DRAFT -- DRAFT -- DRAFT
Introduction
Backstory
I started writing this
book around 1981. I was eight years old at the time, and I knew then
that one day I would write a book on the topic of Baseball All-Time
Teams. I of course had no idea what its exact format would be, or
when I would undertake the project exactly, but it seemed
inevitable.
I grew up in Western
New York, in the rural town of Wheatland, which is near the city of
Rochester. My street had only a few children close to my age, so
there weren't a wide variety of things to do. A small group of us
spent most of our summers playing whiffle-ball or tennis-ball (a
version of baseball where a tennis ball is used so that things like
batting helmets are not necessary). Often the games were played with
only 4 or 5 players – total. Nonetheless, we spent countless happy
sun-filled days playing ball – the kind of pure baseball joy that
grown men think of when they become emotional over movies like
Field of Dreams or The Natural. Sure, we'd
occasionally play football or basketball when the season was right,
or just for variety. But baseball, in one form or other, was our
primary activity.
When it was raining,
or during the winter (Rochester is well-known for its snowfall), we
would still gather around the same theme, only this time baseball
was played on board games or in our minds. We played All-Star
Championship "Disc" baseball, a game that provided spinner discs
representing the greats of the game, allowing you to statistically
simulate realistic games on paper (We even went so far as to create
our own player discs out of construction paper and cardboard).
During the 80s we played early computer simulations – such as
MicroLeague Baseball on my family's Atari system (the kind that were
statistics-based instead of action or joystick-based).
It is here that the
connection with this book is made. In order to choose teams for such
endeavors we would spend long hours discussing the greatest players
in baseball history. We would compare contemporary greats like Mike
Schmidt and Tom Seaver with stars from our dads' eras like Mickey
Mantle and Warren Spahn, not to mention the mythical players from
long ago like Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson. We would discuss and
argue over the greatest at each position, the greatest for each
team, the best single-teams and seasons, and just about every
question you could think of. We'd stump each other with trivia,
trade baseball cards, and everything else that baseball-crazed kids
did in the late 70s and early 80s. But at a certain point, around
age eight, I realized that I would one day love to write a book
giving my answers to the question of "Who would be on a Dream-Team
for each major league franchise?" I even started doing some research
on it during childhood from what would become a very tattered
edition of the Baseball Encyclopedia. I wish I still had those
notes, as it would be interesting to compare my current choices with
the decisions of a child.
The Perennial Topic
The issue of Dream
Teams has been discussed amongst baseball fans for many decades.
Once baseball had enough history, it was natural for even the casual
fan to ponder who the best of the game are. Since baseball has
well-defined positions, creating a mythical roster of greats is
often more appealing than trying to create an overall top-10 or
top-100 list. The most common form of this question is to ask for an
overall Dream Team covering the entire history of the sport.
However, with over 100 years of stars to choose from, this is now an
extremely difficult and argumentative question. The next logical
move is to split the Dream Teams up into American League and
National League players. Sometimes such teams ignore 19th
century players, in part because the AL only came into existence in
1901 and also because the game becomes radically different from the
modern contest the further back in time you look. The rules and
abilities of the players, and hence the achievements and their
statistical representation, just don't compare well at all with the
modern day game.
Another approach to
Dream Teams is that taken by this book: to create a dream team
roster for each current and long-standing major league franchise. I
am of course not the first to attempt such a thing; numerous authors
have done so in the past, are doing so in the present, and will no
doubt do so in the future. Fan surveys have at times asked this
question in each major-league city, producing a similar (if more
popularity-driven) dream team result. Sometimes the end product is
just a starting nine, sometimes a few backups are chosen. On rare
occasions a full-roster is chosen, and just as rare, the reasons for
the choices are provided.
This book will not
only choose a full roster, it will take you through my thought
process (by highlighting the significant reasons) for each choice.
But since there is plenty of recorded opinions on this topic
already, this book will compare my selections with those of other
writers, past and present, as well as fan surveys, official and
semi-official team selections, and any other prominent attempts at
answering this question that I can find. The hope is not to provide
a definitive answer to the dream team question for each club—due to
the number of factors involved, I do not believe that this can be
easily objectively answered, at least in the way that most questions
can. Rather, I hope this book will serve as a new baseline for
discussion of the subject: the rosters I am choosing come with at
least some reasoning to consider (and refute if you disagree), and
you can quickly compare my choices with those of many other (often
more prominent) writers, surveys, and so on.
Format and Groundrules
It is a well-known
fact that no one cares more about the sanctity of rules than
eight-year old boys. Not scientists, not judges, not the police. In
fact, politicians would do well to think back to their childhood
when justice and rules were held to be inviolate. To an eight-year
old, setting the rules of the game and making sure they are fair –
guaranteeing equality of opportunity in the competition while not at
all striving for equality of outcome – is just as important as the
game itself. With this in mind then, here are the ground rules for
this book:
1. Each chapter will
have two sections. The first will be a discussion of my choices for
a particular team's all-time dream-team roster. The second will be a
comparison of my choices with those of other prominent authors, fan
surveys, and so on.
2. A "team" here is
perhaps better defined as a "franchise", a long-standing entity that
survives intact through such things as moves from city to city,
changes in team nickname, or the demolition of a stadium. So for
example, the Los Angeles Dodgers chapter will include the Brooklyn
Dodgers – as well as the earlier clubs with nicknames stretching
back to 1884 (Robins, Superbas, Bridegrooms, Grooms, Grays, and
Atlantics).
3. Only a player's
accomplishments for the particular team will be considered for
selection to that team's all-time roster. A player may have had a
great career, but if he only played for a team for one or two years,
he won't make it. However, a player can be chosen for more than one
all-time team, and as it turns out several are. Because these are
rosters, a player can only be chosen for the team once, i.e., even
if he is the best player for that team at more than one
position.
4. Attempts will be
made to choose a player at the position he played most often, but
this is flexible. A rule of "reasonableness" will be used to
determine, in each particular case, what would be best for the
roster. Minimal playing levels must be attained to qualify at each
position, but even these minimums are altered depending on how long
the team has existed. Such factors will be discussed where
appropriate.
5. Two players at each
infield position will be selected, a starter, and a backup. Six
outfielders will be chosen, with some attention paid to RF/CF/LF
balance. However, this will not be a strict rule: a team with five
LF and one RF would not be acceptable, but one with 3 LF, 1 CF, and
2 RF could be. Ten pitchers will be chosen, with between 5-8
starters and 2-5 relievers. Again, the reasons for each
starter/reliever allocation will be discussed where appropriate.
6. An attempt will be
made to fairly weigh a player's longevity with the team against his
peak performance for the team. How much should one or two great
seasons be valued as opposed to five star seasons or ten or fifteen
mediocre seasons? There is no simple answer to this of course, so
that too will be a part of the discussion for each selection.
7. No new statistic or
equation (simple or otherwise) will be introduced in this book as a
means of comparing players across eras. This has become an
increasingly popular (and useful) endeavor in the past few decades,
and it is one that I enjoy following and have my own opinions on.
But because there are so many such attempts, and so much debate
surrounding them, I will not muddle the goals of this book by
overcomplicating things. I hope to allow for as broad a reading
audience as possible, so I will keep the use of statistics simple. I
will discuss only well-known standards including raw numbers such as
home runs and stolen bases, as well as computed numbers such as
batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, earned run
average, and so on. The same for awards and other achievements,
where I will mention All-Star selections, MVPs, and Cy Young awards,
but little else.
Not all authors who
have written on dream teams have used the same ground rules, so
comparing my choices with theirs (as I will do in each chapter) must
be done with this context in mind.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to so
many, where should I start? As I did at the outset, I'll start at
the beginning. The fun times I had as a child were because of the
great kids in my neighborhood. I won't mention them all, but two
deserve it more than others. Steve Grattan (one year older, and a
far better athlete at the time) was my best friend throughout all of
grade school. It was in his front yard that we played most often. My
brother David (two years younger) was even more important because he
was my constant companion while growing up. While other kids would
play ball with us, it was these two who generally participated with
me in any "dream-team" discussions.
Related to this, I'd
like to thank my parents who have always been supportive in
everything I do. Of most relevance to this book, they must be
thanked for letting me spend ("waste") so much of my childhood
playing, studying, and reading about baseball. Even when we were
late for supper (time and time again), they always let us go back
out to play until we could no longer see the ball coming towards us
at home plate.
[TBD: Other authors
and sources... James, Neyer, Acocella... Total Baseball, Baseball
Encyclopedia, Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, the Lahman
database... and thanks also to Uncle George...Susan...others]
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