All-Decade Team 1920s AL

Upon exhausting our list of All-Time Franchise teams, see the tab above, we've set our sights on putting together teams of the decade. There are a few guidelines we established upon making the teams. First, we decided to start in the 1920s as we've generally focused post 1920. We may go back and do a teens list at the end. Second, players can, and will, appear on multiple decade teams. Third, for the most part (exceptions will undoubtedly be made), the player had to play a majority of that decade. Finally, we put weight on career numbers within that decade over name recognition. For example, Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched in the 1920s, but his hay day was the teens, so he didn't quite make the list. Exceptions are/were made if there simply were no contemporaries at the position. We added a few positions for these lists including an extra infielder, and extra outfielder, and 2 extra starting pitchers. We did away with the DH in lieu of these changes. Even more than franchise team lists, these are highly subjective, but we think we've mostly found common ground. As always, we'd love your opinions as well!

C - Mickey Cochrane - Philadelphia Athletics
1B - Lou Gehrig - New York Yankees
2B - Eddie Collins - Chicago Whitesox/Philadelphia Athletics
3B - Jimmy Dykes - Philadelphia Athletics
SS - Joe Sewell - Cleveland Indians
IF - George Sisler - St. Louis Browns
OF - Babe Ruth - New York Yankees
OF - Ty Cobb - Detroit Tigers
OF - Harry Heilmann - Detroit Tigers
OF - Al Simmons - Philadelphia Athletics
SP - Urban Shocker - St. Louis Browns/New York Yankees
SP - Herb Pennock - Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees
SP - Stan Covaleski - Cleveland Indians/Washington Senators
SP - Waite Hoyt - New York Yankees
CL - Firpo Marberry - Washington Senators

Check out www.baseball-reference.com for complete statistics on all these players.

2 comments:

  1. This list was a pain in the rear... it all centers on "majority." In my opinion, Mickey Cochrane playing 5 years does not constitute a majority but he is certainly the most recognized catcher of the decade.

    I offer Muddy Ruel as an alternative; played the entire decade, was one of the best defensive catchers of his era, three top 10 MVP finishes and is known for being the battery mate to Walter Johnson. He also scored the game tying and game winning runs for the Washington Senators in their first and only World Series win in 1924.

    Don't believe me - check out this report by Richard Kendall (SABR) which lists him as the 5th most dominant catcher of all-time:

    http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/dominate.htm

    He played 19 seasons and then spent another 21 years in baseball as a coach, manager (one WS ring), assistant to the commissioner and general manager.

    It takes a lot to research no-names from the 1920's and the game was so different that the numbers don't always tell the story. This exercise will get easier...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It can only get easier. It was fun though.

    ReplyDelete

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