Quote:
Originally Posted by G1911
Pitcher has many excellent candidates. Ford, Marichal, Gibson, even Roberts Roberts. Seaver loses some playing time with the era cutoff but is a good choices anyways. I think Spahn produced the most total value during this period
Bench or Berra is close, I give it to Berra because Berra was remarkably consistent and excellent. Bench had some great years mixed with some pretty poor ones.
McCovey is awfully close to post-war only Musial.
Jackie has the hype, Morgan the stat line. Robinson was a great player but I don't see his actual career value as #1 here.
I don't think there's much of any real competition for SS.
Schmidt was greater than Mathews overall, but I don't see a way to give it to Schmidt if we have a 1980 cutoff. From 1946-1980 only, Mathews has a much better stat line.
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Greg, you make some very valid points. Musial actually did play more games at 1st Base than any other single position (even if he played outfield in total more than 1st Base).
You are also correct that Mike Schmidt's best year's were in the 80s.
Regarding catcher, I agree that Berra had a great career, but Bench didn't start going down hill until 1980, so I gotta go with Bench. I like Campanella ahead of Berra too because he had great years in the Negro Leagues, his career was tragically cut short, and I just think he had a higher peak.
I also agree that Joe Morgan had better stats than Jackie. I just think Jackie was more disruptive to opposing teams because of his baserunning and overall aggresiveness. (I'm also biased against Morgan because when I was kid he was a broadcaster, and i though he was unbearable).
Since its hard to choose just one team, I chose three
:
First Team
Catcher
Johnny Bench
First Base
Stan Musial
2nd Base
Jackie Robinson
Shortstop
Ernie Banks
3rd Base
Eddie Mathews
Leftfield
Ted Williams
Centerfield
Willie Mays
Rightfield
Hank Aaron
Pitcher
Tom Seaver
2nd Team
Catcher
Roy Campanella
1st Base
Willie McCovey
2nd Base
Joe Morgan
Shortstop
Pee Wee Reese
3rd Base
Brooks Robinson
Leftfield
Carl Yastrzemski
Centerfield
Mickey Mantle
Rightfield
Frank Robinson
Pitcher
Warren Spahn
3rd Team
Catcher
Yogi Berra
1st Base
Harmon Killibrew
2nd Base
Rod Carew
Shortstop ?????
3rd Base
Ron Santo
Leftfield
Pete Rose
Centerfield
Duke Snider
Rightfield
Roberto Clemente
Pitcher
Bob Gibson
Below are my favorite cards of the 1st and 2nd team folks. I can't afford my favorite Mantle ('51 Bowman) so I just left it blank.