Alaska's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
Don't laugh... What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Alaska?
Issue #152
This is the 36th article in a series where I am creating all-time dream teams for players born in each of the fifty US states. I’m publishing each write-up on the anniversary date that the particular state joined the union. So far I’ve covered Maryland, Louisiana, Minnesota, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Virginia, Idaho, Wyoming, New York, Colorado, Missouri, Hawaii, California, Nevada, North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Illinois, Delaware, Mississippi, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Alabama, New Jersey, Iowa, Texas, and Georgia.
Next up is Alaska, which became the 49th US State on January 3rd, 1959 (according to Wikipedia).
Important caveat to what follows: I’m creating these all-time dream teams based on the birthplace data available at baseball-reference.com. I realize this might mean some players will appear for a state’s all-time dream that seems odd, e.g., a player who was born in one state but lived there only briefly, while then spending most of his youth, or especially critical years playing baseball in high school in another state. So that is an important caveat to the below dream team roster—and I’ll discuss the players that I know went to high school in a state other than Alaska towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in Alaska.)
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Alaska:
OK, laugh if you want to. Obviously this is not a full roster. Alaska is by far the largest US state by land area, but it is the third smallest in population and obviously much of the state, for much of the year, is not exactly hospitable to playing baseball outdoors.
The top name here is obviously starting pitcher Curt Schilling. But beyond him, there is really zero star power on this roster. Here are the years that each of the above players spent in the majors, and a little bit on their performance:
1B Josh Phelps (2000-05, 07-08), 2 seasons of 100+ games, top HR totals of 20, 17, 15, and slash line of .273/.343/.472 and 110 OPS+
2B Steve Staggs (1977-1978), 119 total games, 2 HR, 7 SB, .255/.351/.350 and 95 OPS+
LF/RF Aaron Cunningham (2008-2012), 222 total games, 7 HR, 4 SB, .219/.280/.347 and 74 OPS+
CF Scott Loucks (1980-83, 85), 73 games, 0 HR, 7 SB, .263/.322/.313 and 84 OPS+
RF/CF Randy Kutcher (1986-1990), 244 games, 10 HR, 13 SB, .228/.285/.377 and 83 OPS+
C Tom Sullivan (1925), 1 game, 0-1, at age 18, for Cincinnati
SP Curt Schilling (1988-2007), 6-time All-Star, 216-146 W-L, 3.46 ERA, 127 ERA+, 3,116 strikeouts, led his league in wins twice and strikeouts twice
SP Shawn Chacón (2001-2008), All-Star in 2003, 269 G, 134 GS, 45-61 W-L, 4.99 ERA, 95 ERA+
SP David Williams (2001-02, 04-07), 82 G, 72 GS, 22-31 W-L, 4.83 ERA, 91 ERA+
RP Tony Barnette (2016-2019), 127 G, 2 SV, 3.53 ERA, 134 ERA+
RP Daniel Schlereth (2009-2012), 94 G, 1 SV, 4.35 ERA, 98 ERA+
RP Chad Bentz (2004-2005), 40 G, 7.58 ERA, 61 ERA+
In some ways its amazing that anyone would have grown up in Alaska and made it as a major league baseball player. Indeed, from what I can determine, most of the above players did NOT grow up in Alaska—they were merely born there. Here is what I found for high school locations for some of the above players:
1B Josh Phelps – Idaho
2B Steve Staggs – California
LF/RF Aaron Cunningham - Washington
CF/RF Randy Kutcher – California
CF Scott Loucks – Hawaii
SP Curt Schilling - Arizona
SP Shawn Chacón – Colorado
SP David Williams – Delaware
RP Tony Barnette – Washington
RP Daniel Schlereth – Colorado
On the other hand, I found two players who were born elsewhere but went to high school in the state of Alaska:
RP Marshall Boze – Arizona. After six years in the minors, he pitched 25 games in relief for the Brewers in 1996, posting a 7.79 ERA.
RP Chris Mabeus – Illinois. Also after six years in the minors, he pitched in one game in 2006, also for the Brewers, giving up four runs in 1.2 IP.
So using this alternate dream team criterion would leave Alaska with just a few candidates, barely enough for a game of whiffle ball on a tundra field.
All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites. The state map, flag, flower, and bird images are from Wikipedia.
Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.
