Best All Time Baseball Team!!!?

Question

Here is my team:

Pitcher- Pedro Martinez (1999 season)

Catcher- Johnny Bench (sry Yogi Bera)

1st Base- Lou Gherig (sry Jimmie Foxx)

2nd Base- Rogers Hornsby

3rd Base- Mike Schimdt (sry Pete Rose)

Short Stop- Honus Wagner

Left Field- Ted Williams (sry Barry Bonds)

Center Field- Willy Mays (sry Joe Dimaggio)

Right Field- Babe Ruth (sry Hank Aaron)

DH- David "Big Pappi" Ortiz

What do you think??

Answer 1

You seemed to have selected your pitcher based on one season, while everyone else was selected based on career performance.

You made some excellent choices.

I might substitute Yogi for Johnny Bench based on career value, as Berra didn't have the up-and-down type offensive seasons the way Bench had. Berra was much more consistent, won 3 MVPs to Bench's 2, and his teams won more regularly.

No need to apologize to Foxx...Gehrig WAS better.

Hornsby was not a bad choice at second, I'd have gone with Joe Morgan or Eddie Collins (Collins' teams won a lot more than Hornsby's and for the first half of the 20th century, Collins basically held any World Series record not held by Babe Ruth).

Schmidt is definitely the best 3rd baseman ever... however, if you're going to apologize to anyone, it should be George Brett, the #2 third baseman of all time. Pete Rose isn't the all time best at ANY position, depsite holding the record for career hits. Guys like Eddie Matthews, Brooks Robinson and Ron Santo were also much better third basemen than Rose. Rose was out of position at 3rd base.

Wagner is the only choice at Shortstop. In his Historical Abstract, Bill James points out that (1) we don't really know who the 2nd best shortstop ever is and (2) but the distance between Wagner and the number 2 shortstop (whoEVER it is) is about the same as the distance between the # 2 shortstop and the # 30 shortstop... that's how much better Wagner was than anyone else at that position.

I don't see how you could go wrong with an outfield like that!!

There are some all time greats (who's primes preceded the DH era) that could be your DH if you wanted to go that route. Bonds, DiMaggio and Aaron were all better hitters than Ortiz.

But that's a nice little team you put together there...good job!

Answer 2

SP Roger Clemens
C Yogi Bera
1B Lou Gherig
2B Eddie Collins
3B Mike Schmidt
SS Honus Warner
LF Barry Bonds
CF Willie Mays
RF Ty Cobb
DH Babe Ruth

Answer 3

P-Sandy Koufax
C-Bench
1B-Gehrig
2B-Roberto Alomar
ss-Ozzie Smith
3B-George Brett
LF-Teddy Ballgame
CF-Willy Mays
RF-Babe Ruth
DH-Edgar Martinez

Answer 4

I think for pitcher it would have be either Christy Mathewson or Walter Johnson, possibly even Satchel Paige or Nolan Ryan. 1st base was a hard one. 3rd base was easier than you think because Pete played a lot of different positions in his career. Shortstop could have been Ozzie Smith and 2nd base could have been Joe Morgan. These kinds of lists are fun to do, no matter what the picks are.

Answer 5

Much as I love Papi, I HATE the DH position. H-A-T-E. Other than that, I'd drop Wagner for Ozzie Smith. Way better at SS.


[edit]


All these people saying Nolan Ryan should be the pitcher. People, get real. Other than a wicked fastball, what did Ryan have that really screamed "Best Ever"? Reality? Nothing.

Answer 6

OK, technically you can't really do this, but whoever said Alfonso is waaaay off. Also, dont apologize to Barry Bonds. So many positions could go either way. Its hard to say. Pedro should not be the pitcher though.

Answer 7

P - Cy Young (Note: My gut wants to say Nolan Ryan, but they don't call it the "Nolan Ryan Award")
C - Thurman Munson
1B - Lou Gerhig
2B - Roberto Alomar
SS - Omar Vizquel
3B - Pete Rose
LF - Dave Parker
CF - Willy Mays
RF - Roberto Clemente

Answer 8

1961 Yankees

Answer 9

1998 Yankees

Answer 10

you should put big papi in at first base and make Hank Aaron the DH then you can have both.