Grumble, grumble. Why do you think I had him riding the pine?
All-time Athletics, including Philadelphia:
C - Mickey Cochrane
1B - Jimmie Foxx
2B - Eddie Collins
3B - Home Run Baker
SS - Miguel Tejada
LF - Rickey Henderson
CF - Al Simmons (yeah, I know, he was actually a left fielder)
RF - Reggie Jackson
SP - Lefty Grove
SP - Rube Waddell
SP - Catfish Hunter
SP - Eddie Plank
SP - Vida Blue
RP - Dennis Eckersley
RP - Rollie Fingers
I loved Johnny O, but you’d really take him over Keith Hernandez at 1B? And Felix Millan at 2B?!
The thing with the Mets’ lineup is you have to put “vintage years” next to the name, since so many of the Mets “greats” were, alas, only great (in a Mets uniform) for a subset of their career. For example, I’d start 1999 Edgardo Alfonzo at 2B in a heartbeat over Millan. It’s not even close, he was, in his prime, clearly the best 2B the Mets ever had. 2002 Fonzie, well, not so much.
It’d be close betwen 1984 Keith Hernandez over 1999 John Olerud, in the end I think I’d take the Gold Glove defense and the “first ever Mets team captain” leadership qualities over Johnny’s sweet swing.
Here’s the big one. You can have 1971 Tom Seaver or 1985 Doc Gooden, one game: go.
Ohhh. Tough one. Probably Doc Gooden for one game. A whole season might be tougher.
The Braves
SS - Rafael Furcal
LF - Dusty Baker
3b - Eddie Matthews
RF - Henry Aaron
1b - Fred McGriff
CF - Dale Murphy
C - Javier Lopez
2b - Davey Johnson
Bench - Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Joe Torre
RHP - Greg Maddux
LHP - Warren Spahn
RP - John Smoltz (he DID have 150 saves in a 4 year stretch as a closer, so I’m putting him in the 'pen.)
Manager - Bobby Cox
Has anyone yet put together a team composed entirely of HoF players (or future HOFers)?
I checked out th OP’s Yankee team, and the only non-HOF players among the starting lineup and pitchers were Nettles and Reynolds. Even two out of the three bench players are in the Hall, with Mattingly the exception.
The only current player on his list is Jeter, and if he doesn’t make it into Cooperstown, i will be very surprised.
I can’t be bothered going through all the other teams, but does anyone know if the team they have suggested has more HoF players than the OP’s?
The A’s team a few posts above is solid hall of famers except Miguel Tejada. Though without a bench, I think.
Man, looking at Doc’s 1985 numbers really brings home how much wasted potential was involved there, doesn’t it? He was 24-4, his ERA was 1.53 and his adjusted ERA was 228. He struck out 268 batters in 276 innings and he only walked 69.
He was 20 years old.
We should have watched him cruise to 300 wins, 3000 strikeouts, maybe another Cy Young or maybe two. It should have been him and Roger Clemens in a dogfight for best right handed pitcher of their generation.
That sucks.
Dusty Baker never really played LF for the Braves - not that he couldn’t have. Rico Carty might be a better choice, or you could go all the way back to Hall of Famer Hugh Duffy. Or cheat a little and put Chipper there.
I might take Joe Adcock over Fred McGriff, but it’s close.
The Cards team I proposed had three non-HoF in the starting lineup and one on the bench. Two of those players either will be in the Hall (Pujols) or probably should be (McGwire). Cards fans will tell you Boyer should be in too, but he’s not. Edmonds will most likely not make it either.
The Cards could go all HoFer if you replace Edmonds and Boyer with (slightly out of position) Orlando Cepeda or Ducky Medwick and Frankie Frisch. On the bench you can replace McGwire (who probably would be in if not for the PED issue) with Johnny Mize.
Of course making an all HoF team for the Yankees would be pretty easy too…
My Pirates team is primarily HoFers except for the pitching staff and catcher. In addition, there are two HoFers on my bench - this is because their position was taken by a stronger HoFer in my humble opinion. I don’t thing anyone would argue that Honus Wagner beats Arky Vaughn (though not by much - some baseball experts call them the #1 and #2 shortstops of all time). Similarly I don’t think anyone would fault me for putting Clemente in right field and keeping Paul Waner on the team. Both Hall of Famers, but Clemente beats Waner out.
If I substitute A-Rod for Nettles, Red Ruffing for Reynolds, and Winfield for Mattingly it would do the trick. Of course I only used 1 righty and lefty starter instead of a whole staff.
So, I’ll add Herb Pennock, Lefty Gomez and Jack Chesbro
Well if we’re going for a full staff then I’ll add Dizzy Dean, Jesse Haines, and either Grover Cleveland Alexander (at the tail end of his career) or hell, why not Cy Young (two seasons as a Card) or Hoyt Wilhelm (only one).
How about these guys?
The Indians LHP should be Vean Gregg by a mile. In 3.5 years (1911-1914) his w/l record was 72-36. Sudden Sam & C.C. be damned.
No, I agree with MOIDALIZE. I looked all over his list for something to disagree with and I couldn’t find it. My only point of possible dissent is switching Sandy for Martinez, and only because Sandy was magic when it counted. I have no argument.
Outstanding
Yeah, but that was the dead-ball era, and they didn’t let black people play. I have a hard time taking a lot of players from that era seriously.
When I did the Braves All-Time Team, I was amazed at the quality of pitchers left out. The Bravos could boast an all-time starting rotation of:
Maddux
Glavine
Neikro
Spahn
Kid Nichols (Hall of Famer from the 1890’s).
How many teams could match that starting rotation all-time? 5 300 game winners and Hall of Famers (or soon to be HoFers).
That rotation is so good that names like Smoltz, Sain, and Burdette don’t even make the conversation! And to think, the Braves have only won 3 World Series in all that time. What a waste of starting pitching.