Team Preview: Beijing Red Dragons

Well, well, well, looks like I finally got a blog post in during the week! That's not to say that my homework has somehow diminished. Rather, I've just managed my time a little bit better today. Hope I can keep it up!

Team number two is the Beijing Red Dragons.


Stadium

You're not seeing things, sports fans. Yes, I'm using ugly, cookie-cutter type dome stadiums in my replay. I figure that gives things a bit of variety. This isn't one of those all-steel era stadium leagues, no sir. The Beijing Red Dragons play in the good old Skydome, renamed Xinhua Dome. Of course, back when I was a kid (which wasn't that long ago), the Skydome was the biggest up-and-coming stadium, but people have forgotten about those days. Well, everybody except those who collected 1992 Topps Stadium Club cards.

Players

Starting Pitchers
1. David Cone
2. Steve Rogers
3. Carl Hubbell
4. Hisashi Yamada
5. Whitey Ford
SS Yutaka Enatsu
SS Danny Darwin

I never thought I'd see Whitey Ford in the #5 slot, especially behind David Cone. That just goes to show you what things are like when you adjust for eras, parks and so on.

Hisashi Yamada should be interesting to watch, since he holds the Japanese record for most home runs given up in a season (42 in 1985).

By the way, this must be Yutaka Enatsu before his closer days. Oh, and it seems to me that going from Hubbell and Ford to Danny Darwin is a pretty big drop. We'll see how these Red Dragons perform.

Relief Pitchers
Steve Hamilton
Gary Lavelle
Eddie Watt
Tug McGraw

Ya gotta believe! Other than that, not much to say here, as I'm not familiar with the careers of any of the other three. Naturally, both above spot starters also count as relief pitchers.

Okay, on to the lineups. I'm going faster on purpose tonight.

Starting Lineup
1. Ben Chapman RF / Roger Bresnahan C
2. Roger Bresnahan C / Enos Slaughter RF
3. Willie Mays CF
4. Orlando Cepeda 1B / Willie Stargell 1B
5. Joe Medwick LF / Frank Baker 3B
6. Perucho Cepeda SS / Joe Medwick LF
7. Toby Harrah 3B / SS
8. Frankie Frisch 2B

Interesting to see Orlando Cepeda get drafed on the same thing as his father Perucho. I didn't know anything about the "Babe Ruth of Puerto Rico" before I did a bit of internet research tonight. Couldn't have worked out better if I planned it!

I'm curious as to how often Bresnahan hit first or second for the old New York Giants. Sounds like a good research project -- maybe if I have more time after the semester is done. He sure had a killer OBP, but that was back in an era when OBP didn't matter all that much.

Anyway, the Red Dragons have a pretty beefy looking lineup, especially with the two Cepedas and Willie Mays in the middle. Now, the Skydome isn't exactly the most hitter friendly park in the world, but it can't hurt to have a big lineup like that. Should be a fun team to watch this season.

Now for the bench:

Bench
Ken Griffey Sr. 1B / LF / CF / RF
Possum Whitted 1B / 2B / 3B / LF / CF / RF
Shigeru Takada 3B / LF / CF / RF
Mark Loretta 1B / 2B / 3B / SS
Germany Schaefer 1B / 2B / 3B / SS
Tadahito Iguchi 2B / SS
Bobby Murcer CF / RF
Harry Danning C

You might notice that most Japanese hitters are stuck on the bench. I'm guessing that's the era / league factor adjustment showing.

Anyway, not much else to say. I'm tired. Hopefully BYU will get through the first round of March Madness on Thursday night. I'm not making any promises, though.