My Field Of Dreams, Part I

For a while now I've been debating an Earth shattering question. If I had built a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield, what players would I most like to see play? What? You haven't been thinking the same thing? Well, maybe you should take a few minutes and ask yourself the same question.

I have found the answers to be both incredibly easy and horribly difficult. Sure, some names come immediately to mind-Ruth, Williams, Mays. That's the easy part. The hard part is figuring out where to draw the line as you can't take everyone, but the list of players gets very large, very fast.

Gazing upon a list so long that it would make Santa dizzy, I decided some action needed to be taken. The first decision I made was to divide my Field of Dreams into two groups. The first group is of all the players I never saw play. The second group is of all the players I have seen. It didn't matter if I could recall one at bat, one season or entire careers, if I remember them in uniform, they made the second squad.

As a point of reference for you, I've been watching baseball since the early 1970's. Those early years are filled mostly with the Oakland's World Series dominance, but even those memories are scattered. The year I went baseball nuts was 1975.

My teams are not entirely the best players. I have selected guys I would want to see again and again. They could have only significance to me. They could be flamboyant. They could have connections to each other or baseball history. In the end, don't be hurt or surprised if your favorite player or obvious legend doesn't make one of my lists. Again, it's my field of dreams and I encourage you to take up the same endeavor on your own.

You will quickly notice that there are probably more Tigers and Red Sox represented than any other team. (Dominating the century does put a number of Yankees on my rosters, too.) However, Detroit and Boston are my two favorite teams and I consider myself more of an American League fan.

I have also tried to keep the rosters to 35 players per team. Technically, that's seventy players per era. It's still too many, and I may yet cut the lists down, but my objective is to try and stay as close to 70 total as possible.

My rules also include a minimum of nine man pitching rotations and the ability to field a complete lineup-one 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, etc......

I'll begin with the players I never saw play. I've roughly divided them into two teams, but my list isn't quite carved in stone.

Team 1
Josh Gibson, C- Negro League Legend.
Yogi Berra, C/OF- Great post-game quotes and lots of World Series rings to boot.
Lou Gehrig, 1B-Need I elaborate?
Harmon Killebrew, 1B/3B- 500 homers, two positions.
Buck Leonard, 1B- A chance to compete with his contemporaries.
Rogers Hornsby, 2B- The greatest hitting secondbaseman ever.
Harvey Kuenn, 2B- Tiger infielder won batting title. More to follow.
Bobby Doerr, 2B- First of many Red Sox.
Honus Wagner, SS- The best at his position. Ever.
Johnny Pesky, SS- Fine player. Gets plenty of chances to forget '46 Series here.
Phil Rizzuto, SS- How can I not take a guy named "Scooter"?
Judy Johnson, 3B- Another African-American denied a chance to play in the Majors. I get to correct that here.
Ken Boyer, 3B- 1964 MVP.
Babe Ruth, OF/P- Oh, I'd let him pitch, too.
Stan Musial, OF/1B- Stan The Man was another no-brainer.
Willie Mays, OF- In between Ruth and Musial? Are you kidding me?
Joe DiMaggio, OF- Yankee Clipper makes the cut.
Mel Ott, OF- If not for Mays, the greatest Giant?
Rocky Colavito, OF- Homer hitting Tiger outfielder. Traded for Kuenn, now playing together.
Joe Medwick, OF- Ducky. Had to have a Gashouse Gang member.

Christy Mathewson, P- There's a reason he was one of the first five HOF inductees.
Smoky Joe Wood, P- Made film and my version of Dreams.
Lefty Grove, P- One of the top 10 ever at his position.
Warren Spahn, P- Seems like we forget how good Spahn was.
Joe McGinnity, P- Along with Mathewson led Giants to titles and made HOF.
Carl Hubbell, P- The Meal Ticket. His All-Star Game performance is legendary.
Dizzy Dean, P- Could pitch the first game and call the second. A great pitcher before injury.
Daffy Dean, P- Had some good seasons with brother, Dizzy, in STL.
Johnny Sain, P- Spahn and Sain and pray for rain. How could I not take him?
Cy Young, P- You may have heard of him. He could pitch both ends of doubleheader.

Team 2
Mickey Cochrane, C- Led Tigers to first championship. Could manage this club, as well.
Roy Campanella, C- Dodger legend. HOF member.
King Kelly, C- Dead ball era backstop.
Jimmie Foxx, 1B- Double X is one of my all-time favorites.
Hank Greenberg, 1B- Tiger legend, part of famous G-Men.
Charlie Gerhinger, 2B- My all-time favorite Tiger.
Jackie Robinson, 2B- Another simple choice.
Napoleon Lajoie, 2B- Nap was a great player.
Ernie Banks, SS/1B- A power hitting SS long before this era.
Luis Aparicio, SS- Motor for Go-Go (White) Sox.
Pee Wee Reese, SS- Rizzuto's NY counterpart. Robinson's keystone teammate.
Pie Traynor, 3B- Once considered the best ever 3B.
Eddie Mathews, 3B- 500 homers. Led Braves to titles. Member of 1968 Tigers, too.
Ty Cobb, OF- Greatest Tiger. Maybe greatest player. I've got rivals Hornsby and Wagner on the "other" team.
Ted Williams, OF- The Kid is another all-time favorite of mine.
Tris Speaker, OF- Lost in Cobb's shadow. A great player.
Mickey Mantle, OF- I put Joe D. on the other team this time.
Roberto Clemente, OF- Love those basket catches and whirling throws.
Harry Heilmann, OF- Another Tiger HOF member. A tremendous hitter.
Dom DiMaggio, OF- Slightly below HOF standards, but a good CF. Plays next to Williams and against brother, Joe, again.

Walter Johnson, P- Easy pick. Can pitch against Smoky Joe, again, in my field of dreams.
Sandy Koufax, P- At his peak, was anyone better?
Bob Gibson, P- Dominant righthander.
Bob Feller, P- Johnson, Koufax, Gibson and Feller? These guys throw hard. Real hard.
Bob Lemon, P- HOF member, Feller's Cleveland teammate.
Tim Keefe, P- Dead ball era hurler.
Satchel Paige, P- Let's see him in his prime take on the big leaguers.
Schoolboy Rowe, P- Another Tiger favorite of mine. A darn good pitcher, too.
Hal Newhouser, P- Back-to-back MVP winner.
Don Drysdale, P- Koufax running mate. HOF hurler.

Those of you with degrees in mathematics will note that these two teams have only thirty players per side. That's not bad. I can certainly include more names, I hate leaving the Waner brothers out, but I think I'll leave well enough alone for now. Although, as always, I reserve the right to alter the teams in any way I see fit. (Hey, I may have missed somebody. I didn't exactly do lots of research here.)

You probably noticed that I have a thing about "connections"- McGinnity and Mathewson, Koufax and Drysdale, Spahn and Sain, Dom and Joe DiMaggio, Dizzy and Daffy Dean, Lemon and Feller, Kuenn and Colavito, Johnson and Wood, Cobb and Wagner, Gerhinger, Greenberg and Cochrane, Williams, Doerr, Dom DiMaggio and Pesky. They were either teammates, brothers, traded for one another or noted rivals of one sort or another.

I'm still naive enough to believe baseball should be a sport about teammates, friends and family. That's why some players got extra credit in my selection process.

That concludes Part I of my Field of Dreams. Part II should posted before Monday. That list will include all the players I've seen play. That's been a much more challenging list to assemble.