When last we left my little Iowa cornfield turned baseball diamond, I presented my Field of Dreams, Part I. Those teams were comprised solely of players I have never seen play. Today, in Part II, I provide my list of teams comprised of players of I have seen play.
As was the case in Part I, this is not my all-time all-star team. This is a group of players, technically, two groups, that I would like to see play if I were the owner of that field carved out of the Iowa corn. They could be my personal favorites, guys I felt were dominant, tough in the clutch, or just plain colorful.
Team 1
Johnny Bench, C-Considered by many the best ever backstop.
Mike Piazza, C- L.A. years, please. Perhaps, the most dynamic offensive player at his position ever.
Thurman Munson, C- I grew up in a great era for catchers. Munson was one of them.
Keith Hernandez, 1B- The best defensive firstbaseman ever. Won a batting title, too.
Will Clark, 1B- Just one of my favorites and a solid all-around player.
Jeff Bagwell, 1B- Probably a borderline HOF candidate right now. A N.L. MVP.
Ryne Sandberg, 2B- Did it all for the Cubs.
Lou Whitaker, 2B- One of the most underrated player of the era. Even by me.
Craig Biggio, 2B/C/OF- Versatile leadoff hitter. Power/speed combo.
Nomar Garciaparra, SS- A hitting machine in his prime.
Robin Yount, SS/OF- A.L. MVP. HOF member. One of Harvey's Wallbangers. Love that nickname.
Alan Trammell, SS- Paired with Sweet Lou, again.
Derek Jeter, SS- Yeah, lots hate him. Unless he played for them.
George Brett, 3B- One of the greatest hitters I've seen.
Chipper Jones, 3B/OF- I'd leave Chipper at third. A dangerous clutch hitter.
Brooks Robinson, 3B- The best defensive player ever at 3B. A.L. MVP in '64, too.
Bob Horner, 3B- One of my favorites. Short stroke with great power.
Carl Yastrzemski, OF/1B- Yaz was still pretty productive when I started watching baseball.
Henry Aaron, OF- Opposite of Yaz, he was more a shell of his HOF standard by the time I saw him. Still qualifies for this team. I'd say circa 1957 would be good.
Ken Griffey, Jr., OF- 500 homers and made as many spectacular grabs as anyone. I saw a homer-robbing effort at Tiger Stadium that I'll never forget.
Vladimir Guerrero, OF- Can't decide if I want Vlad at his MVP best with Angels or representing the late Expos?
Gorman Thomas, OF- Free swinging, pudgy CF.
Jim Edmonds, OF- Highlight reel plays provided almost daily.
Dwight Evans, OF- Power plus that canon of a right arm.
Rickey Henderson, OF- The greatest leadoff man ever.
Willie McGee, OF- N.L. MVP. Great post-season player. Tremendous speed.
Luis Tiant, P- Circa 1973-76. The whirling, twirling delivery standouts. An underrated pitcher.
Roger Clemens, P- The Rocket was an easy choice.
Ron Guidry, P- Circa 1978. I've seen very few pitchers better than Guidry in his prime.
Dwight Gooden, P- That power fastball plus a nasty curve.
Orel Hershiser, P- Bulldog was dynamite in 1988.
Greg Maddux, P- The definition of control pitcher.
Vida Blue, P- Probably the 1971 model. A league MVP and a pitcher who could hit.
Bruce Sutter, P- One of the closers that began an era.
Mariano Rivera, P- Finished off lots of batters in lots of big games.
Team 2
Carlton Fisk, C- I mentioned I became baseball crazy in '75, right?
Ivan Rodriguez, C- His last two seasons here helped him make this team.
Lance Parrish, C- Maybe more underrated than Tram and Lou.
Eddie Murray, 1B- A great offensive player.
Mo Vaughn, 1B- Yeah, I know. He fell apart fast, but he was an A.L. MVP and pretty good hitter.
Albert Pujols, 1B/3B/OF- Perhaps the best hitter in the game today.
Roberto Alomar, 2B- Offense, defense, Robbie did it all. Future HOF member.
Joe Morgan, 2B- Generally regarded as the best at 2B.
Rod Carew, 2B/1B- Yes, I can remember Carew at second. I also recall lots of batting titles.
Alex Rodriguez, SS/3B- Forget third, A-Rod would always play short here.
Cal Ripken, Jr., SS- Solid offensive player and ambassador to the game.
Ozzie Smith, SS- The best defender ever at his position.
Miguel Tejada, SS- A great hitter who continues to produce.
Mike Schmidt, 3B- Arguably the best at his position ever.
Wade Boggs, 3B- Multiple time batting champion. Improved defensively as the years passed.
Paul Molitor, 3B/2B/1B- Oh, could he hit.
Scott Rolen, 3B- A solid defender and very good hitter.
Frank Robinson, OF- I can't decide if I want the Cincinnati or Baltimore version. Probably O's. Hey, I'm an A.L. kind of guy.
Reggie Jackson, OF- I'd prefer the A's model (first generation) over the Yankees, but either is fine.
Fred Lynn, OF- A favorite of mine. A.L. MVP, Rookie of the Year and batting champ. Boston years, please.
Jim Rice, OF- Lynn's teammate. There may have never been two better rookie campaigns from teammates.
Tony Gwynn, OF- Plenty of batting titles and a good defensive player.
Manny Ramirez, OF- Maybe the best righthanded hitter I have ever seen.
Greg Luzinski, OF- Good hitter, provides team with counter to Gorman Thomas.
Kirby Puckett, OF- Puck could play.
Ichiro Suzuki, OF- All he does well is run, throw, catch and hit.
Fernando Valenzuela, P- Circa 1982. Fernandomania returns.
Pedro Martinez, P- A dominant hurler in an era dominanted by hitters.
Randy Johnson, P- You could make a case he's the best lefty ever.
Jack Morris, P- Won titles in Detroit, Toronto and Minnesota. That wasn't coincidence.
Curt Schilling, P- Was tough long before bloody sock made him legendary in New England.
Tom Glavine, P- A favorite who has had a strong career.
Mark Fidrych, P- Circa 1976, of course. The definition of phenom.
Rollie Fingers, P- The reliever of the early 1970's.
Dennis Eckersely, P- A great closer and an above average starter.
This list was much more difficult to compile. I had all kinds of problems eliminting guys from one of the teams. If you asked me tomorrow, I'd probably make the list a bit differently. Who am I kidding? If I did this again in an hour, my list would be slightly different. There were so many guys up for consideration that I'm not even going to bother to list the near misses. It's just too darn long a list.
I will, however, make one exception. If I was pressed for a 36th player, I'd take Frank Tanana. Twice. First, I'd have the hard throwing Angels' Tanana of the early 70's on one team and have him face the soft-tossing Tigers' Tanana of the late Eighties from the other team.
I may have missed someone, so I do reserve the right to edit this list if a name from the past, or even the present, comes to mind. Again, I urge you to undertake this project. It's a bit time consuming, especially if you are as old as I am and have seen lots of baseball.
Finally, I'd like to thank Billfer at the Detroit Tigers Weblog for plugging Part I of this.
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