All-Decade Team: 1980's AL

Today, we're crafting our 1980's American League team. When I think of 1980's baseball, I think of quirky uniforms and the "Junk Era" of baseball card collecting but baseball in the 1980's was about much more than that. In the 1980's, baseball fans saw Pete Rose become the all-time hits king. Baseball fans also saw the infamous pine tar incident and Kirk Gibson's unforgettable World Series home run. Iconic moments in baseball history contributed by iconic players and a good time to be a baseball fan.

The 1980's AL lineup would likely match up with some of the best lineups we've put together. In total, 8 of the 10 position players on our team are enshrined in Cooperstown. We had to leave off Paul Molitor - you know you've got a good lineup when the Ignitor doesn't make the cut Molitor amassed over 3,000 hits for his career... unfortunately for Paul, the two guys that made our roster ahead of him in our infield did, as well. The other issue that we ran into for selecting our infield was at 2B. We had a difficult time deciding between Lou Whittaker and Willie Randolph. Neither player stood out but both were solid second basemen and worthy of the nomination. In the end, Sweet Lou had the better resume and thus made our team. The outfield was fairly easy for us to iron out - four Hall of Famers. The starting rotation was very difficult and it came down to a pick two out of Bret Saberhagen, Frank Viola, Ron Guidry and Jimmy Key. We didn't really have consensus but at the end of the day, Saberhagen's 2 Cy Young's were tough to overlook (despite his lack of consistency - on one year, off the next) and Guidry was the guy that we felt deserved the final spot. Without further adieu, here is our 1980's All-Decade team. Enjoy!

C - Carlton Fisk
1B - Don Mattingly
2B - Lou Whittaker
SS - Cal Ripken, Jr.
3B - Wade Boggs
IF - Eddie Murray
OF - Jim Rice
OF - Rickey Henderson
OF - Robin Yount
OF - Dave Winfield
SP - Dave Stieb
SP - Jack Morris
SP - Bret Saberhagen
SP - Ron Guidry
RP - Dan Quisenberry

7 comments:

  1. How do you have Boggs over Brett??? Brett won his MVP in 80 and was an all star 8 yrs.

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  2. Brett made our 70's team... we don't necessarily exclude players from making more than one team but we will factor that into our decision. Boggs hit .352 in the 80's... five silver sluggers... pretty good player.

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  3. Boggs was the better choic, 8 200 hit seasons and hit .352 for the decade, hard to beat. Starting pitching in this decade for the AL was weak in my opinion. After Stieb and Morris, there were no clear cut picks.

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  4. If the ten year span you looked at was mid seventies to mid eighties, then Bobby Grich easily makes the team.

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  5. Ron Guidry belongs on the 1970s team.

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  6. Should put together 25 man rosters.

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  7. I like Boggs but Brett was the better player in the 70’s and 80’s. More power, speed and defense than Boggs, Brett was one of the 5 best non pitchers in baseball in both decades. Good list but you missed here.

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