Lance Berkman is my pick for Right Field.
The switch hitter lineup was a fun pick. With apologies to the less iconic figures of the Negro Leagues and their lack of comparable stats and limited anecdotal testimony, I stuck with MLB players, even a few that haven’t made it to the Hall of Fame at Catcher, Third, or Right Field. My guess is that Chipper Jones will get there in time and that Lance Berkman may even put himself into the running with 3-5 more outstanding years at St. Louis (or somewhere) before he retires. I’d like to see Lance tweak that BA up over .300 and the HR totals beyond 400 before he’s done. These improvements would help Berkman’s HOF chances. Not sure if anything can still happen to help Ted Simmons with the HOF, but he sure was a dangerous hitter in key games in his time, along with a steady handler of some excellent pitchers.
George Davis was an outstanding shortstop for the Cleveland Spiders, New York Giants, and Chicago White Sox during the last decade of the 19th century and the first ten years of the 20th. During the era of the move-the-runners strategies of the dead ball era, Davis flourished when witch hitters were highly valued for their ability to hit to all fields. He was good enough for the HOF and I picked him over Ozzie Smith for this club, knowing full well what I was giving up on defense, although Davis was reputedly excellent in the field too.
That being said, here are my starting nine:
Roster Spots & Player Stats
Pitcher: Carlos Zambrano (.241, 23 HR, 69 RBI)
Catcher: Ted Simmons (.285, 248 HR, 1,389 RBI)
1st Base: Eddie Murray (.287, 504 HR, 1,917 RBI)
2nd Base: Frankie Frisch (.316, 105 HR, 1,244 RBI)
3rd Base: Chipper Jones (.304, 454 HR, 1,561 RBI)
Shortstop: George Davis (.295, 73 HR, 1,440 RBI)
Left Field: Pete Rose ( .303, 160 HR, 1,314 RBI)
Center Field: Mickey Mantle (.298, 536 HR, 1,509 RBI)
Right Field: Lance Berkman (.296, 358 HR, 1,193 RBI)
Batting Order / Game Time:
Rose, LF
Frisch, 2B
Mantle, CF
Murray, 1B
Jones, 3B
Berkman, RF
Simmons, C
Davis, SS
Zambrano, P
The Pecan Park Eagle 
January 19, 2012 at 3:54 pm |
While not a titan of offense, you might consider Ozzie Smith for your shortstop position. He not only switch-hit to the tune of a .262 career average but stole 580 bases (21st all time), was a 14-time All-Star and 13-time Gold Glover. With all the muscle you have in the lineup, I think you could sacrifice a little offense for defense at such a critical position.
And while Ted Simmons wasn’t a Hall-of-Famer, I don’t think many would argue that he wasn’t a great catcher. Good choice.
January 19, 2012 at 6:37 pm |
Bob:
As always, your input is always well-founded. I was torn between Davis and Smith at SS, but decided to go with the guy whose BA was considerably higher and whose SB total of 630 was 51 better than Ozzie in the era where catchers trained harder to cut down base stealing.
January 19, 2012 at 7:10 pm |
Bobbie Bonilla and Reggie Smith were good, but I can
see why they were ommitted.
January 20, 2012 at 10:38 pm |
I love Simba getting some love here! It has always amazed me how little respect he garnered. If memory serves me he sometimes caught over 145 games in that heat on the Astroturf of old Busch II. His OPS was .785 whereas Bench was .817 but Bench was surrounded with a much team for most of the time period.
Anyhow thanks for including Simba – I might have blown a gasket if you had chosen Biff Pocoroba (though I love saying the name). Surprised no one has thrown out Posada’s name but man what a butcher with the glove IMO.