LansdowneSt's Facegen Checklist

[cinemaodyssey]

Here's another more front-facing option for Annis, circa 1892. I've noticed his weight fluctuated a bit from early in his career to late.

[LansdowneSt]

Bob Long pitched five games for the 1981 Pirates, making his big-league debut not long before his 27th birthday. He had a 5.95 ERA, with more walks than strikeouts. He made the 1982 Topps "Top Prospects" Card based on his 15-3, 2.98 record in 157 innings in Triple-A in 1981. However, he struggled in the minors in 1982, and spent 1983 in Double-A. His only other big-league time turned out to be 28 relief appearances for the 1985 Seattle Mariners.

Redid the facegen.

[actionjackson]

Fantastic!

[LansdowneSt]

Ralph Bryant, Los Angeles Dodger outfielder, spent three years traveling back and forth between the major and minor leagues. In 1988, the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central League showed interest in Bryant, and he was shipped to Japan. The Dragons already had two foreigners on their *** roster, however, so when Kintetsu Buffaloes star Dick Davis was arrested on drug charges and released, the Buffaloes traded for blocked Bryant. The purchase was finalized on June 28, giving birth to one of the best left-handed power hitters in Japanese baseball history. Bryant quickly established his presence with the Buffaloes, hitting 34 home runs in only 74 games to contribute to their huge comeback. The next year in 1989, he won the PL MVP and led the Buffaloes to the pennant. Before his career ended, he was named three times to the PL Best Nine teams, three All-Star teams, all while setting numerous home run and strikeout records. - japantimes

Redid the facegen. Congrats to luckymann who has gotten his Eclipse League "turning the Color Line on its head" up and running (link: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...=333970&page=2).

I see lots of faces there like Bryant in the Eclipse League team photos that could use a redoing as I sit down and start making them again.

[LansdowneSt]

Jermaine Curtis was voted the best player of California's Inland Empire region in 2004 and signed to go to UCLA where he became a Freshman All American at UCLA. In 2007, he was an All Star in the Cape Cod league where all the top college players play to showcase their talent. In 2008, he was the captain of the #1 ranked UCLA baseball team and was drafted in the 5th round by the St. Louis Cardinals. In the bigs, he got into 5 games for the Cards. Thereafter he played in the high minors for several MLB teams. He currently is an instructor and has his own YouTube channel.

Redid the facegen. I ended up using the YouTube screenshot rather than the Twins headshot.

[LansdowneSt]

During the 1954 season the Cleveland Indians enjoyed a very healthy pitching rotation, including great hurlers like Bob Feller, Mike García, Early Wynn, and Bob Lemon, but they had other great throwers in their minor-league farm clubs, among them José Santiago. From 1949 through 1953, Jose Santiago was one of the best pitchers in Cleveland’s minor-league system. He compiled a record of 77-47, with an earned-run average of 2.93. His nickname “Pantalones” in Spanish means pants or trousers. It was given to Santiago after José struck out the side with the bases loaded in the ninth inning during a Winter League game between the Ponce Lions and the Caguas Criollos. Santiago was relieving in the ninth, and the next morning Emilio E. Huyke, a newspaper sports editor, wrote: “Santiago had a lot of pantalones” – meaning he had lots of guts to do such a performance.

During the Indians’ 1949 spring-training camp, the legendary pitcher Satchel Paige told him, “You have a nickel curve but your fastball’s worth a million.” In an interview, Minnie Miñoso acknowledged that Santiago had recommended him to the Cleveland Indians. While Miñoso's trade to the White Sox gave him a chance to become a star, Santiago was blocked by the Indians' star pitchers and saw only 33 games at the MLB level with his best work coming in relief in 1955 (2-0, 2.48 ERA, 163 ERA+ in 32.2 IP) - SABR

Redid the facegen. Having seen the results of someone trying to use the smiling picture, I found another baseball card where he was not smiling and used that as the basis.

[LansdowneSt]

Julius Matos played 104 games across two seasons for the San Diego Padres and K.C. Royals respectively. He also played in several other teams' minor leagues including the Expos from whose Spring Training, the headshot shown was taken. His slash line was light (.263/.276/.386) for a 68 OPS+ but a lot of his value came from the fact he could play virtually anywhere in the field. After his playing days, he became a hitting coach with various minor-league affiliates of the New York Yankees and currently works as a special instructor for youth in the Tampa Bay area.

Redid the facegen.

[LansdowneSt]

Wilson Valdez was a well-traveled ballplayer.

On February 4, 1997, Valdez was signed by the Montreal Expos as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He played three years in the Expos minor league system. Just before the 2002 season Valdez was placed on waivers and picked up by the Marlins where he played in Double and Triple-A. During the ’04 season Valdez hit well over .300 in Triple-A and was traded to the White Sox in a deal for Billy Koch and finally broke into the majors as a utility man. Chicago would place the new-found journeyman back on the waiver wire for the Mariners to snatch up. Valdez ended up being Seattle’s opening day starter at shortstop in 2005 and stuck around until late May when he was hitting. 198 and traded to the Padres. Valdez bounced through the Padres, Royals, and Dodgers organizations before going overseas to both the Japanese and Korean leagues in 2008 where he hit .240 in 47 games. After just one year there he came back and went through the Indians and Mets organizations. Going into the 2010 season Valdez signed a minor league deal with the Phillies where he would enjoy the best stretch of his professional career. With Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley both hurt, Valdez got ample playing time, nearly as much as he did in his first four big leagues seasons combined. He hit a respectable .256 in 41 games and played four different positions for a very good Phillies club.

His moment of baseball fame came, however, on the night of May 25, 20011. Valdez entered a game started by Roy Halladay in the 19th inning against Cincinnati. He pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the 19th, allowing only a hit batsman and a wild pitch, then got the win when his teammates scored a run off Carlos Fisher in the bottom of the inning. Valdez had started the game playing second base: he was the first player to start a game as a non-pitcher and then get the win since Babe Ruth, on October 1, 1921. - fansided.com & bRef Bullpen wiki

Redid the facegen.

[LansdowneSt]

Omar Beltré was signed by the Texas Rangers in 2000 for a $600,000 bonus, a record at the time for a Texas signing of a Latin American teenager. Baseball America rated him the 10th best Gulf Coast League prospect, immediately after Grady Sizemore and Jason Botts and he steadily rose in the Texas system. In 2005, however, his career skidded to a halt. When he and other players from the Dominican Republic went to get their work visas, it was discovered that a surprising number had married in the offseason. It was later revealed that the players had been paid to marry women so they could get into the US. Beltré was turned down for his visa, as were the others involved. He and the others were handed a five-year exclusion from the United States for their role in the ring, a sentence which ended most of the participants' baseball careers, but Beltré carried on. Beltré's five-year exclusion for his participation in the human trafficking scheme ended in 2010, and he jumped all the way to Triple A to start the season before being called up in late June to, at long last, make his major league debut. He started two games, went 0-1 with an ERA of 9.00 and never appeared again in the bigs.

Redid the facegen. Tough making his face that long. I may play around with this one later on a revist - but then I actually revist all my posts these days after some time away from the immediate making of them.

Anyway, no longer an accidental Adrian Beltre face See what happens when I take a couple weeks off and get rusty. Thanks, action. You caught that and he isn't even a Blue Jay :P

[LansdowneSt]

Ellis Burton had speed, a fine glove, and could switch-hit. Unfortunately, he never made enough contact from wither side of the plate often enough to satisfy the five major league organizations for whom he played. Burton did have his moments, however. Twice in the majors he hit home runs from both sides of the plate in a single game and on May 3, 1961, Burton did something no player in organized baseball had ever done; he hit home runs from both sides of the plate in a single inning. Additionally, with the Cubs down 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth, two outs and the bases loaded, Burton hit a walk-off grand slam on reliever Hal Woodeshick's first pitch and the Cubs had the 6-5 win. - Crossing the Line: Black Major Leaguers

Redid the facegen. I used the B&W photo and a little of the left-hand smile uplift is still there, but it didn't bother me, and he seems to do it in a lot of his smiles.

[LansdowneSt]

On October 14, 1968, Jim Williams was drafted by the San Diego Padres from the Los Angeles Dodgers as the 44th pick in the 1968 expansion draft. He appeared in 24 games during the Padres posting a .282/.341/.308 slash line in 44 plate appearances. He went on to be a coach in the Astros system in the mid-70's.

Redid the facegen.

[LansdowneSt]

Salvador Massip was a Cuban first baseman in the Negro leagues in the 1920s and 1930s. A native of Havana, Cuba, Massip played several seasons for the Cuban Stars (East) between 1925 and 1935.

There was not an fg file for him in my pack. Made this one from the seamheads photo put through the Remini app for more sharpness.

[LansdowneSt]

As a big leaguer, Ed Charles was perhaps the most accomplished player in the brief history of the ill-fated Kansas City Athletics, and he achieved fame as a baseball poet, reciting his poetry on television a few times per year and mailing verse to young fans with requested autographs. But he is best remembered today for the end of his playing career, providing sorely needed veteran presence and perspective on the magically youthful “Miracle Mets” championship squad of 1969. He was known as “The Glider,” “Ez,” and “The Poet Laureate of Baseball,” but the first name that stuck — so to speak — was “Gum,” a nickname he inherited from his father.

If Edwin Douglas Charles had never played a day in the big leagues, his story would still be remarkable. Coming of baseball age in the era immediately following the triumphs of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, Ed Charles — along with legends such as Hank Aaron and largely forgotten contemporaries such as Percy Miller and Nat Peoples — was part of the generation that repeated Robinson’s and Doby’s brave stories in dozens of minor leagues on the rosters of the hundreds of teams and that crisscrossed America by bus each summer. These leagues were concentrated in the Deep South — leagues like the Southern Association, the Carolina League, and the Texas League, with roots going back to the 19th century, and still flourishing today. It was a world that was largely unready to let go of Jim Crow, and a world whose de-segregation would not occur with a national press corps watching. And Charles, a son of Daytona Beach, of segregation, lynching, a broken home, and the Great Depression, was an unlikely champion. - SABR

You may also know of Charles' boyhood brush with Jackie Robinson, so let's answer the question from the Movie 42...

Did Jackie really toss a baseball to a young Ed Charles, who would later become a Major League Baseball player?

No. However, as a youngster Ed Charles did put his ear to the train tracks to listen as Jackie pulled away from the station. "I sat in the segregated section of the ballpark and watched Jackie," said Charles. "And I finally believed what I read in the papers—that one of us had made it. When the game was over, we kids followed Jackie to the train station. When the train pulled out, we ran down the tracks listening for the sounds as far as we could. And when we couldn't hear it any longer, we stopped and put our ears to the track so we could feel the vibrations of that train carrying Jackie Robinson. We wanted to be part of him as long as we could." -HistoryNet.com

For a small file, this existing facegen held a good amount of detail so I just de-purpled it and tweaked it a bit.

[luckymann]

Ahh brother, thanks so much - great to have you back. These will proudly take their place in the EL henceforth.

Most appreciated as always.

G

[LansdowneSt]

Audry Perez is a farm depth player -- a guy you hold on to when your farm is completely lacking in any sort of prospects at his respective position. This particularly holds true for catchers: Good defensive players at the position that can handle the rigors of playing every day have a shot to hold down a minor league roster spot for a long time. Solid throwing arm, decent pop times, but nothing to write home about. Someone's got to catch pitches thrown at AAA, might as well be Audry Perez. - 2014 Cardinals season preview of the 40-man roster per SBNation

Perez made his MLB debut on September 15, 2013. He indeed was a defensive sub, replacing Yadier Molina in a double switch in the top of the 8th of a 12-2 blowout against the Seattle Mariners. He did not bat and no Mariner tried to run against him as none reached base. He played in a total of three games with two plate appearances but to just play the game of baseball for a living you're pretty darn good at it, opinion pieces in fan blogs notwithstanding.

Redid the facegen. The in-game weight makes the face inherently heavy despite anything done to the fg file.

[LansdowneSt]

Starting pitcher Elih Villanueva of the Brothers Baseball Club made Taiwanese professional baseball history when he pitched a no-hitter (thr 8th in league history) against the Lamigo Monkeys for a 1-0 win in Taichung on Friday. The right-hander from Florida showed his skill as he sailed through nine innings on 10 strikeouts, allowing only two Lamigo Monkeys to get on base, one on a hit and one on a walk. With the bases loaded in the first inning, the Brothers got one run against Lamigo pitcher Zeke Spruill — from Virginia and in his second Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) season — when designated hitter Chou Ssu-chi earned a walk, squeezing in the runner on third. It would be the only run the Brothers needed on the night, as Villanueva took control on the mound and dismissed the Lamigo’s power hitters one by one at the plate.

“This is my first season here, so it’s important for me to get to know the league and the conditions, and to do my job as a pitcher. The last time that I faced the Lamigo Monkeys, we didn’t do well, so this time I got back at them,” Villanueva was quoted as saying after the game. - Taipei Times, 1 October 2018

In the bigs, Elih pitched a single game for the Marlins in 2011, took the loss and finished his MLB career with an ERA of 24.00.

Redid the facegen. Same in-game weight issue adding a few pounds despite thinning the fg itself.

[luckymann]

Elih's having a bit more luck in the EL so far, with a tidy 1.96 ERA over 18.1 IP coming out of the BP for the Detroit Motown Stars.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

Omar Beltré was signed by the Texas Rangers in 2000 for a $600,000 bonus, a record at the time for a Texas signing of a Latin American teenager. Baseball America rated him the 10th best Gulf Coast League prospect, immediately after Grady Sizemore and Jason Botts and he steadily rose in the Texas system. In 2005, however, his career skidded to a halt. When he and other players from the Dominican Republic went to get their work visas, it was discovered that a surprising number had married in the offseason. It was later revealed that the players had been paid to marry women so they could get into the US. Beltré was turned down for his visa, as were the others involved. He and the others were handed a five-year exclusion from the United States for their role in the ring, a sentence which ended most of the participants' baseball careers, but Beltré carried on. Beltré's five-year exclusion for his participation in the human trafficking scheme ended in 2010, and he jumped all the way to Triple A to start the season before being called up in late June to, at long last, make his major league debut. He started two games, went 0-1 with an ERA of 9.00 and never appeared again in the bigs.

Redid the facegen.

Er...That would be future HoF third baseman Adrian Beltre, good sir. Change the ID, and you'll be good. I'll just need a new Omar for the collection.

[actionjackson]

Ok...Found the old Omar Beltre. Here's a photo of Omar Beltre for real.

[luckymann]

Well spotted there AJ.