Keith Shetter… err, Matt Herges
Does anyone remember watching Joey Laker play Major League Baseball? How about Sonny Pearl? Or (heh) Lancaster St. James?
Me neither. That’s because they’re not real ballplayers. However, the casual fan wouldn’t know better had they been browsing the cards of the 1990s.
Rob emailed asking me:
“do you know where i can get a list of the replacement players and the fictional names APBA uses in the 1997 season?”
That’s a good question. For those not familiar with this unfortunate situation, an explanation is in order. During the 1994 strike, replacement players were used. Because they were non-union, they were not subject to licensing agreements. Therefore, to keep within their contract with the MLB Players Association, APBA was forced to use fake names for those replacements players until they were represented by the MLBPA.
It was not the end of the world for the APBA Nation but it was another indication for us fans at the time that common sense and practicality was taking a back seat to money and greed. Certainly, for all our griping, there was nothing APBA could do. They had their hands tied.
But to answer Rob’s question, there is a list (thanks to the Baseball Almanac) of the Replacement players and their corresponding fake names.
| Replacement Player | Fake Name on APBA Card |
| Alex Ramirez | Doug Mast |
| Angel Echevarria | Andy Gabriel |
| Benny Agbayani | Brian Hiller |
| Brian Daubach | Jack Harten |
| Brian Tollberg | Norm Heffner |
| Bronswell Patrick | Charles Dempsey |
| Charles Gipson | Fred Rivers |
| Chris Latham | Joey Laker |
| Chris Truby | Sonny Young |
| Chuck Smith | Tom Keaton |
| Cory Lidle | Fuller Starr |
| Damian Miller | Don Cross |
| Frank Menechino | Jerry Legler |
| Jamie Walker | Rey Clark |
| Jason Hardtke | Robbie Miller |
| Jeff Tam | Todd Pearl |
| Joe Crawford | Randy Gaynes |
| Joe Slusarsky | Bob Bleacher |
| Joe Strong | Dan Ruth |
| Joel Adamson | Levi Atwater |
| Keith Osik | Rollie Thomas |
| Kerry Ligtenberg | Lee Grove |
| Kevin Millar | Mike Butcher |
| Lou Merloni | Joey DePalma |
| Mandy Romero | Barry Armand |
| Matt Herges | Keith Shetter |
| Pep Harris | Lancaster St. James |
| Rich Loiselle | Frankie Nina |
| Rick Reed | Alan Hunt |
| Ron Mahay | Red Crestwood |
| Scarborough Green | Rey Clem |
| Shane Spencer | Jimmy Ladd |
| Tom Martin | Eddie Chamura |
| Tony Barron | Jim Ripp |
| Rich Robertson | Dee Sunday |
| Steve Sinclair | Lew Queen |
| Dave Stieb | Carl Rhoads |
| Sean Maloney | Roger Wilson |
| Osvaldo Fernandez | Nelson Sanders |
Rob, I hope this helps. I’m sure there are others who are wondering the same thing.
Great piece…… I always had an idea who a few guys were, the only one I was certain of was Tony Barron, aka “Jim Ripp” for a few reasons. As a Phillies fan I remember him playing right field at the Vet for half a season and making a great diving catch. Cool story about Tony……. The season before he played in Philly he was playing for the Expos AA team, the Harrisburg Senators. My dad, brother and a friend of mine went up to Trenton to see the Thunder play the Senators. During a dry spell in the game, my friend and I went walking around the stadium and ventured into the parking lot to watch the game over the fence. As we were walking behind the outfield fence on our way back I side we hear a loud crack of the bat and see a ball fly over the fence and into the Parking lot. My friend saw it first and ran it down. When we got back inside and showed my dad the ball we asked him who hit it…….”Tony Barron” my dad replied.
If I’m not mistaken, while I believe the issue revolved around the strike that saw the cancellation of the 1994, the real issue with these players came in the Spring of 95. As some will remember, the strike was not settled until about 4 days before the start of the season.
I can’t remember if Spring Training games were actually played that year with the replacement players, or those players had just been lined up in anticipation of the regular players not returning. Either way, there were about 100 players that crossed the picket line.
I could be wrong, but I don’t believe the Union has every recognized these players as members. Thus, if game company’s want to use their likeness, they have to negotiate with them independently. I seem to remember there being an issue with David Millar and his likeness being used after the 2004 Red Sox world series. So, I would imagine that you will still find guys like Frankie Nina, Rollie Thomas, and Jim Ripp in the sets produced today, unless APBA has made an agreement with those specific players.
Interesting tidbit, the strike ended with a court order for a preliminary injunction against the owners, stopping them from locking out the players. The judge who issued that order…. future Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor. Just a face I picked up in lawschool recently.
After several years the MLB Players Association eventually relented and allowed APBA to use the real names of scab players in card sets, though they never did allow those players to join the union.
Thank you so much. I had forgotten about this annoyance, until receiving the 1999 & 2001 cards sets. I was about to post this question myself.
In response to an earlier post, yes replacement players WERE used during Spring Training 1995, leaving a very bad taste in the public’s mouth, hence the need for the homerun races that followed 1995, until the bubble burst with the “steroid scandal”
Missing from this list is replacement player Rich Robertson, whose fake name on his APBA card was Dee Sunday