Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime

Page 351

#25- The All Time Greatest Team

No baseball book would be complete without an all-time

great team. I thought that I’d make it easier on myself by

supplying four teams instead of one. This did help some, but

there are always those great guys right at the margins,

whichever you choose. It seems a travesty not to have included

Nolan Ryan, Dizzy Dean, Greg Maddux and Rollie Fingers on the

mound. The field has been similarly cheated, especially the

outfield, where the greatest hitters congregate when they’re not

on First Base. Playing in the dead ball era, Tris Speaker hit

almost as well as Cobb and may well have been the best defensive

center fielder ever. While Ozzie Smith is here for his

outstanding fielding, Brooks Robinson is not, though he was a

better hitter. It doesn’t seem fair. Alex Rodriguez belongs

someplace. Ted Williams may have been the best hitter ever, as

he hit for both average and power during a low hitting era. But

his AL outfield competition is two candidates for the greatest

player ever and a man they wrote songs of. I wish there were

four outfield positions in the AL.

I don’t know. These are what interesting arguments are made

of. The biases that I know of include somewhat of a disregard

for statistics as they exist. While important, the balance

between hitting and pitching has shifted over the years and I

try to view them in the context of their time. A pitcher with a

Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime

Page 352

2.65 ERA in 1910 has nowhere near the ability of the pitcher who

did it in 2001. The hitter who put up 500 homers in the Steroid

Era is less significant than one who did it any other time. I

also favored players who were considered the tops of their time,

often perennial MVP candidates. While maybe I shouldn’t I favor

players from contending teams.

Okay, here they are. Please don’t throw anything,

especially if you’re reading this in e-format.

Pos AL First Team AL Runner-up NL First Team NL Runner Up

C Mickey Cochrane Yogi Berra Johnny Bench M. Sanguillen

1B Lou Gehrig Jimmie Foxx Albert Pujols Bill Terry

2B Rogers Hornsby Nap Lajoie Jackie Robinson Joe Morgan

SS Derek Jeter Lou Boudreau Honus Wagner Ozzie Smith

3B Harmon Killebrew George Brett Mike Schmidt Pie Traynor

LF Joe DiMaggio Ted Williams Barry Bonds Fr. Robinson

CF Ty Cobb Mickey Mantle Willie Mays Mel Ott

RF Babe Ruth Manny Ramirez Stan Musial Hank Aaron

RHP Walter Johnson Roger Clemens C. Mathewson Tom Seaver

LHP Lefty Grove Randy Johnson Warren Spahn Steve Carlton

Rel Mariano Rivera Goose Gossage Bruce Sutter John Franco

Man Billy Martin Casey Stengel John McGraw Frank Frisch