The neighboring states have a pretty large storehouse of talent. Mississippi, however, hasn’t been quite as fortunate as Louisiana (which we’ve seen) or Alabama (coming up in a few posts).
If Dave Parker had played the second half of his career as well as he did the first, he’d probably be in the Hall of Fame. Frank White had a fabulous career as the Royals second baseman back when Kansas City was a winning franchise. And Roy Oswalt has been one of the best pitchers of the 21st Century. There are other interesting figures here too: Chet Lemon, George (Boomer) Scott and Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd among them.
The only Hall of Famer so far from the Magnolia State is a speedy outfielder named James Bell. That name may not ring, uh, familiar, until you hear the nickname: Cool Papa. One of the best all-time nicknames, it refers to his relaxed demeanor. But the Cool Papa was a fast man, possibly the fastest of all. He played for the St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays, all of them great teams in the Negro leagues. Integration came too late for Bell to play in MLB, but he was a legendary player, a lifetime .341 hitter and with the tremendous speed provides a great threat from the leadoff spot.
There were only two choices for manager from MLB, both named Harry. Harry (The Hat) Walker, who got his nickname from adjusting his cap in the batters’ box, actually was over .500 as a skipper with the Pirates and Astros, nearly winning a pennant in Pittsburgh in ’66. But he’s an outfielder on this team – interestingly, brother Dixie plays for Georgia – and so I’m going with the other Harry.
Harry Craft managed three different teams, all of which were among biggest challenges in baseball history: the late 1950s Kansas City A’s who were a glorified farm club to the Yankees; the 1961 Cubs as part of the wacky “College of Coaches” experiment; and the expansion Houston Colt .45s. He’s probably a better choice for this team, which is probably going to have a big challenge in winning more than a few games.
MISSISSIPPI MUDCATS
OF Cool Papa Bell
RH Oil Can Boyd
RH Chad Bradford
LH Marshall Bridges
OF Ellis Burks
RH Guy Bush
CA Bob Didier
RH Atley Donald
1B Luke Easter
RH Boo Ferriss
CA Jake Gibbs
UT Bill Hall
OF Larry Herndon
OF Chet Lemon
1B Sam Leslie
IF Eric McNair
3B Bill Melton
LH Willie Mitchell
CA Jerry Moses
2B Buddy Myer
RH Roy Oswalt
OF Dave Parker
RH Claude Passeau
LH Reb Russell
1B George Scott
OF Harry Walker
2B Frank White
OF Dmitri Young
Next: Illinois.
Base instincts 
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