A couple weeks ago, I featured Jose Oquendo and his 1988 space-challenged card for this column. That prompted me to look for a player who was on my Twin City Thunderchickens a few years back, Felipe Lopez from 2010. While Lopez didn’t play every position that year (he never got the call to be the backstop), his versatility prompted the printers to be creative in the same way they did with Oquendo.
This time, they could afford the spaces but no commas. There are still no parenthesis or hyphens. Perhaps it’s the different font but everything seems to fit nicely on line. Had Lopez played catcher though, it might have been a different story.
A little irrelevant to the story but here are Lopez’ offensive stats:
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 Totals | 113 | 441 | 391 | 52 | 91 | 18 | 1 | 8 | 37 | 8 | 44 | 81 | .233 | .311 | .345 |
Felipe received a DRW based on one inning, one hit and one walk.
| Split | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 Totals | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Most importantly, here are his fielding stats for the 2010 season. Seeing that he split his time between two clubs and played so many positions, it takes thirteen lines to display his stats!
| Year | Tm | Lg | Pos | G | GS | CG | Inn | Ch | PO | A | E | DP | Fld% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | TOT | MLB | 3B | 60 | 52 | 44 | 482.2 | 138 | 25 | 102 | 11 | 9 | .920 |
| 2010 | TOT | MLB | 2B | 27 | 19 | 12 | 167.1 | 96 | 39 | 57 | 0 | 14 | 1.000 |
| 2010 | TOT | MLB | SS | 25 | 19 | 10 | 163.0 | 67 | 22 | 43 | 2 | 5 | .970 |
| 2010 | STL | NL | 3B | 58 | 51 | 44 | 472.2 | 136 | 24 | 102 | 10 | 9 | .926 |
| 2010 | STL | NL | 2B | 24 | 17 | 11 | 147.2 | 86 | 35 | 51 | 0 | 14 | 1.000 |
| 2010 | STL | NL | SS | 24 | 19 | 10 | 161.0 | 65 | 20 | 43 | 2 | 5 | .969 |
| 2010 | STL | NL | 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10.0 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 2010 | STL | NL | OF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2010 | STL | NL | P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2010 | STL | NL | RF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2010 | BOS | AL | 2B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 19.2 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 2010 | BOS | AL | 3B | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 |
| 2010 | BOS | AL | SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Anyone who plays in a league with positional limits knows the value of someone like Felipe Lopez whether he hits well or not. For several years, he played lots of games at multiple positions giving his respective managers the depth they needed and possibly saving a draft pick or two.
A question for managers in APBA leagues… if your APBA non-pitchers get in an inning in real life like Lopez did in 2010, do you ever get him his inning in during league play? You know, just for kicks?
The Northboro Phoenix of TBL employed Darnell McDonald for a couple of years after we picked him off the waiver wire. He pitched an inning for the Red Sox in 2011 and we got him his inning in 2012. 1-2-3!