Friday, June 29, 2018

Missed It By That Much

My earlier post about "Interregnum Players" has an interesting variant: Players whose stints with a team include the years before and after a championship, but not the championship years themselves. This happens more often than you might realize, and who has the full list? Baseball Junk Drawer, of course!

Here are the guys who were there on the way up and the way down, but not at the pinnacle. In addition to having played for the franchise in the years bookending a World Series championship, I also made the requirement that they may not have won a World Series with the franchise in question in a different year, though winning one with a different club is acceptable. That's why you'll see a World Series MVP on this list, but no Adam Wainwright.


NameYears With Team
Doc Marshall1904, 1906 NYG
Walt Tragesser1913, 1915-19 BSN
Walter Mueller1922-24, 1926 PIT
George Puccinelli1930, 1932 STL
Dixie Walker*1931, 1933-36 NYY
Charlie Wilson1932-33, 1935 STL
Red Phillips1934, 1936 DET
Mike Chartak1940, 1942 NYY
Ed Levy1942, 1944 NYY
Rufe Gentry1943-44, 1946-48 DET
Johnny Gorsica1940-44, 1946-47 DET
Pinky Higgins1939-44, 1946 DET
Dick Wakefield1941, 1943-44, 1946-49 DET
Bud Souchock1946, 1948 NYY
Bob Darnell1954, 1956 BRO
Dick Williams1951-54, 1956 BRO
Humberto Robinson1955-56, 1958 MLN
Bob Roselli1955-56, 1958 MLN
Al Jackson1959, 1961 PIT
Joe Moeller1962, 1964, 1966-71 LAD
Bart Shirley1964, 1966, 1968 LAD
Mike Jorgensen1968, 1970-71, 1980-83 NYM
Gene Garber1969-70, 1972 PIT
Ray Knight1974, 1977-81 CIN
Oscar Gamble1976, 1979-84 NYY
Joe Beckwith1979-80, 1982-83, 1986 LAD
Manny Mota1969-80, 1982 LAD
Floyd Rayford1980, 1982, 1984-87 BAL
Clint Hurdle1983, 1985, 1987 NYM
Mariano Duncan1985-87, 1989 LAD
Mike Bielecki1991-92, 1994, 1996-97 ATL
Terry Pendleton1991-94, 1996 ATL
Mike Stanley1992-95, 1997 NYY
Chris Hammond1993-96, 1998 FLA
Andy Larkin1996, 1998 FLA
Matt Mantei1995-96, 1998-99 FLA
Danny Klassen1998-2000, 2002 ARI
Todd Stottlemyre1999-2000, 2002 ARI
Bart Miadich2001, 2003 ANA
Abraham Nunez2002, 2004 FLA
Sandy Alomar2001-04, 2006 CHW
Craig Hansen2005-06, 2008 BOS
David Pauley2006, 2008 BOS
Chad Moeller2008, 2010 NYY
Bryan Anderson2010, 2012 STL
Steven Hill2010, 2012 STL
Eric Surkamp2011, 2013 SFG
Nick Noonan*2013, 2015 SFG
Zac Rosscup*2013-15, 2017 CHC

Nick Noonan and Zac Rosscup are still active, so it's theoretically possible that they could win a World Series with their respective franchises. I didn't look into the 2017 Astros, since you really can't determine whether someone belongs on this list until a team is no longer defending its title.

The only other asterisked player is Dixie Walker, who missed out on the 1932 Yankees' season. I put him on this list despite the fact that he briefly played with the 1936 champions, because they got rid of him early in the season, and I doubt he got a share of the World Series money.

It's true that some of these guys were in the dugout when their teams won, either as coaches or injured players, but not getting to participate in any game itself during the season has to sting just a little.