An all-shortie All-Star team

The Game Room
1

I’m trying to assemble the best team of all short players, but I’m a few positions, uh, short (and I’m overloaded with players who play, uh, short). Help me fill in the blanks. I’m trying to find the BEST players under say 5’10", not the shortest players ever:

So far I’ve got

C Yogi Berra 5’8"
P Bobby Shantz 5’6"
1B ???
2B Joe Morgan 5’7"
SS Phil Rizzuto 5’6"
3B ???
RF Willie Keeler 5’4"
CF Albie Pearson 5’5"
LF ???

Any nominations for shorties at LF, 1B or 3B? Any players under 5’10" better than the ones I’ve named?

2

No spot for Altuve?

At 5’6" he’s a good candidate for 2b

Whitey Ford is one of the shortest starting pitchers in the hall.

Can you play Hack Wilson in left? He was 5’6" believe it or not.

3

I will put Hack in LF. Good call.

Whitey was a giant (though not a Giant) next to Shantz.

4

Next best candidate I can think of for LF would be The Ricky at 5’10". Henderson was overwhelmingly a Left Fielder

I got your 3B, Mel Ott at 5’ 9"

1B is tough. But plenty of Hall of Famers played some 1b. First Base is tough, they run tall.

5

Bob Boyd was a three-time (Negro League) All Star who stood 5’10", you might not be able to do better than him for 1B.

6

Jose Ramirez 3Bman for Cleveland is 5’9" as was Eddie Collins

And Eddie Gaedel should definitely be DH

7

I think Garvey, also 5’10", beats out Boyd. But 5’10" is too tall in any case. I want under 5’10"

8

There are almost no first basemen under 5’ 10" with any accumulated stats. I’ve been trying to find a short hall of famer that shifted to 1b to finish up their career.
Still no luck.

9

Heinie Groh was 5’8" at thridbase his career WAR was 48.4

Freddy Patek was only 5’5" at short.

10

How about Fred Tenney for 1B then, he was 5’9" with 43.8 career WAR.

11

That’s an excellent one, I doubt you’ll do better.

12

And if you want a Hall of Famer who played the majority of his games in LF, Tim Raines was 5’8".

13

Eddie was a 2bman. (Played 1 game at 3B in his career). JIMMY Collins was 5’9" and a HoF 3B man.

I think Raines is now my LFer. Better player than Hack Wilson, if two inches taller.

John McGraw was 5’7", primarily a third baseman, and was a hell of a OBP guy. I think I’ll reach into the 19th century for a 3Bman.

14

I thought Ron Cey might be a good candidate for third, but he’s listed at 5’10". In my memory he’s around 5’3’'.

15

And, based off of my then 11- year old assessment of Cey from 1984, he was only slightly less wide.

ETA: Steve Garvey measures in at 5’10”, so he might do in a pinch at 1B.

16

The good thing about including John McGraw is that he could also serve as manager of the short squad. An alternate choice for player-manager is Hughie Jennings at 5’8", whose hitting was better (lifetime .312 average), and who was at least as colorful if not quite as successful as a manager. There’s nothing like a guy waving his arms from the third base coaching box and screaming “Ee-Yah!!” to inspire a team.*

Eddie Gaedel would be far more effective as a pinch hitter, especially with the bases loaded. Once he got into his crouch he’d be a fearsomely tough out.

*these days Buck Showalter is an obvious choice at 5’9’'.

17

So, pending a shorter excellent 1Bman, this is what I’ve got:

C Yogi Berra 5’8"
P Bobby Shantz 5’6"
1B Steve Garvey, 5’10"
2B Joe Morgan 5’7"
SS Phil Rizzuto 5’6"
3B John McGraw 5’7"
RF Willie Keeler 5’4"
CF Albie Pearson 5’5"
LF Tim Raines 5’8"

average height 5’ 6 and 1/2"

Any further nominations, or is the process closed? Maybe Hack Wilson is so much superior to Albie Pearson that we put him in CF? Its just an inch and that’s a big boost in power.

If nominations are closed, what is our batting order?

18

My final pitch for 1B is 1920s Washington Senators player Joe Judge. He was 5’8" and had 47.9 WAR, 9.9 more than Garvey.

19

Done!

C Yogi Berra 5’8"
P Bobby Shantz 5’6"
1B Joe Judge, 5’8"
2B Joe Morgan 5’7"
SS Phil Rizzuto 5’6"
3B John McGraw 5’7"
RF Willie Keeler 5’4"
CF Hack Wilson 5’6"
LF Tim Raines 5’8"

average height 5’ 6 and 1/4"

20

Still need to staff the bullpen.

Other than Bobby Shantz, other potential candidates include Billy Wagner and John Franco (both 5’10").