My Baseball Dream Team

The Ultimate Baseball Team

The 2021 Baseball Season is over, and the sport has donned its winter plumage. For fans, now begins a period of discussion and debate. What players and teams exceeded expectations during the previous season? Who underwhelmed? What changes to their rosters should teams make, by trade and free agency signing?

This is a look into the historical mirror, another way to keep a baseball mind from going dormant during winter. This is not the first such similar effort, nor is it likely to be the last. Note that this is a roster of merely twenty.

Are the choices well made? The challenge is to decide if you agree with the roster. Do you think this is a team of the greatest all-time players at their positions? Or do you have others you prefer?

Part of the challenge of this project is comparing players across eras, as baseball has undergone a multitude of changes over the years, at times quite abruptly. For example, in 1915, Braggo Roth of the White Sox and Indians led baseball the sport with 7 home runs. Yet four years later Babe Ruth knocked 29 out of the park. And in 1920 he hit 54. The “Dead Ball Era” was officially over. This exciting new trend was very popular during the “Roaring ‘20s” and all of its excesses. And during the Depression the trend continued, and many teams lowered ticket prices to fill seats, and also to bring some happiness to the multitude of unemployed.

Another trend, later in the evolution of the sport, was the increased use of relief pitchers. Instead, starting pitchers who weren’t an active part of the rotation would come out of the bullpen, and take over pitching duties. Today relief pitchers are largely specialists, free to snap off as many fastballs in a row, a strategy that would burn out a starting pitcher’s arm in short order.

So the game has evolved, which makes cross-era comparisons difficult – yet fun for baseball fans to debate, especially during the winter months.

Here is my ultimate list:

First Base - Lou Gehrig. In addition to being an outstanding baseball player, he was a man of great courage. More than likely, you’ve heard of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. If not, this is who it’s named for. Here is his farewell speech.

Second Base – Eddie Collins – An all-around great plyer, he was on the 1919 Chicago squad, but was not one of the infamous “Black Sox.”

Shortstop – Honus Wagner – He was the complete baseball player, and for his era, he was one of the few shortstops who could hit. And boy could he!

Third Base – Mike Schmidt – No other has held down the hot corner as well as he did. And he was a beast at the plate, too.

Outfield (3) – (I am not specific as to which of the three main positions they played)

Willie Mays – “Say Hey” could quite literally do everything on the field. He is arguably the greatest baseball of all time.

Barry Bonds – Yes, he could be abrasive, but he was a beast of a player; batting, speed, and defense.

“Shoeless” Joe Jackson -Yes, he was an uneducated simpleton who was part of the Chicago “Black Sox” World Series fixing scandal featured in the movie “Eight Men Out.” It is highly questionable that he understood what he was getting involved with. But man, could he play baseball. And yes, he wore shoes when playing, but the nickname stuck.

Bench

Pie Traynor, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates

Micky Cochrane, C, Detroit Tigers

Cal Ripken, Jr, Shortstop, Baltimore Orioles

Jackie Robinson, 2B, Dodgers

PITCHERS

Starters

Lefty Grove, Athletics – He holds the record for most consecutive wins. But for an error by an outfielder off the bench his following second longest streak would have been joined and reached a likely untouchable fifty-plus consecutive wins.

Walter Johnson, Washington Senators – He was the American League counterpart to the next pitcher. Although hurling for lousy teams for most of his career, he still put up amazing numbers.

Christy Mathewson, New York Giants – The National League counterpart to Lefty Grove, the “Gentlemen’s Hurler” proved that nice guys can win.

Relievers

Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees – He was about as close to “lights out” as you can get.

Dan Quisenberry, Kansas City Royals – With his quirky “submarine” style of pitching, he confounded batters, and was the first reliever to amass more than 40 saves in a season.