My all-time Fox all-star team (a farewell article from Coop).

[Coop]

Coop’s all-time all-star Fox team.

Here are the best players who ever played for me during my 36-year career as GM of the Black Forest Foxes.  Note that all of these guys except Serhat Karpat earned at least one WBA championship ring during their time in the Black Forest.

Catcher:  Oles Dziewulski (2133-2139).  I never was able to obtain a superstar catcher.  I tried and tried; I drafted a lot of catchers over the years, including a couple of high first-rounders who were supposed to be great, Decheng Zhang and Callum Hastie, but they never became more than average big-league players.  Dziewulski, obtained in a 2133 trade with Daegu, served as my starting catcher for 7 years and helped the team to the 2135 WBA championship.

First baseman:  Manuel Coronado (2120-2128).  I was tempted to list Ilari Belmon here, because he was the best first baseman in WBA history, but he only played for me during the final two years of my career.  So I’ll go with Coronado, who was my starting first baseman for 9 years; he won the 2124 MVP award (.335 BA, 42 HRs, 155 RBIs) and he helped lead my team to the 2125 WBA championship.

Second baseman:  Avajaya Ganeshwaran (2123-2127).  This one’s a no-doubter.  Ganeshwaran was the best player on my 2125 WBA championship team (he led the league in OBP at .425 and WAR at 8.89 but somehow failed to be named league MVP).  He was both a great hitter and a great fielder.

Shortstop:  Max Lopez (2131-2139).  I gave serious consideration to Gaudencio Mosinha (2111-2116), a rare slugging shortstop who hit 137 HRs for me in a period of five and a half years.  Mosinha helped lead the Foxes to the 2112 WBA championship.  But while Lopez wasn’t as good a hitter as Mosinha, he was a very good hitter, and he was a much better fielder than Mosinha.  He also served as my starting shortstop for a longer period than Mosinha.  So he gets the nod.

Third baseman:  Salim Tuncay (2108-2120).  A no-doubter.  Tuncay’s career went into a sudden freefall when he was 30 years old, which makes no sense, but he accomplished so much in his twenties that I still consider him the best non-pitcher in Black Forest history.  He was a great hitter, a great fielder and a great baserunner.  He won two IBL MVP awards.  He didn’t hit home runs, but he did everything else at an extraordinary high level.

Leftfielder:  Vicente Moya (2131-2136).  This guy (who is still active) is the best base-stealer in Black Forest history, maybe even in WBA history.  He’s also an outstanding hitter and fielder.  Like Tuncay, he does everything except hit home runs.  Other leftfielders who could have been listed here are Niko Shipanga (2120-2127, a terrific slugger who, like Tuncay, suddenly hit the wall at age 30) and Tom McGregor (2110-2115, who hit .334 during his Fox career, led the league in hits 4 times and won two IBL batting titles).

Centerfielder:  Fernando Registo (2111-2117).  Another no-doubter.  Registo was the rare centerfielder who combined great defense with a high on-base percentage and excellent power.  He did everything well and had a long, productive career with 7 different teams.

Rightfielder:  Bao-tian Qian (2107-2114).  This feared slugger set the single-season Fox home-run record; he hit 46 homers in 2110.  He hit .340 that year with 138 RBIs.  Other rightfielders deserving of mention are Dhritiman Sangha (2104-2110, an excellent all-around hitter) and Glenn Jackson (2136-2139, a consistent .300 hitter and excellent fielder who is currently in mid-career and often plays center field).

Starting pitcher:  Serhat Karpat (2100-2107).  The best pitcher in Fox history, hands down.  Karpat won 4 Cy Young awards (two of them while pitching for the Foxes).

Relief pitcher:  Mike Kessler (2130-2139) and Jesus Alonzo (2135-2139).   It’s a tossup between Kessler, who is at the end of his career, and Alonzo, who is in mid-career.  They’ve both been great.  Consider it a tie.  Manny Juarez (2110-2121) won two Reliever of the Year awards, so he also merits a mention.