The Pecan Park Eagle

The new year’s arrival inavriably turns people like me to thoughts of spring and to the return of the baseball season. More than that, I’m hastened always to re-evaluate my all time starting nine players, which I’ve learned are not so permanent as fixtures on the field as I once considered them to be.

When I was a kid, somewhere in 1947 to 1948, I received my first book on the greatest baseball team of all tme. WIsh I still had the book or even remembered the author(s), but I wore it out years ago, staring at the words and pictures and treating the writer’s conclusions as pretty much gospel fact.

Gospel fact? Not even close. This book came out right around the time of Jackie Robinson’s first steps over the color line. This all star team had no body of work from blacks as big leaguers to make a case for any of them, and their accomplishments in the Negro Leagues were totally ignored. Of course, there could not have been any room in the inn for any of the great players of any stripe or color who have come along in the sixty years since that book was written.

What I will do today is to present my current all time starting nine players and to provide some brief explanation of why I chose each pick. First up, however, allow me to show you how my “1947” book presented the best nine players of all time some sixty plus years ago. That lineup proceeds from here with each player’s year of selection for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame included in parentheses next to his name:

Pitcher: Walter Johnson (1936)

Catcher: Bill Dickey (1954)

First Base: Lou Gehrig (1939)

Second Base: Rogers Hornsby (1942)

Third Base: Pie Traynor (1948)

Shortstop: Honus Wagner (1936)

Left Field: Joe DiMaggio (1955)

Center Field: Ty Cobb (1936)

Right Field: Babe Ruth (1936)

Please note: These choices were made a mere eight to nine years past the 1939 opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame and only eleven to twelve years beyond the 1936 first HOF induction class selections. Four of the nine players came from that 1936 first-ever class. Another came from the 1939 class. Two others were HOF members selected in the 1940’s; and two more weren’t even inducted until the 1950’s. Joe DiMaggio, in fact, was still an active player in 1947. He would  not see HOF induction until 1955.

For years, as a kid, I treated these selections as though they were the final say on the subject, but as my ability to question and think for myself improved, I began to question some of the choices and why the book had placed Cobb in center field and the great DiMaggio in left field. In spite of his all-time career .367 batting average domination, I would even come to question the presence of Ty Cobb on my personal lst of the nine greatest players. That evaluation was helped by the emerging mark of black players in the big leagues, particularly of Willie Mays, the greatest five-tool player of all time. No way I could leave Mays off a club at the expense of the cross-handed batting, mean spirit that was Ty Cobb. I wasn’t interested in making my lineup out from a bunch of choir boys, but I preferred leaving off a hate-mongering, probably homicidal superstar when I had a perfectly good superior substitute to put in his place. Through my reading and research over the years, I also came to a greater appreciation for some of the old time Negro Leaguers who never had the chance to play in the mainstream big leagues. As a result, here’s what my all time starting lineup of greatest nine players looks like today:

Cool Papa Bell, rf (1974) Satchel Paige once said of Cool Papa’s legendary speed that “he’s the only man I know who can switch off the bedroom light at the door and then get into the bed and under the covers before the room grows dark.” Bell is reputed to have scored from second base on a sacrifice fly and to have covered more outfield ground than any center fielder in history. He was also an outstanding slash and run hitter and base-stealer over his years in the Negro Leagues. In spite of his speed, I still choose to leave center field in the hands of another pretty talented guy and let Cool Papa shrink any threat of a bloop hit to right to almost nothing.

Oscar Charleston, 1b (1976) Regarded by many as the greatest player in Negro League history, Charleston may have also beeen the greatest center fielder of all time in his youth. His career batting average of .348 and slugging power beyond .500 was stunning. Dizzy Dean said he didn’t have a weakness. I’m simply placing Oscar at his veteran position of first base to be sure that I have his bat in the lineup. Again, I’m saving center field for the arguably most dramatic talent to ever play there in all of baseball history.

Babe Ruth, lf (1936) He was “The Bambino”, “The Sultan of Swat”, “The Babe”. Nuf sed.

Josh Gibson, c (1972) Most often referenced as “The Black Babe Ruth,” Josh Gibson probably hit well over 800 home runs during the course of his Negro League career. He didn’t simply hit them often. He hit the kind that seemed to disappear in the sky beyond the stadium wall – ever bit as far or better than any that ever took flight from the bat of the Babe.

Willie Mays, cf (1979) He will always be remembered as that arms and legs player dashing madly to the deepest part of center field at the Polo Grounds in 1954, on his destined way to “The Catch” of s deep drive by Cleveland’s Vic Wertz in the World Series. He also will never be forgotten for his arm, his bat, his legs, and his unbridled power. Hitting .302 lifetime, Willie’s 660 home runs places him 4th on the all time list behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), and Babe Ruth (714). He lacked DiMaggio’s grace on defense, but he more than made up for it with dramatic athleticism in the field. “Say Hey, Willie! You’re my guy in the central pasture.”

Rogers Hornsby, 2b (1942) With a .358 career batting average and three seasons hitting over .400, “The Rajah” is still considered by many as the greatest righthanded batter of all time. He’s good enough to be my second baseman, even ater all these years.

Martin Dihigo, 3b (1977) “Dihigo was the best all around baseball player I’ve ever seen,” said Baseball Hall of Fame fellow member Buck Leonard. Dihigo could play all nine positions at an excelent level. To appreciate how gifted Dihigo was, in 1938 in the Mexican League his .387 batting average won the batting title and, as a pitcher, he was 18-2 with an 0.90 earned run average. I’ve got Martin at third base because that’s where I need this super-athlete the most.

Honus Wagner, ss (1936) “The Flying Dutchman” and his .327 batting average for 21 years in the big leagues is still my choice at shortstop. Similar to Dihigo as an outstanding athlete, the bowlegged Wagner could most likely have have played any position he chose to try – and played it well. He simply couldn’t get away from shortstop once the Pittsburgh Pirates found out  how well he fit that long term need on their early 20th century clubs. Now he has the job on my club too as one of three men who have survived from that original all star notion of my childhood as members of my own selected group.

Cy Young, p (1937) I’ve been a Christy Mathewson fan over Walter Johnson for years, but when it came right down to making this critical pick, I found I could not pass up the man who holds one of baseball’s least likely-to-ever-be-broken records of 511 career wins. Look! If we’re going to give an award in his name to the two best pitchers each year in the American and National leagues, how could we not pick Cy “I’m That Guy” Young as our all star pitcher of all time?

At any rate, those are my arguable nine picks as I now see things in 2010. They may change again over time and probably will. Unless baseball suddenly dies, the membership in this lineup will never be fixed or cast in bronze forever. Your choices may be a little to greatly different than mine. That’s OK too. All I know for sure is, I’d be happy to take on your different club with my nine guys anytime of the week we can reserve a playing field in the Twilight Zone.