John's All Time Favorite Team

But I always ENJOYED watching bullies and speedsters; and I have a Braves bias

C: Mike Piazza
1B: John Kruk
2B: Pete Rose
SS: Ozzie Smith
3B: Bob Horner
LF: Tim Raines
CF: Deion Sanders
RF: Dale Murphy

Starters: Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, Tim Lincecum
Relievers: Al Hrabosky, Terry Forster, Mark Wohlers

Closer: John Rocker (you have to admit it was electric when he stormed out of the pen)

C-Ivan Rodriguez
1b-Frank Thomas
2b-Rickie Weeks
SS-Arod
3b-Joe Randa
LF-Bo Jackson(cheating)
CF-Griffey
RF-Vlad
DH-Thome

SP-Pedro, David Cone, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz
RP-Mo, Gagne, Soria

C- Charles Johnson
1B- Doug Mientkiewicz
2B- Roberto Alomar
3B- Miguel Cabrera
SS- Barry Larkin
LF- Gary Sheffield
CF- Ken Griffey Jr.
RF- Albert Belle (minus the attitude)

SP- Kevin Brown, Josh Beckett, Francisco Liriano, CC Sabathia, Tom Candiotti
RP- Robb Nen, Matt Mantei, Joel Zumaya

-I should say that I am a Marlins and Indians fan and therefore I am biased towards the players I have seen play multiple times.

Also, it would be interested to make a list of my favorite players that never made it, I remember a young Jose Guillen looking like Clemente in Pittsburgh, and Mark Kotsay having a cannon for an arm in RF in Florida.

You have a good taste in favorite ballplayers, John.

C – Mike Piazza
1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Dustin Pedroia
3B – David Wright
SS – Alex Rodriguez
LF – Carl Crawford
CF – Ken Griffey, Jr.
RF – Ichiro
DH – Edgar Martinez

SP – Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Felix Hernandez, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens
RP – Trevor Hoffman, Arthur Rhodes, Joakim Soria, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Jeff Nelson

c – Mike Piazza
1b – Mark Grace
2b – Ryne Sandberg
ss – Nomar
3b – Scott Rolen
OF – Andre Dawson
OF – Ken Griffey Jr
OF – Doug Glanville
OF – Paul O’Neill
OF – Sammy Sosa
DH – Frank Thomas

SP – Pedro, Greg Maddux, Kerry Wood, Hideo Nomo,
RP – Shooter Beck, Mitch Williams, John Franco

C-Lance Parrish
1B-Bill Buckner
2B-Bobby Grich
3B-Ron Cey
SS-Ivan DeJesus
OF-Dale Murphy
OF-Devon White
OF-Juan Gonzalez
SP-Greg Maddux
SP-Dwight Gooden
SP-Mike Boddiker
SP-Bob Walk
SP-Scott Sanderson
RP-Lee Smith
RP-Rob Dibble
RP-Greg Olsen
RP-Billy Wagner
RP-Doug Jones

C – Joe Mauer
1b – Mark Grace
2b – Ryne Sandberg
ss – Nomar Garciaparra
3b – Chipper Jones
OF – Andre Dawson
OF – Grady Sizemore
OF – Ryan Braun
SP – Maddux, Sutcliff, Hudson, Wood, Prior
RP – lee smith, mitch williams, Billy Wagner
Obviously some Cubs love but they are my memories of listening to them on the radio while driving the tractor across the field from ages 8 – 18.
Loved watching Dawson live at Wrigley play catch. He through BB’s from the right field line to center during warm ups. They were straight line drives that never got above 8ft off the ground. It was amazing.

C – Joe Mauer – He’s kind of a living legend.
1B – Albert Pujols – Same for this guy.
2B – Craig Biggio – How come there’s no guys like him anymore?
SS – Derek Jeter – I’ve talked alot of crap about the guy in the past. The fact is, I read his first biography the year it came out (I’m not sure he was even 30) and you can’t knock a guy who’s done it for so long.
3B – Eric Chavez – Great player who woulda/coulda/shoulda been alot great.
OF – Barry Bonds – Barry Bonds is the shit.
OF – Bernie Williams – The last great Yankee CF, and my favorite position player of the 90’s.
OF – Carlos Beltran – My favorite position player of the 2000’s.

DH – Frank Thomas – Scariest hitter of the 90’s.

Util: Mark DeRosa

Kerry Wood
Randy Johnson – Arguably the best LHP of all time. Arguably.
Mike Mussina
Pedro Martinez – A pitching master. I hope he coaches one day.
David Price – I’ve been following his career since his freshman year in college. He’s only gotten better, and he’s as competitive as the elites.
Felix Hernandez – Everyone who loves baseball has known who he was since he was 16. He’s only going to get better.
Ben Sheets – His curveball was my favorite pitch in baseball for a couple years. 80-84 with 12/6 break.
Barry Zito – My favorite pitch is the curveball…Wood and Zito made this so. Mulder and Hudson were also really cool.
Justin Verlander – Great arm.
Jeff Nelson – Just a funny guy with a cool delivery.
Graeme Lloyd – Also a hilarious member of the relievers club.

Manager – Joe Torre – He was probably merely alright, but his time in NY was the s word.

I love a lot of old players but it seems these lists cover players we’ve seen personally (all time in parenthesis)

C John Roseboro (Buck Ewing)
1b Tony Solaita
2b Joe Morgan
SS Campy Campanaris (ray Chapman)
3b George Brett
RF Tony Congiliaro
CF Willie Mays
LF Hal McRae (Ted Williams)
bench Ken Phelps
SP Sandy Koufax, Brett Saberhagan, Satchel Paige (technically he pitched in my lifetime at like at 60) Zach Grienke (3 Finger Brown) Wilbur Wood (Joe Rogan)
Pen Quiz, Hrabosky, Ted Abernathy, Mike Marshal (Firpo Marberry)

1B- Jeff Bagwell
2B- Mark Ellis
SS- Alan Trammell
3B- Ken Caminiti
RF- Travis Buck (damnit)
CF- Eric Davis (was fairly well appreciated in his time, but today he would be a megastar)
LF- Ron Gant (tons of superstation WTBS in my youth)
C- Mickey Tettleton
DH- Mark McGwire

Barely (barely) missed- Jason Giambi

SP- Dave Stewart
SP- Mike Moore
SP- Tim Hudson
SP- Rich Harden
SP- Roger Clemens
 
CL- Andrew Bailey

As you can probably tell, I grew up in the 80s.

C Gary Carter (loved the Kid! One time, when I was about 8 or 9, he sat down with me in the hotel lobby and let me show him my baseball card collection)
1B Albert Pujols
2B/SS Gotta be Sweet Lou Whitaker & Alan Trammell (not a finer and more consistent double play combo) Molitor & Yount are a close 2nd for me while with Brewers
3B George Brett (missed catching a foul ball from him by a few rows)
LF Barry Bonds (personally hate the guy but it was an incredible rush to stand in the RF patio of Pac Bell Park while Barry was up to bat)
CF Vince Coleman (2nd would be Andruw Jones—I was at Turner Stadium the infamous night that Bobby Cox pulled Andruw out of CF in the middle of the 8th(?) inning)
RF Willie McGee & Darryl Strawberry
SP Jack Morris as a Tiger, Greg Maddux (saw him and got his autograph when he was a Peoria Cub), Kerry Wood, Dan Petry
RP Guillermo Hernandez (his screwball was devastating), Rod Beck (the mullet!)

I met Darryl Strawberry when he was probably 20 years old. He halfway signed a baseball card for me as my Sharpie was out of ink. The card read “Darryl” with the last few letters unclear.
I met Pete Rose and he had a white shirt on and he yelled at me to put the top on my Sharpie as not to get ink on his shirt.
Rusty Staub (when with Mets) was nice to me.
Tom Seaver is my most hated ball player. He actually RAN away from me (I was about 8 years old) as not to have to sign an autograph.

Yankees bias.

C Thurman Munson
1B Don Mattingly
2B Joe Morgan (gotta like that chicken wing)
SS Cal Ripken
3B Brooks Robinson
LF Bo Jackson
CF Griffey Jr
RF Darryl Strawberry
DH Don Baylor
Bench; Lou Piniella
Starters; Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, Ron “Louisiana Lighning” Guidry, Tom Seaver, Luis Tiant, Jack Morris
Relief; Sparky Lyle, Tug McGraw, Goose Gossage, Al Hrabasky,

C – Ivan Rodriguez – could hit, run, and field (more than you could say about Piazza)
1B – Frank Thomas
2B – Robbie Alomar
SS – Alex Rodriguez
3B – Chipper Jones
LF – Barry Bonds (pre-roids)
CF – Ken Griffey Jr.
RF – Larry Walker
DH – Edgar Martinez

SP – Greg Maddux
SP – Randy Johnson
SP – Pedro Martinez
SP – Tom Glavine
SP – Mike Mussina (grew up watching him every start)

CL – Mitch Williams (he was great to watch for a few years)

C — Mickey Tettleton
1B — Will Clark
2B — Roberto Alomar
3B — George Brett
SS — Ozzie Smith
LF — Eric Davis
CF — Mike Cameron
RF — Ichiro
DH — Edgar Martinez
UT — Tony Phillips

SP — Pedro Martinez
SP — David Cone
SP — Greg Maddux
SP — Nolan Ryan
SP — Stephen Strasburg (RIP)

CL — Goose Gossage

Manager — Whitey Herzog
Announcer — Vin Scully

C – Mike Piazza – kudos to him for insisting he stay at C, the value of which seems more and more appreciated now
1B – Pujols
2B – Sandberg. The HOF speech puts hime over the top.
SS – Ozzie.
3B – Mike Schmidt. George Brett is darn close.
RF – Dwight Evans
CF – Willie McGee
LF – Tim Raines
DH – Paul Molitor (smartest hitter in the bunch?)

BN1 – Mike Matheny
BN2 – Andre Dawson
BN3 – Tommy Herr
BN4 – Dave Winfield
BN5 – Robin Yount

SP – Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux, John Tudor, Tim Lincecum, Bob Gibson
RP – John Smoltz, Jim Bouton, Mario Soto, Dave Dravecky, Rick Helling (bonus points for early outspokenness on PEDs)

Mgr – Whitey Herzog

CATCHER: Rich Gedman
FIRST BASE: Will Clark
SECOND BASE: Dustin Pedroia
THIRD BASE: George Brett
SHORTSTOP: Ozzie Smith
OUTFIELD: Ken Griffey Jr
OUTFIELD: Ichiro
OUTFIELD: Dwight Evans
DH: Robin Ventura
BENCH: Robin Yount (tough call between him and Ozzie at SS)
BENCH: Eric Davis
BENCH: Kevin Seitzer
BENCH: Bo Jackson
BENCH: Cal Ripken

STARTERS: Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Nolan Ryan, Zack Greinke, J.R. Richard (always liked for some reason), John Tudor (extra SP instead of another RP)
RELIEVERS: Dan Quisenberry, Dennis Eckersley, Lee Smith

only players i saw in person at the ballpark

C – Ivan Rodriguez
1B – Todd Helton
2B – Ryne Sandberg
3B – Bill Matlock
SS- Shawon Dunston
LF – Bo Jackson
CF – Vince Coleman
RF – Larry Walker
DH – Andre Dawson

SP – Ryan Dempster (friend), Greg Maddux, Francisco Liriano, David Price, Dave Dravecky

RP – Kent Tekulve, Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersley, Rod Beck (they can take turns closing)

This was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be. I realized that I grew up disliking more players than I actually liked. That or now in retrospect I dislike players that I once liked or viseaversa. Hated the Braves growing up, but now appreciate how amazing those pitchers were. I’m also sure I’m forgetting a ton of guys.

C- Mike Piazza / Charles Johnson
1B- Mike Sweeney
2B- Ray Durham / Luis Castillo
3B- Eric Chavez (Pre-injury collapse) / Ken Caminiti (Probable juicer, but the bat snap over the leg was insane! RIP)
SS- Barry Larkin / Cal Ripken
OF- Vlad Guerrero
OF- Magglio Ordonez (White Sox days)
OF- Gary Sheffield (Marlins years)
DH- Frank Thomas

SP- Barry Zito (A’s days obviously)
SP- Tim Lincecum
SP- Kevin Brown (Pre-Yankees debacle)
SP- Mark Buehrle
SP- Oliver Perez (Padres/Pirates years, god he was nasty)

Closer – Robb Nen

C – Joe Mauer (Buster Posey is giving me the same feeling)
1B – Don Mattingly
2B – Ryne Sandberg
3B – A-Rod (Chipper very close 2nd)
SS – Derek Jeter (Ozzie Smith HM)
OF – Ken Griffey
OF – Andruw Jones
OF – Dave Winfield
DH – Edgar Martinez
SP – Randy Johnson, Felix Hernandez, Greg Maddux, Tim Lincecum, Ron Guidry
RP – Mariano Rivera, Al Hrabowsky, Goose Gossage, Sparky Lyle, K-Rod

C – Craig Biggio – Cheating a little bit here to get him on the team, he was a rare breed that gave it all every time out
1B – Jeff Bagwell – A shame his best year got cut short by the strike… that could’ve been a truly incredible final stat line.
2B – Jeff Kent – Did a little bit of everything and was great in the clutch
3B – Michael Young – A gamer, and a great hitter. Good guy too, from what I can tell
SS – Omar Vizquel – Needs to find his way into the hall of fame somehow… he played a better short than anyone I’ve seen play. Can swing the bat well too.
OF – Willy Taveras – Just for his rookie season… that year was when I really started getting into baseball and he was so fun to watch in center field, and every time he was on base you knew that he was going to get home if it killed him.
OF – Vladdy Guerrero – Hits the ball harder than anyone I can remember, and had an absolute cannon of an arm in the field.
OF – Ichiro Suzuki – Had he come to America when he was younger, we’re looking at 4,000 hits. Oh, and a gold glove every season he has played helps his case too.
Rotation – Roy Oswalt, Dontrelle Willis (Marlins), Dwight Gooden, Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia
Bullpen – Brad Lidge (Pre-2005 NLCS), Dave Kolb, Eric Gagne, Drew Storen

C: Munson
1B: Keith Hernandez
2B: Frank White
3B: Clete Boyer
SS: Mark Belanger
LF: Barry Bonds
CF: Willie Mays
RF: Dwight Evans
DH: Hal McRae
SP: Vic Raschi; Juan Marichal; Ron Guidry; Greg Maddux; Pedro Martinez
RP: Dick Radatz; Ron Perranoski; Sparky Lyle; Goose Gossage; Mariano Rivera

C Carlton Fisk
1B Frank Thomas
2B Roberto Alomar
SS Ozzie Guillen
3B George Brett
LF Carl Yastrzemski
CF Rickey Henderson
RF Hank Aaron
DH Oscar Gamble
SP Greg Maddux
RP Bill Lee

Joe DiMaggio
Joel Youngblood
Jim Sundberg
Toby Harrah
Ron LeFlore
Jose Reyes
Keith Hernandez
John Stearns
Mookie Wilson
Fred Lynn

Sandy Koufax
Craig Swan
Juan Marichal
Skip Lockwood
Tom Seaver
Jon Matlack

C——Johnny Bench
1B—-Eddie Murray
2B—-Paul Molitor (As an Oriole fan I could not stand this guy, but damn I loved the way he played)
3B—-George Brett
SS—-Cal Ripken
OF—-Ty Cobb
OF—-Joe Jackson
OF—-Bernie Williams

SP—-Mike Boddicker
SP—-John Smoltz
SP—-Nolan Ryan
SP—-J.R. Richard
SP—-Bret Saberhagen

RP—-Kent Tekulve
RP—-Greg Olson

C: Fisk
1B: Mattingly
2B: Alomar
3B: Boggs
SS: Jeter
OF: Winfield
OF: Henderson, Rickey
OF: Yount
OF: Puckett
DH: Canseco
Bench: McGuire, Ventura, Ozzie Smith

SP: Ryan
SP: Guidry
SP: Stewart
SP: Gooden
SP: Clemens

RP: Eckersley
RP: Gossage
RP: Hoffman
RP: Smith, Lee
RP: Reardon
RP: Righetti

CL: Rivera

C – Bruce Benedict
1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Frank White
3B – George Brett
SS – Troy Tulowitzki
OF – Willie McGee
OF – Dale Murphy
OF – Roberto Clemente
Bench (no DH in real baseball) – Willie Stargell, BJ Surhoff, James Loney

Starters – Clayton Kershaw, Phil Niekro, Adam Wainwright, Tom Glavine, Scott Bankhead, Nick Adenhart (he really was a good guy)

Relievers – John Smoltz, Paul Shuey, Daniel Bard

But I would definitely have Jim Abbott on my list – how can you not like someone who became an effective, sometimes better, major league starter after being born with only one hand. He is still one of my personal heroes.

but better late than never. As usual, the criterion is guys that I’ve seen either in the flesh or on TV. I’ve been around a while … Also, that I have most enjoyed watching, which is not to say they’re the best at their positions that I’ve seen; most aren’t.

C: Yadier Molina
1B: Albert Pujols
2B: Joe Morgan (as a player, not as an announcer!)
3B: George Brett
SS: Ozzie Smith, by the narrowest of margins over Cal Ripken, who really should be here somewhere
RF: Roberto Clemente
CF: Willie McGee — you HAVE to like anybody that funny-looking…
LF: Stan Musial, team captain and Most Valuable Memory

SP (in order of favor, not order of skill): Randy Johnson
SP: John Tudor
SP: Wilbur Wood
SP: Nolan Ryan
SP: Bob Gibson, with Adam Wainwright closing fast

RP: Hoyt Wilhelm
RP: Ryne Duren
RP: Dan Quisenberry
RP: Al Hrabosky (same caveat as with Morgan)
RP: Tug McGraw (they just don’t make fun-to-watch relievers the way they used to…)

Manager: Whitey Herzog

Yes, I’m a Cardinals fan.