Arkansas' Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Arkansas?
Issue #97
This is the ninth article in a series where I am creating all-time dream teams for players born in each of the fifty US states. I’ll be 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, and Tennessee.
Next up is Arkansas, which became the 25th state on June 15, 1836 (according to Wikipedia.)
[Note: 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 I’m giving that caveat to this 50-article project at the outset.]
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Arkansas:
Like the other US State dream teams I’ve created so far, this one has a few Hall of Famers and other star players, but also some positions that are relatively lacking. The left side of the infield is very strong, with four Hall of Famers including two I’d consider elite—Brooks Robinson and Arky Vaughn—and two I’d consider more marginal—George Kell and Travis Jackson.
It is a very different story on the right side of the infield. The candidates at 1B and 2B were so light in fact, that I’ve taken the liberty of listing George Kell as the top 1B even though he only played 85 games there, versus 1,692 at 3B. But there would be no point in sitting the 10-time All-Star and his career .306 average and 112 OPS+ in favor of Tommy McCraw, who from 1963-75 slashed .246/.309/.361 with a 94 OPS+. And at 2B we have Aaron Ward who played for the Yankees for most of his career spanning 1917-28, but slashed .268/.335/.383, with little speed or power and an OPS+ of only 85. Don Kessinger wasn’t much of a hitter, but the slick-fielding SS was a six-time All-Star for the Cubs and did play 79 games at 2B spread across several seasons late in his career.
The OF candidates were far more balanced and particularly strong in CF. The two top candidates there were Willie Davis and Torii Hunter, but since Hunter played about a third of his games in RF, I listed him as the starter there. I found several good LF candidates as well, led by speedy Hall of Famer Lou Brock.
The catcher position for this Dream Team is also in good hands with defensive standout Sherm Lollar who played parts of 18 seasons for four different teams, but mostly for the White Sox. He was an All-Star in six seasons, won three Gold Glove Awards, had a little pop with 20+ HR twice, and even received down-ballot MVP consideration six times.
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Lou Brock LF (L)
Arky Vaughan SS (L)
Willie Davis CF (L)
Torii Hunter RF (R)
Rick Monday / Wally Moon DH (L)
George Kell 1B (R)
Brooks Robinson 3B (R)
Sherm Lollar C (R)
Aaron Ward 2B (R) / Don Kessinger 2B (S)
Against LHP:
Lou Brock LF (L)
George Kell 1B (R)
Arky Vaughan SS (L)
Torii Hunter RF (R)
Pat Burrell / Kevin McReynolds DH (R)
Brooks Robinson 3B (R)
Willie Davis CF (L)
Sherm Lollar C (R)
Aaron Ward 2B (R) / Don Kessinger 2B (S)
Lou Brock provides ample speed at the top of the order, and was a .293 hitter over his career. He could have had a lot more stolen bases if he’d walked more, as his .343 OBP was not impressive—and like many left-handed batters he struggled against LHP, to the tune of a .265/.308/.367 slash line. So I wouldn’t argue if you wanted to re-work the lineup against the toughest lefties, and maybe bat Kell leadoff given his .408 OBP vs. southpaws.
Similarly, Willie Davis also provides speed on the basepaths, but had an overall OBP of only .311 and a truly awful OBP of .279 vs LHP. So if you wanted to shift Hunter over to CF against the toughest lefties, and give the right-handed batting Ellis Valentine some ABs in RF, that would make some sense. And there is no shortage of other outfielders to get at-bats as the DH, so I listed Monday and Moon against RHP and Burrell and McReynolds against LHP.
In the infield, I would generally want to keep Arky Vaughan’s bat in the lineup every day. But Travis Jackson was a right-handed hitter and so could sub in for Vaughan against the toughest LHP. Or Don Kessinger could as well, when he’s not playing out of position at 2B.
As for the pitchers, the ace of the staff here is Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean who had some brilliant seasons for the Cardinals in the early 1930s before injuries cut his playing career short. You could debate who should come next, but I went with four-time All-Star and Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee (2002-2014). His 118 ERA+ is almost identical to the 119 ERA+ of Lon Warneke (1930-45), who was a five-time All-Star and likely would have been an All-Star in his first full season of 1932 as well had there been such an honor, as he led the NL with both 22 wins and a 2.37 ERA that year.
After those three, you could again debate the order for the other starting pitchers that I listed above. I included Dizzy’s younger brother Paul Dean, as well as two pitchers from the Negro Leagues, Darltie Cooper (1923-40) and Andy Porter (1932-48).
For the bullpen, the best candidate was Ellis Kinder, who was initially a starting pitcher but then became a solid reliever for the Red Sox in the early 1950s. Although saves were not yet an official statistic, if they had been he would have led the AL with 16 in 1951 and 27 in 1953. Similarly, Ryan Franklin (1999-2011) began his major league career as a starter, but then was more effective as a reliver, with his best season coming in 2009 for the Cardinals when he posted 38 saves with a 1.92 ERA.
Joe Berry was an interesting pitcher that I wasn’t familiar with. A journeyman minor-league relief pitcher for most his career, Berry finally got a chance in the big leagues during the World War II years. In those four seasons to end his career he compiled an impressive 2.45 ERA and 139 ERA+. As with the starting pitchers, I also included two relievers from the Negro Leagues—Booker McDaniel (1941-45) and John Harold Goodwin “Yellow Horse” Morris (1924-30)—because how can I fail to include a player with a nickname like that?
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.
