Over at the dearly departed Deadspin (and don’t let the current Deadspin fool you, it’s a Zombie Site), they used to play a fun game where you’d just name drop guys you remember from the bigs that weren’t always stars and maybe weren’t even great, but you do remember them.
I think it’d be fun. Let’s Remember Some Guys.
I’ll start.
Shawn Boskie
Robb Nen
Tyler Thornberg
Jeff Blauser
Scott Podsednik
Pat Borders
Dave Nilsson
Fan Interference 
Oddibe McDowell
Rusty Kuntz
Kurt Bevacqua
Mark Lemke
Travis Fryman
Warren Cromartie
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Mark Lemke, my beloved dirtbag lol
And Travis Fryman!!!! I remember him fondly!
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Dan Driessen
John Wockenfuss (one of my favorite names)
Gary Nolan
Carl Pavano (just to bug Yankee fans)
Willie Hernandez
Quinton McCracken
Wilson Alvarez
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Quintin McCracken is an All Time Guy Name.
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Yep. He played 11/12 years in the majors, including the first 3 years of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ existence. He was one of the few bright spots of their inaugural season, with 2.1 bWAR. He had 0.3 bWAR for his career, so that tells you all you need to know about the remainder of his time in the bigs.
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I don’t know why I’m suddenly thinking of Milton Bradley.
I was at a game at Miller Park. Brewers fans are always pretty nice to opposing fans but they are all team trash talkers to players. This one dude sat in front of me and when Milton Bradley came up to bat, the guy jumped up and screamed “DO NOT PASS GO! Do not collect $200!”
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Great name. At one time a decent player. A major hothead and total dumbass. A hat tip to the heckler!
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Jay Buhner
Rance Mulliniks
Chris Sabo
Sal Fasano
John McDonald
Rico Petrocelli
Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd
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I loved Chris Sabo because he wore glasses and I do, too. LOL
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Walt Dropo
Willie “Puddin’ Head Jones
“Jungle Jim” Rivera
Jerry Lumpe
Dick “Dr. Strange Glove” Stuart
“Marvelous Marv” Throneberry
Granny Hamner
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WHEW those are some names :p
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https://images.psacard.com/s3/cu-psa/cardfacts/1959-topps-158-walt-dropo-29116.jpg?h=1000&format=png&s.roundcorners=10
Walt Dropo was before my time, but I had a book about baseball cards when I was a kid…saw a picture of the 1959 Walt Dropo card, loved the name, was amused also by the picture on the card and had to get one. Still have it.
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Gary The Rat Gaittei
Nick Punto’s head first slide into first (and the rest of his “piranha” brethren – compliments of pre Gator’s “Slobbering Ozzie”)
Dick McAuliffe’s batting stance (my friends and I loved to imitate it).
The unforgettable Bombo Riveria
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Your mention of Dave Nilsson brings to mind…
Craig Shipley
Peter Moylan
Liam Hendriks
Damian Moss
Graeme Lloyd
Grant Balfour
Yes, they’re all exports from the land down under and, with the exception of Shipley, all made it to post-season games at some point.
I’ll also include an honourable mention for Joe Quinn, the very first Australian to make an MLB roster. He was a noted defensive 2B who played in 17 seasons for teams in Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, St Louis and Washington… from 1884 to 1901. He was also player-manager for the St. Louis Browns (1895) and the Cleveland Spiders (1899). The latter went 12-104 under Quinn’s ‘leadership’, with the team finishing at 20-134 for the worst record in MLB history.
That outcome wasn’t entirely of Quinn’s making – he was arguably the best bat on the team with a .286 BA. However, before the season started, ownership moved many of Cleveland’s best players, Cy Young included, to the St Louis Perfectos, another team they owned having bought the Browns out of bankruptcy. The Spiders were so bad that year, and crowds at their home park so sparse, they ended up playing 112 games on the road for 101 losses – another record that won’t be beaten. It would be another 85 years before the next Australian, Craig Shipley, made it to The Show…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Spiders#1899:_the_debacle
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Hey!!! As someone who follows ABL on Twitter I am a great admirer of Australian baseball 🙂 and I am also a HUGE fan of Moylo. Great choices!!!
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A more-recent export is Michael Collins, the current and recent catching coach for the Astros. He made it to AAA but then converted to managing in the minors within the Padres organisation with some success. He also managed his home town Canberra Cavalry in the ABL for six years, winning once and runner-up on two other occasions. My son played on teams with Collins during their teen years in Canberra, hence the interest.
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OH, VERY cool!!! I take it you’re a Cavalry fan? I follow the Bite fairly closely for some odd reason, but I like the league as a whole. It’s a bucket list item of mine to attend some games!
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I lived in Canberra for nearly 40 years, with 10 of that spent heavily involved with baseball at a local level including coaching kids and playing in an ‘old guys’ league. The Cavalry have done very well, especially considering the small local talent pool they have to draw upon when compared to teams from our larger cities. Sadly, I now live much further north, so Brisbane Bandits are my nearest ABL franchise although still over an hour away. Maybe an option for next season if/when everything gets back to ‘normal’…
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