I grant that its speculation on my part to predict that he would have continued to dominate as a pitcher. However, we do know that he played another 16 seasons after being moved off the mound, remaining fairly healthy for most of it, and with no major arm injuries that I’m aware of. Also, in his five pitching appearances with the Yankees, he went 5-0 (although his ERA for those appearances was a pretty lacklustre 5.52). If we assume that he would have remained healthy, and given that most pitchers don’t really come into their prime until their late 20s (Ruth was only 24 in his last year as a regular pitcher), I don’t think it unreasonable at all to figure he might have easily run up 300-400 wins in his career. Again, though, I concede this is only guesswork.
Interesting that Berkman is being mentioned in the same list as guys like Musial, Banks, and Yaz. He’s a fine player, but I wouldn’t really have put him in that lofty company, although he does meet the standard of the OP.
At this point I think people are still having fun putting a roster together. **RickJay **is the only one who’s offered an actual lineup, and no one has tried assembling a batting order (which would probably consist of four hitters at #3 and the other four at #4.)
IIRC, Biggio was not a particularly great catcher, but he could run and he could hit. To keep him in the lineup every day, and to make way for a better defensive catcher coming up from the minors (I want to say Brad Ausmus?), they moved him to a spot where his speed would be more of an asset and his so-so arm wouldn’t be a problem. Turned out to be a very wise move, at any rate.
#1: 2b - Rod Carew - fast, great batting average #2: RF - Stan Musial - great BA, on-base, good power, excellent contact hitter #3: 1b - Lou Gehrig #4: 3b - Killebrew #5: LF - Yaztremski #6: SS - Ernie Banks #7: CF - Darin Erstad (the only real CF I could find who also fit the criteria at 1b, and a very good CF at that) #8: C - Joe Torre #9: P - Can’t think of a guy who played a lot of first who did much of anything as a pitcher, I suppose you could go with Dick Allen as DH and make it 9 hitters if you prefer.
I’ll make Rose my utility guy - he played everywhere but short, IIRC. That makes for a pretty good outfield, probably not as good of an infield. Find us some flyball pitchers!
Yastrzemski, CF - not his usual position but he could do it
Gehrig, 1B
Thomas, DH (I’m dumping Dick Allen; can’t believe I forgot the Big Hurt)
Killebrew, 3B
Banks, SS
Torre, C
Rose, RF
That looks like a hell of a lineup to me. I’ve got one of the greatest baserunners of my lifetime up top, all kinds of OBP up there, and scads of power. With an average pitching staff, you’d never lose a pennant.
If you disqualify Yaz for not really being a CF, I replace Rose with Erstad, moving Yaz to right; Erstad bats ninth.
Maybe Yastrzemski COULD play center field, but any time this team played at Fenway, you’d HAVE to put him in left! It was always a joy to watch him turn sure doubles into long singles at Fenway. NOBODY else knew how to play balls off the left field wall at Fenway the way Yaz did. (He did it to my Yankees all the time!)
Like the others said, he was a good athlete and a great bat, but kind of a lousy catcher. They actually tried him in the outfield first, then at second a year later, and it worked. That was a rare kind of switch, but catchers who can hit get moved a lot early in their careers - Jayson Werth, Delgado, Neil Walker, Dale Murphy, Paul Konerko, etc.
I might be missing your point in asking based on what you’ve snipped.
