30 Days, 30 MLB All Franchise Teams

[King Kamala]

Jim Abbott ended his career as a Milwaukee Brewer. I know that cause like every millennial male with a mild interest in sports, I read multiple Jim Abbott biographies.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Milwaukee is just so forgettable pitching-wise. I remember guys like Cal Eldred, Scott Karl, and Chris Capuano but it's worth highlighting just 7 pitchers have 80+ career wins for them. They always had guys with a fluke good year or two at most who'd then just seemingly vanish into mediocrity or fall off the face of the Earth completely.

Girl I had a crush on in high school was in love with Ben Sheets.

 

[alkeiper]

Minnesota Twins

CATCHERS
Earl Battey
Joe Mauer
Muddy Ruel
Butch Wynegar

INFIELDERS
Rod Carew
Joe Cronin
Gary Gaetti
Kent Hrbek
Joe Judge
Harmon Killebrew
Chuck Knoblauch
Buddy Lewis
Buddy Myer
Cecil Travis
Mickey Vernon

OUTFIELDERS
Bob Allison
Goose Goslin
Torii Hunter
Heinie Manush
Clyde Milan
Tony Oliva
Kirby Puckett
Sam Rice
Cesar Tovar

PITCHERS
Rick Aguilera
Bert Blyleven
General Crowder
Dave Goltz
Eddie Guardado
Walter Johnson
Jim Kaat
Dutch Leonard
Firpo Mayberry
Joe Nathan
Camilo Pascual
Glen Perkins
Jim Perry
Brad Radke
Johan Santana
Frank Viola

Sixty years of Minnesota Twins baseball, sixty years of Washington Senators. I'm trying to be fair to players from both franchises. I don't think there is anything terribly controversial here. For the last pitching spot I went with Guardado over Tom Zachary, who won two games in the 1924 World Series.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I don't care about the Twins but I just had to post and say I saw the name Mickey Vernon and misread that completely as Mickey Scales... I blame MLB Network airing Little Big League 70,000 times a year.

 

[snuffbox]

Sabathia should've made the Brewers team.

 

[alkeiper]

New York Yankees

CATCHERS
Yogi Berra
Bill Dickey
Thurman Munson
Jorge Posada

INFIELDERS
Robinson Cano
Lou Gehrig
Joe Gordon
Derek Jeter
Tony Lazzeri
Don Mattingly
Gil McDougald
Graig Nettles
Willie Randolph
Phil Rizzuto
Alex Rodriguez

OUTFIELDERS
Earl Combs
Joe DiMaggio
Tommy Henrich
Charlie Keller
Mickey Mantle
Babe Ruth
Roy White
Bernie Williams

PITCHERS
Roger Clemens
Whitey Ford
Lefty Gomez
Rich Gossage
Ron Guidry
Waite Hoyt
Sparky Lyle
Mike Mussina
Herb Pennock
Andy Pettitte
Allie Reynolds
Dave Righetti
Mariano Rivera
Red Ruffing
C.C. Sabathia
Bob Shawkey
Mel Stottlemyre

Like any team, sorting out the back of the pitching staff is difficult because the Yankees have a lof of good candidates in that range. Spud Chandler, David Cone, Jack Chesbro, Orlando Hernandez, etc. Clemens was the last selection and it came down to his postseason record and winning a Cy Young award. After writing that I remembered Sparky Lyle won the Cy as well, so I placed him on the team instead of Brett Gardner. And shoutout to Elston Howard who is fifth on the catching depth chart but would start for a lot of franchises.

 

[alkeiper]

Oakland Athletics

A team like Cleveland that has seen a TON of talent and retained very little of it. Do you know who played the most games while playing their entire career in an A's uniform? Pete Suder. But they have nine world championships to their credit.

CATCHERS
Mickey Cochrane
Wally Schang
Terry Steinbach
Gene Tenace

INFIELDERS
Frank "Home Run" Baker
Sal Bando
Max Bishop
Bert Campaneris
Eric Chavez
Eddie Collins
Harry Davis
Jimmie Foxx
Jason Giambi
Eddie Joost
Mark McGwire
Miguel Tejada

OUTFIELDERS
Jose Canseco
Dave Henderson
Rickey Henderson
Reggie Jackson
Bob Johnson
Dwayne Murphy
Joe Rudi
Al Simmons

PITCHERS
Albert "Chief" Bender
Vida Blue
Jack Coombs
Dennis Eckersley
Rollie Fingers
Lefty Grove
Tim Hudson
Jim "Catfish" Hunter
Mark Mulder
Eddie Plank
Eddie Rommel
Bobby Shantz
Dave Stewart
Rube Waddell
Rube Walberg
Barry Zito

 

[King Kamala]

It's funny that Oakland As are generally the most penny pinching franchises of all time (at least since Charlie Finley days) but have had a number of great teams over the years even if it hasn't translated to postseason success in 30+ years.

Plus you've got to respect anytime that has multiple players named Rube make the All Time Roster.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Really enjoy the A’s list and not surprisingly, not anyone too recent on it as post Giambi and Tejada, once they get hot, they go.

I did appreciate seeing Terry Steinbach get some love. Went to a lot of A’s games when he was there and he was someone I have found memories of that you don’t see come up too often.

 

[alkeiper]

The A's had Connie Mack selling off their players in the Philly days. Arnold Johnson in Kansas City had a bad, bad tendency to trade their good players to the Yankees. But they did start building their farm, which was non-existent in Philadelphia. Charlie Finley sold the team when free agency became reality. Walter Haas actually gave the A's a top payroll. This current ownership is...yeah.

 

[alkeiper]

Let me get the Mariners out today. Then maybe I'll group the next two on Monday.

Seattle Mariners

CATCHERS
Kenji Johjima
Dave Valle
Dan Wilson
Mike Zunino

INFIELDERS
Adrian Beltre
Bret Boone
Robinson Cano
Alvin Davis
Carlos Guillen
Edgar Martinez
John Olerud
Harold Reynolds
Alex Rodriguez
Kyle Seager
Omar Vizquel

OUTFIELDERS
Phil Bradley
Jay Buhner
Mike Cameron
Nelson Cruz
Ken Griffey Jr.
Franklin Gutierrez
Raul Ibanez
Ichiro Suzuki

PITCHERS
Floyd Bannister
Jim Beattie
Freddy Garcia
Erik Hanson
Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Randy Johnson
Mark Langston
Mike Moore
Jamie Moyer
Jeff Nelson
James Paxton
Joel Pineiro
J.J. Putz
Arthur Rhodes
Kazuhiro Sasaki
Matt Young