I am happy to announce the addition of 3 new members to Rio's Hall of Fame. They join
1B Ze Vargas,
2B Ricardo Ramirez, and
3B Ernesto Colon.
CL Justin White -- An obvious pick for the Rio Hall of Fame and almost certainly a first-ballot entrant into the WBA Hall of Fame, White was the most feared name in the ABL for the majority of his 15 years in the league. He entered the league as a 4th round pick in the WBA inaugural draft by the Twin Cities Millers (now the Northwest Emeralds) and joined the Jaguars via free agency in 2104, where he dominated the ABL as Rio's Closer/Stopper for 7.5 years. White's best season came in 2110, where he pitched 119.1 innings in relief with an ERA of 1.96 (3.5 WAR).
Justin White finished his career with 469 saves, 6 Reliever of the Year awards, and an ERA of 2.35--each safely the highest mark in WBA history. He walked into the sunset in 2116 helping lead the Belem Jaguars to an ABL-AA championship in 2116. Other notable career achievements include:
- 1,077 games appeared in--most in WBA history
- 4 ABL championships, including 3 in a row from 2111 thru 2113 (3 with Rio, 1 with SD)
- getting traded to SD for SP Kamasrama Venugopolan, a 2nd rd pick, and a 5th rd pick, then promptly losing his effectiveness
- 32.2 career WAR (19.0 with Rio)
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SP Bob Turner -- Bob Turner may not be a household name like Justin White, but he was a local fan favorite and a tremendous asset to the Rio de Janeiro organization. Turner's path to the Rio de Janeiro HoF is an unusual one. He had a very strong rookie year for the Mexico City Aztecs in the WBA's inaugural season, where he started 22 games, pitched to an ERA of 2.71, and was MVP of the ABL championship series. Turner followed that season up with an OK-but-not-great 2101 season, but then disaster struck in 2102 when he tore his UCL and had to undergo Tommy John surgery. Coming off of the injury, it appeared that he wasn't the hot prospect he used to be--his potential ratings had fallen to 7/7/5 and he now had the "wrecked" injury status. He started the 2103 season on MC's AAA roster and was traded to Rio in July as throw-in piece in a deal (my first as Rio GM, actually) revolving around
1B Ze Vargas and
CF John Parker. At the time, the expectation for Turner was only to serve as an innings-eater during a rebuilding period.
But he aged like a fine wine. Over the following decade he stayed healthy, slowly improved his abilities, and stuck with Rio's starting rotation through two complete rebuilding/competing cycles. Turner eventually peaked at age 35 with pitching ratings of 7/7/7 and a career-defining performance in the 2111 season where he pitched to an ERA of 2.76 over 30 starts and led Rio to a WBA championship. Turner ended his career with an ERA of 3.90, but his value to the Rio de Janeiro organization was far greater than that number suggests; his 23.2 career WAR over 10 full (and 2 partial) seasons as a Jaguar came at a cost of only $7.25M, in total.
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SS Piero Folena -- This should come as no surprise. Piero 'Franchise' Folena truly was the face of the franchise for 13+ seasons, and is clearly the greatest batter Rio history (sorry, Ze). Folena spent 10 seaons as Rio's SS before transitioning to 2B as he approached the end of his career. There's no special story to share about Folena. He's just a baller. Over parts of 18 seasons in the ABL he racked up over 2,000 hits, over 1,000 Runs + RBI's, and nearly 50 WAR (the vast majority of each stat being accrued with Rio). Career highlights include:
- 6 ABL championship rings (4 with Rio, 2 with SD)
- League leading 127 RBI's in 2109
- 35 game hitting streak in 2113 (At the time, most in ABL history)
- Folena's final hurrah came at age 37 while playing for Santo Domingo in the 2119 season, where he managed to accrue -0.7 WAR over just 50 plate appearances. Like Justin White, Folena was exceptionally loyal to Rio de Janeiro
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Last (and also least, I guess) I've chosen to give an honorable mention shout-out to
1B Pedro Alejandre. His is a story of instant success followed by precipitous decline. Over Alejandre's 5.1-year career he earned 3 Gold Gloves at 1B, a Silver Slugger award, and hit 58 doubles twice--good for for the top two spots in the ABL record books, and tied for first in the entire WBA. Unfortunately, after winning the 1B Silver Slugger award at age 26 and his 3rd Gold Glove the year after, he immediately forgot how to play baseball. I mean, seriously, I'm thinking it must have been some sort of Space Jam situation with a magic baseball and a team of incompetent aliens. I think they may have been from
Paris. At age 28 he played his last game at the major league level (in garbage time during September call-ups) and offically retired from baseball in 2116 at age 30. The only thing keeping him from the Rio HoF is his longevity. For now, he's only getting an honorable mention, but the committee retains the right to fully instate Alejandre at a later date.
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