MLB's All-Arrest Team: One Player at Each Position Who's Been Busted

The MLB Hall of Fame is not a Hall of Morals, which is why Pete Rose should be allowed in. Plenty of legendary players were drunkards, womanizers, etc. I am firmly against keeping players out of the Hall for non-baseball reasons.

That said, there are some guys who just take it too far. Each sport has its own history of bad boys who end up behind bars. But from getting a DUI to drug charges, some of the most talented players in MLB history have gotten pretty comfortable in cuffs.

Can I create a competitive fantasy roster made up of players who have been arrested? Here it is—one at each position.

Catcher: Benito Santiago

Santiago was legendary for his ability to throw runners out from his knees. The 1987 National League Rookie of the Year is also the proud owner of the Florida Marlins' first home run in franchise history.

The retired catcher also seems to have a certain affection for marijuana. After hot boxing his Mercedes in Florida earlier this year, he was arrested for running a red light and speeding.

He was a sometimes great, usually average, very serviceable back stop in the pros, but you must check out his website. Just take a few minutes to sit back and enjoy that gem.

Firtt Base: Orlando Cepeda

This 1999 Hall of Fame inductee was one of the best first baseman of his time, racking up a .297 career average and over 379 home runs. His No. 30 jersey was retired by the San Francisco Giants.

Cepeda was an 11-time All-Star and won an MVP and Rookie of the Year award in his illustrious career. But after retiring, he had divorce trouble, which was quickly compounded by a 10-month prison stint.

While working as a community liaison for the Giants (talking to at-risk children about the dangers of alcohol and drug use, ironically enough), Cepeda was pulled over for speeding and arrested on drug possession charges when marijuana, a syringe and a "white powder substance" was found in his car.

Second Base: Pete Rose

This was an obvious choice, wasn't it? If you're going to make an all-crooked team in baseball, the guy with the most hits in the history of the game better be on there.

Rose was well-known on the field as "Charlie Hustle," a moniker he earned for constantly playing so hard day in and day out. That's also probably how he earned 17 All-Star selections at five different positions while racking up 4,256 hits.

After retiring and becoming a manager, Rose was banned from baseball for betting on the games. Even though Rose owned up to it and said he only bet for the Reds when he was managing, it wasn't enough to atone for breaking baseball's cardinal rule.

In 1990, Rose served five months in prison for two counts of tax evasion.

Shortstop: Jose Offerman

I had a wealth of choices here—Rafael Furcal has been arrested for DUI twice in his career and Julio Lugo slammed his wife's head into the hood of a car.

But nobody can mess with Offerman, who started a minor league melee in 2007 when he charged the mound and hit the pitcher and catcher with his bat.

Offerman was certainly loaded with talent—he is on the list of rare players to hit a home run in his first career at bat, and has nearly 1,500 hits to his name.

He was a two-time All-Star who could cover most positions in the infield. But the aforementioned brawl was the last time Offerman played in a professional game.

Third Base: Gary Sheffield

A lot of you might know Sheffield as a slugging outfielder, but the guy played a little hot corner back in the day. Though this was a short sequence of events, it still resulted in an arrest, allowing me to put one of the most violent swingers in the game on my team.

In 1993, Sheffield was arrested and held in police custody for 13 hours when he got into it with a police officer in a parking lot. He was charged with assault with bodily injury and was released three hours before his scheduled game with the San Diego Padres.

Sheffield retired 300 hits shy of 3,000 and a member of the 500-home run club. But he was no stranger to controversy.

Note: If David Freese continues to improve, he could be a good selection here down the road. Before he became America's Golden Boy last October, Freese was arrested for DWI in 2009.

Left Field: Mel Hall

Hall doesn't get any clever quips from me. His arrest is one of the most disturbing athlete controversies in recent memory. And he was never a great player, let alone a good one.

Hall's career numbers are underwhelming, to say the least: .276 with 134 homers in about 15 big league seasons. But Hall's real history is told by his arrest in 2007.

He was arrested in Texas on two counts of sexual assault when a woman who claimed to be under 17 at the time of the incident came forward. Later, it was discovered that a 12-year-old also claimed rape, and Hall has since been serving a 45-year prison sentence.

Center Field: Josh Hamilton

I'm a huge Hamilton apologist. The guy has put himself through hell and back, but is a truly likable player. Not to mention the immense talent he possesses. The 2010 AL MVP and four-time All-Star can really hit.

Everyone knows of his well-documented drug and alcohol addiction issues. One of the worst incidents took place when Hamilton was arrested in 2005 for damaging a car in a drunken rage.

For all Hamilton's problems, give the guy credit for overcoming them (mostly), finding himself, and returning to baseball to dominate opposing pitchers.

Right Field: Darryl Strawberry

The 1983 N.L. Rookie of the Year has been in and out of trouble for much of his life since 1995. Charges have included anything from drug use to lying on a police report about a stolen car.

Strawberry was a feared hitter when he was playing, racking up 8 All-Star appearances and winning four World Series titles. It's a shame that he wasn't able to play out a longer, healthier career.

One thing some people lose in the shuffle of legal run-ins with Strawberry is his successful battle with cancer. Though Strawberry had multiple surgeries to beat the cancer, he is mostly remembered for his bat and his spotty past.

Starting Pitcher: Denny McLain

For those of you who were expecting Dwight Gooden, I'm sorry to disappoint. But Denny McLain was much more of a vagrant during his career (and after) than Gooden.

In fact, the two-time Cy Young award winner's legal transgressions outshine his very good pitching career.

As a player, McLain won back-to-back Cy Young awards in 1968 and 1969. His career ERA is a very good 3.39, and he also paired that '68 Cy with an AL MVP award and a World Series ring.

But in 1970 a story broke detailing his dealings with gambling that nearly crippled his career. In 1996 he was arrested for stealing money from a pension fund, in 1998 for missing a court date and most recently in 2011 at the Canadian border with a fugitive fraud warrant from Louisiana.

Closer: Ugueth Urbina

Urbina's story is one of the more frightening, since he played in the era I've grown up watching. In Venezuela in 2005, Urbina was arrested on attempted murder charge for allegedly attacking men with a machete and pouring gasoline on them.

Although Urbina publicly maintained his innocence throughout the process, he was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to over 14 years in prison.

When he was playing, Urbina racked up 237 career saves and was one of the more intimidating relief pitchers of his time.