Wow. This is crazy. On ESPN Page 2 today there is a column by Jeff Pearlman, "These Ducks are waiting for "the call"," that talks about 13, yes, 13 former major league baseball players playing on the Long Island Ducks baseball team, a team in the Independent Atlanta League of Professional Baseball.
Edgardo Alfonzo, yeah he made $8 mil for the Blue Jays and Angels last season. I guess 8 is not enough for Edgardo. After hitting a buck 26 last season he wants back in the bigs. So does Carl Everett. Everett, a .271 career hitter, has played for 8 big league teams over 14 seasons. He hit .227 for the Mariners last year. Eight ain't enough for Carl either.
Danny Graves had 41 saves in his All Star 2004 season, but the wheels came off in 2005 (6.52 ERA for the Redlegs and Mets) and in 2006 (5.79 ERA for the Indians). Jose Offerman, a 2-time all star, hit .229 for the Mets and Phillies in 2005. Donovan Osborne had a 7.13 ERA with the Yanks in 2004.
Alfonzo, Everett, Graves, Offerman, and Osborne are 5 names that most baseball fans would have known during the past decade. There are some others that put some decent MLB time in on the club too (Todd Erdos, John Halama, John Riedling, and Damian Rolls). Even a fella from the Marist School in Atlanta, Mark Watson.
So, you ask, since the Ducks are full of these former big leaguers how is the club doing? Well, Long Island is currently tied for first place in the North Division of the Atlantic League with the Bridgeport Bluefish. The Bluefish, managed by a fella named Tommy John, have a few former Major Leaguers too - 6 of them actually....most notably Junior Spivey (2002 All Star with the Diamondbacks), Quinton McCracken (.274 hitter in 12 seasons with 6 teams), and Brian Boehringer.
So the answer to the age old question "How many former major leaguers does it take to win the the North Division in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball?" will be answered this year.
I don't see any former Braves on those teams - and more importantly, I don't see Pete Orr on either of those clubs.
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