.
Babe Ruth. Credit: Encyclopedia Britannica 1B Jimmie Foxx (Sudlersville, 1925-1945, 2646 H, 534 HR, .325/.408/.609, 92.72 WAR) — “The Beast” also played some third base and catcher. In fact, he will be our backup at catcher as there aren’t really any other viable options.2 One of the greatest hitters ever, an obvious Hall of Famer.
LF Charlie Keller (Middletown, 1939-1952, 1085 H, 189 HR, .286/.410/.528, 43.53 WAR) — Keller doesn’t have the counting stats or overall longevity to justify a Hall of Fame selection, but his overall pure hitting is just too good to keep off the roster.
Platoon lineup spot:
DH Mark Teixeira (Annapolis, 2003-2016, 1862 H, 409 HR, .268/.360/.509, 50.52 WAR) — He’ll be our backup at first base as well.
RF Harold Baines (Easton, 1980-2001, 2866 H, 384 HR, .289/.356/.465, 38.77 WAR) — Ironically primarily a designated hitter and in the Hall of Fame as such, but also played a fair bit of right field, and we’ll need him to play right when Ruth is only available to DH. Sort of infamously one of the most controversial Hall of Fame decisions in recent times, but I think as a result this ironically makes him an underrated ballplayer. You could make make a case to drop him a spot or two in the order when he plays, but I didn’t want to mess with that as it does work here.
C Babe Phelps (Odenton, 1931-1942, 657 H, .310/.362/.472, 12.85 WAR) — When he’s getting a day off, Foxx is catching, so presumably Teixeira at first and either Ruth or Baines at DH with the other in right.
3B John Franklin “Home Run” Baker (Trappe, 1908-1922, 1838 H, 96 HR, 235 SB, .307/.363/.442, 62.61 WAR) — He’s not called “Home Runs” Baker, but he did have a great World Series that gave him the nickname. He’s in the Hall of Fame.
SS Cal Ripken Jr. (Havre de Grace, 1981-2001, 3184 H, 431 HR, .276/.340/.447, 95.93 WAR) — It may be a bit odd to have the hits leader batting ninth, but I usually construct lineups based on rate stats.
The Bench
IF Buck Herzog (Baltimore, 1908-1920, 1370 H, 320 SB, .259/.329/.335, 26.59 WAR) — Mainly here to back up at second base, but he can also play third and short.
3B Judy Johnson (Snow Hill, 1923-1936, 824+ H, .303/.351/.420, 15.70 WAR) — Hard to leave off this Hall of Fame Negro Leaguer. He can also play short.3
OF Brady Anderson (Silver Spring, 1988-2002, 1661 H, 210 HR, 315 SB, .256/.352/.425, 34.98 WAR) — His power here is a bit inflated by a single 50-HR season in which he was potentially on the juice, but it was an era where people were doing that a lot, so we’ll just go with it. He plays all three outfield positions but will probably mostly play center with Kaline’s ability to move around as well.
Honorable Mentions
SP Frank Foreman (Baltimore, 1884-1902, 1721.2 IP, 3.97 ERA, 96 W, 586 K, 15.58 WAR)
OF Bryan Reynolds (Baltimore, 2019-present, 1083+ H, 153+ HR, .271/.350/.457, 24.32 WAR) — He’s got a case to be on the ballclub for sure, also having the flexibility to play all three outfield positions.
OF Bill Nicholson (Chestertown, 1936-1953, 1484 H, 235 HR, .268/.365/.465, 41.94 WAR) — Largely just held back by the fact I really wanted a backup that could play center.
C Bill Schroeder (Baltimore, 1983-1990, 303 H, .240/.281/.426, 2.68 WAR) — There are a few candidates for who the best available catcher behind Phelps (and Foxx) is, but this is my call. If you’re a stickler for true catchers, you probably need him, and… I guess you move Ruth to a pitcher roster slot and take off a pitcher, because it’s not like we got positions overly covered (except maybe third, but then you’d be taking a Hall of Famer off).
Maryland is amazing and punches well above its weight. We head internationally next, to perhaps our strangest team.
A lot of Marylanders are born in parts of counties without a more specific place designation. This was the case for the manager as well, but in the statlines I’ll abbreviate “county”.
I’ll give the best of the lot an honorable mention for the sticklers that don’t approve of this call, and that might also demonstrate why.
Not that Cal really needs multiple backups.