#120: Halloween Edition - Candy Maldonado

Candy Maldonado

I figured I'd make a lame attempt at humor and do a Halloween themed post. I searched a few different Halloween words on baseball-reference.com, and this was one of the better results I got.

I) Candy Maldonado --> '95 Blue Jays
I) Candy Maldonado --> '95 Rangers

Candy ended his career with two team, both of which Stairs played with. I'll take a look and see if any names stick out.

I) Candy Maldonado --> '95 Rangers --> Ivan Rodriguez

Technically, I've never used Pudge Rodriguez before. However, he was one of the names I found when I made my potential Hall of Famers list in July.

1. Candy Maldonado played for the 1995 Texas Rangers with Ivan Rodriguez.
2. Ivan Rodriguez played for the 2006 Detroit Tigers with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 2

#119: Art Reinholz

Art Reinholz

2 games in 1928 - not the briefest baseball career we've seen, but still pretty brief.

I) Art Reinholz --> '28 Indians --> Mel Harder

II) Harder --> '47 Indians

I have the '47 Indians team already, so I have my chain.

1. Art Reinholz played for the 1928 Cleveland Indians with Mel Harder.
2. Mel Harder played for the 1947 Cleveland Indians with Jim Heagan.
3. Jim Heagan played on the 1960 Chicago Cubs with Tony Taylor.
4. Tony Taylor played on the 1976 Philadelphia Phillies with Dave Cash.
5. Dave Cash played on the 1977 Montreal Expos with HoF Gary Carter.
6. Gary Carter played on the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 6

#118: Ben Dyer

Ben Dyer

How funny, my last post compiled a list of absent years on my Connected Teams table, and now for I get to hopefully cross another year off that list.

I) Ben Dyer --> '19 Tigers --> Harry Heilmann

II) Heilmann --> '32 Reds --> Ernie Lombardi, Si Johnson

I don't have any 1932 teams either!

      III) Lombardi --> '47 New York Giants
      III) Johnson --> '47 Boston Braves

I have the '47 Giants team already connected, so lets see where the '47 Braves can take us.

      III) Johnson --> '47 Boston Braves --> Warren Spahn

I've used Spahn before, so this is as far as I need to go!

1. Ben Dyer played for the 1919 Detroit Tigers with Harry Heilmann.
2. Harry Heilmann played for the 1932 Cincinati Reds with Si Johnson.
3. Si Johnson played for the 1947 Boston Braves with Warren Spahn.
4. Warren Spahn played for the 1965 New York Mets with Ron Hunt.
5. Ron Hunt played for the 1974 Montreal Expos with Gary Carter.
6. Gary Carter played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 6

#117: Elmer Riddle

Elmer Riddle

I) Elmer Riddle --> '49 Pirates --> Murry Dickson, Ed Fitz Gerald, Ted Beard

I'm going to go off on a tangent here for a moment. Whenever I start one of these, I check the player's teams to see if I've connected them before, especially their last year. I was a bit surprised that after all these posts, This will be my first team from 1949. It made me wonder how many other years I'm missing. I decided to check. From 1910 to present, the following years have no representation:

1912, 1916, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1931, 1932, 1935, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1948, 1949, 1955, 1956, 1981

1981 surprises me. I may have to target that one. The rest are from over 50 years ago, so I'm not surprised. Anyway, back to our chain.

II) Beard --> '58 White Sox
II) Dickson --> '59 Kansas City Athletics
II) Fitz Gerald --> '59 Washington Senators
II) Fitz Gerald --> '59 Indians

OK, The '59 Athletics are connected, so I know I can go there. I also have the '57 White Sox connected, so I'm sure I can follow that path as well. I'm going to try Fitz Gerald and see if I can get to Stairs quicker.

II) Fitz Gerald --> '59 Senators --> Jim Kaat
      III) Kaat --> '80 Yankees --> Rick Cerone

Easy enough.

1. Elmer Riddle played for the 1949 Pittsburgh Pirates with Ed Fitz Gerald.
2. Ed Fitz Gerald played for the 1959 Washington Senators with Jim Kaat.
3. Jim Kaat played for the 1980 New York Yankees with Rick Cerone.
4. Rick Cerone played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 4

#116: Chick King

Chick King

Chick split his last season between two teams, the Cubs and the Cardinals. Neither team is on my list of Connected Teams, although I do have the Cubs team from the following year. A quick look shows the same connecting player, Tony Taylor. We'll see where the Cardinals team takes us.

I) Chick King --> '59 Cardinals --> Tim McCarver

II) McCarver --> '80 Phillies --> Randy Lerch, Marty Bystrom, Del Unser, Pete Rose, Manny Trillo
      III) Bystrom --> '84 Yankees
      III) Lerch --> '82 Expos
      III) Rose ---> '84 Expos
      III) Trillo --> '83 Expos
      III) Unser ---> '78 Expos

Of these, the '84 Expos are the only team I don't have yet. This would get me to Stairs in 4 degrees, which would be equal if I used the Cubs team. I have my link.

1. Chick King played for the 1959 St. Louis Cardinals with Tim McCarver.
2. Tim McCarver played for the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies with Pete Rose.
3. Pete Rose played for the 1984 Montreal Expos with Gary Carter.
4. Gary Carter played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 4

#115: Ed Boland

Ed Boland

I) Ed Boland --> '44 Washington Senators --> Early Wynn

I've used Wynn before, so this is an easy link.

1. Ed Boland played for the 1944 Washington Senators with Early Wynn.
2. Early Wynn played for the 1963 Cleveland Indians with Jim Perry.
3. Jim Perry played for the 1975 Cleveland Indians with Rick Cerone.
4. Rick Cerone played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 4

#114: Ed Poole

Ed Poole

I haven't been able to connect anyone before 1910 so far, so the odds are against me here. Let's see what I do.

I) Ed Poole --> '04 Brooklyn Superbas --> Fred Jacklitsch

II) Jacklitsch --> '17 Boston Braves --> Rabbit Maranville
      III) Maranville --> '35 Boston Braves --> Ray Mueller
              IV) Mueller --> '51 Boston Braves

The chain ends here. I've already used Mueller in a chain, so I know where this is going to go. Unfortunately, I missed my mark.

Degrees of Matt Stairs: Over 6

#113: Mike Bell

Mike Bell

Mike Bell is a third generation baseball player. He's got one team to his name.

I) Mike Bell --> 2000 Reds --> Ken Griffey Jr., Norm Charlton

Two players I've already connected, but I going for a more direct link here.

I) Mike Bell --> 2000 Reds --> Benito Santiago, Sean Casey, Pokey Reese, Dmitri Young, Michael Tucker, Alex Ochoa, Manny Aybar, Scott Sullivan, Dennys Reyes

II) Casey/Young --> 2006 Detroit Tigers
II) Ochoa --> 2002 Milwaukee Brewers
II) Reese/Reyes --> 2003 Pittsburgh Pirates
II) Aybar/Tucker --> 2001 Chicago Cubs
II) Reyes/Santiago/Sullivan --> 2004 Kansas City Royals

Good grief! It's a Matt Stairs alumni reunion! So far I have yet to document Stair's time with the Brewers, so this makes picking a winner easy.

1. Mike Bell played for the 2000 Cincinati Reds with Alex Ochoa.
2. Alex Ochoa played for the 2002 Milwaukee Brewers with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 2

#112: Ron Taylor

Ron Taylor

Ron played for a team I've already connected ('65 Astros) and one that is a year after a team I connected ('72 Padres). Both will allow me to connect in 3 steps. Of course, I could go with some other team, but realistically, 3 degrees is the best I can hope for. We'll add a team with the Padres.

1. Ron Taylor played for the 1972 San Diego Padres with Fred Norman.
2. Fred Norman played for the 1980 Montreal Expos with Gary Carter.
3. Gary Carter played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 3

#111: Ed Farmer

Ed Farmer

There's a few different routes I can take here, but I'm feeling lazy. This is essentially the exact same chain as my last post.

1. Ed Farmer played for the 1974 Philadelphia Phillies with Dave Cash.
2. Dave Cash played for the 1977 Montreal Expos with Gary Carter.
3. Gary Carter played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 3

#110: Cy Acosta

Cy Acosta

Another pretty easy one. Although the '75 Phillies aren't on my Connected Teams list yet, the '76 Phillies are.

1. Cy Acosta played for the 1975 Philadelphia Phillies with Dave Cash.
2. Dave Cash played for the 1977 Montreal Expos with Gary Carter.
3. Gary Carter played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 3

#109: Rick Burleson

Rick Burleson

Yeeaaahhhh, I've come to link the Rooster! Oh Yeah!

Now that I've gotten the Alice In Chains reference out of the way, I'm excited to have a former Red Sox All-Star here. I have a few of his baseball cards. Looking at his carreer, it ended in 1987 with the Orioles. However, Dennis Martinez wasn't with the Orioles then, so I'll have to use one of his other teams. Hmmm...who to use?

I) Rick Burleson --> '80 Red Sox --> Tony Perez, Fred Lynn, Jim Dwyer, Jack Brohamer, Stan Papi, Dennis Eckersley, Steve Renko, Bob Ojeda, Mike Torrez

II) Brohamer --> '75 Indians
II) Dwyer/Lynn --> '85 Orioles
II) Eckersey --> '98 Red Sox
II) Ojeda --> '86 Mets
II) Papi/Perez --> '78 Expos
II) Renko --> '75 Expos
II) Torrez --> '74 Expos

Quite a few choices here. However, I'm going with the Eck, since he'll allow me to make a chain with just Red Sox teams and he's a Hall of Famer.

1. Rick Burleson played for the 1980 Boston Red Sox with Dennis Eckersley.
2. Dennis Eckersley played for the 1998 Boston Red Sox with Tim Wakefield.
3. Tim Wakefield played for the 1995 Boston Red Sox with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 3

#108: Tim Blackwell

Tim Blackwell

This guy played for the Expos, making this a real easy one.

1. Tim Blackwell played for the 1983 Montreal Expos with Gary Carter.
2. Gary Carter played for the 1992 Montreal Expos with Matt Stairs.

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 2

#107: Danny Young

Danny Young

This guy played on the Cubs the year before Stairs did. If I throw dart at the team roster, I'll likely hit my connecting player. I've used a couple of these guys before, so we'll keep it simple.

1. Danny Young played for the 2000 Chicago Cubs with Corey Patterson.
2. Corey Patterson played for the 2001 Chicago Cubs with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 2

#106: Josh Sharpless

Josh Sharpless

This guy only played for a couple years, but he played for a team a few years after Stairs was there.

I) Josh Sharpless --> 2006 Pirates --> Jack Wilson, Jason Bay, Craig Wilson, Joe Randa, Jose Hernandez, Humberto Cota, Oliver Perez, Kip Wells, Salomon Torres, Ryan Vogelsong, John Grabow, Mike Gonzalez, Jonah Bayliss

II) Bay --> 2003 Pirates
II) Bayliss --> 2005 Royals
II) Cota --> 2003 Pirates
II) Gonzalez --> 2003 Pirates
II) Grabow --> 2003 Pirates
II) Hernandez --> 2003 Pirates
II) Perez --> 2003 Pirates
II) Randa --> 2004 Royals
II) Torres --> 2003 Pirates
II) Vogelsong --> 2003 Pirates
II) Wells --> 2003 Pirates
II) C. Wilson --> 2003 Pirates
II) J. Wilson --> 2003 Pirates

Yeah, I think I can make this link, don't you? Even picking who gets the honor of completing my link is easy. I'm picking the one team not on my list yet.

1. Josh Sharpless played for the 2006 Pittsburgh Pirates with Jonah Bayliss.
2. Jonah Bayliss played for the 2005 Kansas City Royals with Matt Stairs!

Degrees of Matt Stairs: 2

#105: Harry Huston

Harry Huston

This will be a tough one.

I) Harry Huston --> '06 Phillies --> Mickey Doolan, Sherry Magee

II) Doolan --> '18 Brooklyn Robins
II) Magee --> '19 Reds

Not a good start. I was hoping to catch a 20-year veteran, maybe get midway through the 1920's. Well, let's see where the tides take us.

II) Magee --> '19 Reds --> Dolf Luque
      III) Luque --> '35 New York Giants --> Harry Gumbert
              IV) Gumbert --> '50 Pirates --> Vern Law
                     V) Law --> '67 Pirates

Dead end - I'm not surprised.

II) Doolan --> '18 Brooklyn Robins --> Burleigh Grimes
      III) Grimes --> '34 Cardinals
      III) Grimes --> '34 Yankees
      III) Grimes --> '34 Pirates

I remember Burleigh Grimes. Not in real life, but from a previous post. No sense following this path any more.

Degrees of Matt Stairs: Over 6