Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the American League West.

The Astros, around since 1962, have 2 obvious options, and both are from their World Series team in 2005: Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.  After that, there is a bit of a drop off.  Nolan Ryan would seem to be a good pick for the third slot, having spent more years with the Astros than with any other team.  For the last slot, I’ll go with J. R. Richard, whose career was cut short due to a stroke, but still came to represent the franchise in the late 70s.

Despite existing since the 1961 season, the Angels have a complete lack of star power in their 8 nominees.  Garret Anderson?  Tim Salmon?  Brian Downing?  While fine players, none of them would be confused with an all time great.  Of the remaining 5, I will dump Jim Fregosi and take Chuck Finley, Nolan Ryan (again!), Vladamir Guerrero, and, despite being in only his 4th season, Mike Trout.

As a franchise, the A’s have been rather nomadic, moving from Philadelphia to Kansas City and then to Oakland.  Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove make the cut to represent the Philadelphia years.  Reggie Jackson spent the first 35 games of his career in Kansas City, so he can represent that portion of the team’s history.  As for Oakland, we will give the final spot to stolen base king Rickey Henderson, who spent four tours with the team.

The Mariners, who came into existence in 1977, also have some sketchy nominees (Alvin Davis anyone?).  They also have some easy picks, like Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki.  For the final 2 slots, I will go with Randy Johnson and Edgar Martinez, although Felix Hernandez will likely force his way into the conversation sooner or later.  Conspicuous by his absence from the nominee list is Alex Rodriguez.

The Rangers, who came into existence as the second Washington Senators in 1961, see most of their nominees come from the teams run of success in the late 1990s.  Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, and Rafael Palmiero take the first 3 spots on the list, while former Senator star Frank Howard gets the last spot.