Deane: Chiefs of staff: The presidential surname all-star team

From SABR member Bill Deane at WordPress on October 23, 2016:

With it being a Presidential election year, I thought it was time to dust off a little project I did eight years ago.  In the days leading up to the 2008 Presidential election, I got the idea to form a mythical all-time All-Star team of players with Presidential surnames.  With only 37 names to choose from, I figured I could slap something together in 15 minutes.

Several hour-long sessions and a new Presidential nominee later, I finally had the team.

I decided on two basic rules:

(1) Players were put at the positions in which they played the most games; no shuffling players out of position just to get a stronger lineup.

(2) There could be no more players of a certain surname than there were Presidents of that name.  Unfortunately, this rule created some indiosyncratic results, such as journeyman Craig Monroe as the starting left fielder, with stars like Shoeless Joe Jackson and Indian Bob Johnson not even on the team; but it was better than winding up with The All Johnson & Jackson Team.

Without further ado, here is the team.

Read the full article here: https://dizzydeane.wordpress.com/2016/10/23/chiefs-of-staff-the-presidential-surname-all-star-team/



Originally published: October 25, 2016. Last Updated: October 25, 2016.