CoY Battle Royale: Round 1, Ivan DeJesus Region

Welcome back to the first round of the Cubs of Yore Battle Royale. After an unintended hiatus this week at long last we continue with the Ivan DeJesus Region.

This region provides quite a few throwback players as all but a couple are pre-9/11 era.

Here's how it'll work. I will outline each matchup, giving the readers a little background about each player. Once you've finished reading, you are then encouraged to vote for your favorite player to win the battle.

Assisting me with the "Fast Facts" for this region is fellow bartender Lingering Bursitis.

There is a link in the right sidebar under "Cubs of Yore Battle Royale". Click on that link to load a survey allowing you to vote on all four battles. Feel free to leave comments at the end of the survey as well.

The battles will close sometime whenever. Results will be revealed later that day.

Now let's get the battles started.

IVAN DeJESUS REGION, ROUND 1

#1 Rey Sanchez vs. #8 Ricky Gutierrez

REY SANCHEZ FAST FACTS*

• Hails from Puerto Rico.
• Played with Cubs for 7 years.
• Has played for 1/3 of MLB teams.
• One of the great practitioners of the sacrifice bunt.
• THE definition of a bench player.
  
• Can play all the infield positions.
• Cannot play the banjo, despite years of lessons.

RICKY GUTIERREZ FAST FACTS*

• Hails from Florida.
  
• Played with Cubs for 2 years.
• Amazingly, improbably, miraculously, Ricky has a World Series ring (2004, Boston).
• Hit 38 home runs in 14 seasons in the majors. 21 of them came in the 2 seasons with the Cubs.
• Led MLB with 17 sacrifice hits in 2001.
• HAS A WORLD SERIES RING.
• Prefers to be called "Richard".
  

---

#4 Derrick May vs. #5 Joe Borowski

DERRICK MAY FAST FACTS*

• Hails from Rochester, NY.
  
• Played with Cubs for 5 years.
• Son of Dave May, and definitely not the first guy in history to get a sweet job because of his daddy.
• Career .271 hitter.
  
• Enjoyed his best career year in 1993 with the Cubs (thank g-d): .295, 10 HR, 77 RBI, 25 2B, 10 SB (all career highs).
  
• Picked 9th overall by the Cubs in the 1986 draft. I was going to make a snarky comment and mention someone better taken later that round but the "best" guy taken after him was Lee fucking Stevens. Jesus, Jeff King was a #1 overall pick?
  

JOE BOROWSKI FAST FACTS*

• Hails from your local Denny's.
  
• Played with Cubs for 5 years.
• At age 31 improbably came from nowhere to become a top arm in the Cubs bullpen.
• Converted 33 of 37 saves during epic 2003 season.
• With the Indians, Joe led the AL in 2007 with 45 saves despite posting a 5.07 ERA.
  

---

#3 Scott Servais vs. #6 Glenallen Hill

SCOTT SERVAIS FAST FACTS*

• Hails from LaCrosse, WI, the birthplace of Old Style Beer.
  
• Played with Cubs for 4 years.
• Traded to the Cubs along with Luis Gonzalez from Houston for the mythical beast Rick Wilkins.
  
• Batted .256 during his time with Chicago.
• In 1996 he was hit by a pitch 14 times, 5th highest in the NL that year.
  
• His nickname is Scott "Full" Servais because of his fondness for giving backrubs to his SPs after the game. This in addition to calling pitches and keeping them focused on their job.
• Was back-up catcher on the US Olympic Team in 1988 that won a gold medal.

GLENALLEN HILL FAST FACTS*

• Hails from the Land of Badass Motherfuckers.
• Played with the Cubs for 5 years.
• HE DON'T TAKE NO SHIT FROM NOBODY.
• Hit a HR onto a 5-story apartment complex outside Wrigley Field in 2001.
  
• Was named in the Mitchell Report. It remains his most famous mention in anything ever.
• Not very good on defense; nicknamed "The Juggler" for his defensive ineptitude. Just don't call him that to his face.
  

---

#2 Les Lancaster vs. #7 Dave Martinez

LES LANCASTER FAST FACTS*

• Hails from Texas.
• Played with the Cubs for 5 years.
• 1.36 ERA in 1989, and won Game 2 of the NLCS against the SF Giants.
  
• Greatest MLB pitcher ever named Les.
  
• Current manager of the Sioux City Explorers.
  

DAVE MARTINEZ FAST FACTS*

• Hails from the New York.
• Played with the Cubs for 4 non-consecutive years.
• One of a precious few MLB players to have played for FOUR MLB teams in one season (Devil Rays, Cubs, Rangers, Blue Jays in 2000).
• Current bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Was traded to the Expos, helping to usher in the vastly underrated "Mitch Webster Era" in Chicago.
  

Alright, now it's time to hit the polls. You can vote by going to this link, or by clicking on the "Go to Battle" link in the sidebar.

*Some of the Fast Facts may not be true.