A Team for All Time

One of my favorite things about baseball is looking as statistics. I think the thing that separates baseball from all other sports is the massive amount of statistics that can be used in all manner of ways to debate who the best players are. Sure you can look at stats in basketball, football, and hockey, but these are much more influenced by uncontrollable elements than baseball statistics. Example: Tom Brady put up good numbers from day 1, but it wasn't until Randy Moss arrived on the scene that he put himself into the record books. Was Brady just much better last year than he had been in the past or was Moss just a tremendous upgrade from his previous receivers? I'm leaning towards the latter. I however can say with 100% certainty that Cliff Lee has played better this year than he ever has in his career.

So I thought who has had the best years in the history of baseball? And why not take those best years and assemble a team of superstar seasons? There must be a few rules of course:
1. Only one season per player can be used (so that we don't have a lineup composed entirely of 1 player)
2. There must be 15 position players, and 10 pitchers (at least 3 relievers) and each position must have at least two players who could conceivably have played the position during the selected year.
3. Defense counts, but it is much harder to measure statistically, so it will be a secondary consideration.
4. Seasons will be judged based mostly on comparison to peers. Therefore OPS+ and ERA+ will be weighted heavily.
5. All players must have at least qualified for the batting title, and all pitchers with the exception of relievers must have qualified for the ERA title.
6. There will be no designated hitter, but pitchers hitting will not be considered since many pitchers since the inception of the DH did not have to.
7. No "steroid" guys will be considered. This includes anyone who has been suspended for use, appeared in the Mitchell Report, or appeared in one of Jose's books.

That being said, I present the greatest team ever assembled:

The Starting lineup

C. Johnny Bench - 1972
Here's where defense makes a difference. Piazza's 1997 is the greatest ever for a catcher, but Bench is widely regarded as the greatest catcher in history, oh and he hit .270/.379/.541 with 40 homers, 166 OPS+, 100 walks, and only 84 strikeouts. Pretty good for a catcher best known for his defense.

1B. Jimmie Foxx - 1932
Gehrig 1927 or 1934 would be a good choice, but Foxx in 1932 is the one I picked a nice line of .364/.469/.749 for an OPS+ of 205. Plus he's a right handed hitter and I have this feeling that there will be a lot of lefties in this lineup.

2B. Rogers Hornsby - 1924
There really was no choice here, the only question was which of his seasons to pick. He hit with more power in others, but its hard to say no to .424/.507/.696 for a 220 OPS+ with 89 walks, and only 32 Ks. He'll likely bat 1st or second and drive opposing pitchers crazy by being on base all the time.

3B. George Brett - 1980
The first real tough choice in what will be a series of tough ones. Brett only played 117 games that year, but absolutely cleaned up when he did to the tune of .390/.454/.664 in addition to playing great defense. So apologies to Schmidt, Boggs, and Rodriguez, Brett gets the starting spot.

SS. Honus Wagner - 1908
Hard to believe that in 100 years, no one has topped this, but the Flying Dutchman put together a line of .354/.415/.542 in the dead ball era for a 205 OPS+. For the next 90 years or so, shortstops became fielding specialists who usually couldn't hit for shit, but a resurgence in the mid 1990s led by ARod, Jeter, and Nomar put shortstops back into the middle of the order. Still none ever had a year where they were that much better than their peers. And while Hanley Ramirez could probably put up the offense to challenge it in a few years, he might be doing it as a second or third baseman base on his defensive skills, or lack thereof.

LF. Ted Williams - 1941
After second, the three outfield postions were the easiest to pick. None were close, and thankfully all three players played a different spot in the outfield. Ted's 1941 season is something incredible that will probably never be topped, and IMO is the greatest ever for as hitter. A line of .406/.553/.735 for an OPS+ of 235, 147 walks, only 27 strikeouts. 27! Ryan Howard strikes out 27 times in three weeks. The closest thing to Ted since Ted is Pujols, and even he can't come close to this kind of production. The amazing thing is Teddy lost the MVP to DiMaggio this year because it also happend to be the year of the streak.

CF. Mickey Mantle - 1957
If Ted's 1941 is the greatest ever for a hitter, Mantle's 1957 is probably the greatest ever all around. 146 75 .365/.512/.665 OPS+ of 223, 146 walks to 75 ks, and 15 steals while being caught only 3 times. Great hitter, baserunner, and fielder. Probably one of the top 5 talents in the history of the game.

RF. Babe Ruth - 1921
The hardest part here was picking the season. Claims can be made for '20, '23, and '27, but I'll take '21 when the Babe launched the Yankee dynasty with a line of .378/.512/.846, 59 bombs and an OPS+ of 239.

Bench
C. Mike Piazza - 1997
The best hitting year for a catcher ever .362/.431/.638, 185 OPS+, 40 bombs, and better defense than he gets credit for.

IF. Joe Morgan - 1976
As much as Joe would hate to admit it, he was a moneyball player this year. A line of .320/.444/.576 OPS+ of 187, tons of walks, hardly any strikeouts, and a great stolen base percentage.

IF. Alex Rodriguez - 2000
The lone postion player from this century had better years but this was his best as a shortstop which matters. An impressive line of .316/.420/.606 for a 162 OPS+, decent defense, and great baserunning.

IF. Lou Gehrig - 1927
.373/.474/.765, 221 OPS+ I once heard some idiot talking about following a good act: "There are certain things you just don't do, you don't bat after Babe Ruth..." Well this guy did, and at least for this year was just as good if not better.

OF. Ty Cobb - 1912
.409/.456/.584 , 200 OPS+. A .400 hitter on the bench - wow. He'll be a great pinch hitter or pinch runner in the late innings.

OF. Stan Musial - 1948
One of the most underrated players in history, and this was his best year: .376/.450/.702, 200 OPS+, 79 walks, 34 ks. Ted Williams light.

OF. Carl Yastrzemski - 1967
The player to win the triple crown did it with one of the greatest seasons ever. His line of .326/.418/.622 is one of the worst on the team, but when you factor in the fact that he did it at a time when pitchers ruled the league, it ranks right up there with all the other members of the team as shown by his 193 OPS plus. Yaz would rank a lot higher on the all time lists had his debut come 10 years ealier or 10 years later so his peak would have come at a more hitter friendly time.

The Pitchers

SP1. Pedro Martinez - 2000
His 0.75 WHIP is the lowest ever, his 291 ERA+ is 2nd and the best since the 1800s, and he did it at the absolute height of the steroid era. With great velocity, sick movement, and pinpoint control, Pedro at his peak was the best there has ever been.

SP2. Greg Maddux - 1995
A tough choice between the two strike shortened seasons that were coincidentally the peak of Maddux's career, but a 0.81 WHIP, 262 ERA+, 181 strikeouts and only 23 walks - sick.

SP3. Steve Carlton - 1972
27-10 for a team that won less than 60 games, 41 starts, 346 innings, 1.97 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and only 17 homers in all those innings. Carlton was an absolute horse who dominated the hell out of the league that year.

SP4. Christy Matthewson - 1909
25-6, 0.83 WHIP, 1.14 ERA, 222 ERA+ his best season. It of course pales in comparison to his incredible 3 shutout performance in the 1905 world series.

SP5. Walter Johnson - 1913
By raw numbers this is probably the best season ever. 36-7, 1.14 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 259 ERA+, and 11 shutouts. Wow.

SP6. Sandy Koufax - 1965
The only reason he's this low is the era in which he pitched. But he absolutely dominated that era and probably should have won 30 games at least once. 26-8, 0.86 WHIP, 2.04 ERA, a then record 382 strikeouts, and an absolutely unhittable curve. Perhaps the best pitch anyone ever possesed .

SP7. Randy Johnson - 2001
This was a tough choice, but Randy was the best pitcher not on the list and pitching at the height of the steroid era puts him ahead of Guidry, Gooden, Gibson, and others whose name doesn't start with a G. 372 strikouts in only 250 innings for 13.4 k/9 - 1st all time, 188 ERA+, 1.00 WHIP. One more start and he'd probably have the strikeout record. Johnson also had a hell of a career, the master of the strikeout - more than 1 k/9 more than Nolan Ryan. It's too bad he didn't start sooner or he might have every major pitching record established after WWI.

RP1. Dennis Eckersley - 1990
0.61 ERA, 0.61 WHIP, 606 ERA+, 2 homers, 4 walks and 73 strikeouts in 73 innings. 18.25:1 K/BB ratio. Pinpoint control and still unhittable.

RP2. Willie Hernandez - 1984
What a relief pitcher should be. 80 games, 140 innings, 1.92 ERA, 204 ERA+, 0.94 WHIP.

RP3. Mariano Rivera - 2008
The year's not over, but barring a total collapse in September, this will be the best year for the sandman. As of now 0.68 WHIP, 1.43 ERA and 299 ERA+.

Now that is an incredible team.

As for a batting order, I'm thinking:
1. Wagner - SS
2. Hornsby - 2B
3. Williams - LF
4. Ruth - RF
5. Mantle - CF
6. Foxx - 1B
7. Brett - 3B
8. Bench - C
9. Pitcher

I think Wagner is the best candidate to leadoff with his speed, on base skills, and lack of power. But oh my god can you imagine facing that 2-7 part of the order? You can't walk anyone. You don't want to pitch to anyone. You just hope you can get through to face Bench and the pitcher without giving up the big inning.