#1: Jeremy Hermida

I have hand selected Jeremy Hermida as my first player, for two reasons: he's related to my wife's aunt, and he's now a member of my beloved Boston Red Sox. I may occasionally hand-select players now and then, but for the most part I plan on random selection.

I can go about this two ways: Although the 2010 has yet to start, I can safely assume Jeremy will be playing for Boston http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthis year. So I can go this route:

1. Jeremy Hermida played on the 2010 Boston Red Sox with Tim Wakefield.
2. Tim Wakefield played on the 1995 Boston Red Sox with Matt Stairs.

If you want to be a stickler, I can only use the years he has played so far, meaning Jeremy last played with the Florida Marlins:

1. Jeremy played on the 2005 Florida Marlins with Mike Lowell
2. Mike Lowell played on the 2007 Boston Red Sox with Tim Wakefield.
3. Tim Wakefield played on the 1995 Boston Red Sox with Matt Stairs.

Since it's my blog I'm going to use the former and make the following statement:

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 2

I gave myself an easy one to start off with. I have no doubt this will be more challenging once I get players who aren't playing in the same era as Stairs. I also had a few routes I could have gone with, such as using Brendan Donnelly instead of Mike Lowell to connect Hermida to Wakefield. Unless I see a specific benefit to choosing one over another, it's purely a preference choice.