Baseball's November Birthday Dream Teams
Lots of great players have November birthdays. But who would make an all-star team amongst active players? And who would make an all-time November Birthdays dream team?
Issue #44
Continuing my series of active and all-time dream teams for players born during each month—how about November? Demographic oddities aside, on average you'd expect such rosters to be composed of about 1/12th of the top players during whatever period is under consideration.
I'll start with an active players November Birthday dream team, choosing players based on their entire careers to-date both in terms of credentials and what positions they could play at. Here is the roster I came up with—in this case with each player only listed at one position:
Unlike the October birthdays roster which was dominated by great outfielders (Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Juan Soto, and others), November birthdays aren’t dominated by any position. The most depth is probably at SS, so I listed Trevor Story at his 2022 position of 2B as there weren’t many other strong candidates there.
Two other positions that seemed lacking in candidates were CF and definitely 1B, where I needed to list Twins youngster Alex Kirilloff. There are several active catchers with November birthdays, so I included three of them plus the Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk who often gets in Toronto’s lineup as a DH too.
Starting lineups for this roster might look like this:
Against RHP:
Francisco Lindor SS (S)
Justin Turner 3B (R)
Eloy Jiménez LF (R)
Giancarlo Stanton RF (R)
Trevor Story 2B (R)
Joey Gallo / Matt Carpenter DH (L)
Yasmani Grandal C (S)
Trent Grisham CF (L)
Alex Kirilloff 1B (L)
Against LHP:
Amed Rosario DH (R)
Francisco Lindor SS (S)
Eloy Jiménez LF (R)
Giancarlo Stanton RF (R)
Justin Turner 3B (R)
Trevor Story 2B (R)
Marcell Ozuna CF (R)
Yasmani Grandal 1B (S)
Cal Raleigh C (S)
I didn’t find a lot of platoon options with this roster. I wanted Grandal to be in both lineups, but I split his time between C and 1B. The candidates for CF were not very strong so I’m leveraging Ozuna’s time in CF early in his career to get him in the lineup against lefties. And there were plenty of possibilities for DH, so I did a platoon of the speedy Rosario with the power of Gallo and Carpenter.
The starting pitching lacks an obvious, dominating ace. And you could certainly argue who the five-man rotation should include, and what order the eight pitchers should be listed in.
Here are the players shown above in order by birthday:
November 1: CF Trent Grisham (L)
November 1: C/1B Stephen Vogt (L)
November 3: RP Ryan Tepera (R)
November 5: SP Jon Gray (R)
November 6: SP James Paxton (L)
November 6: C/DH Alejandro Kirk (R)
November 7: SP Sonny Gray (R)
November 8: RP Bryan Shaw (R)
November 8: RF Giancarlo Stanton (R)
November 8: C/1B Yasmani Grandal (S)
November 9: 1B/LF/RF Alex Kirilloff (L)
November 12: LF/CF Marcell Ozuna (R)
November 12: SP Charlie Morton (R)
November 13: SP Wade Miley (L)
November 13: 2B/3B/SS Santiago Espinal (R)
November 14: SS Francisco Lindor (S)
November 15: SS/2B Trevor Story (R)
November 17: RP Seth Lugo (R)
November 18: SP Jameson Taillon (R)
November 18: SP Logan Webb (R)
November 19: SP Framber Valdez (L)
November 19: LF/RF/3B/1B Joey Gallo (L)
November 20: SS Amed Rosario (R)
November 20: RP Greg Holland (R)
November 22: RP Adam Ottavino (R)
November 23: 3B Justin Turner (R)
November 23: 2B/SS/LF Gavin Lux (L)
November 24: 3B Jeimer Candelario (S)
November 26: 3B/1B/2B/RF Matt Carpenter (L)
November 26: C Cal Raleigh (S)
November 26: RP Corey Knebel (R)
November 27: LF Eloy Jiménez (R)
November 27: CF Bradley Zimmer (L)
All-Time November Birthdays Dream Team
What about an all-time November birthdays dream team? Do active stars Giancarlo Stanton, Francisco Lindor, or others make this all-time dream team?
As with every month’s all-time dream team, this roster is loaded. In August, it was the outfield with Williams, Trout, Clemente, F. Robinson, and Yastrzemski. In September, it was clearly the infield that led the way in superstar power, especially at 2B with Morgan, Lajoie, and Sandberg.
In October, I had a tough choice to make in CF between Yankees legend Mickey Mantle and Negro Leagues legend Oscar Charleston. But November’s CF situation is not any easier: Ken Griffey Jr. or Joe DiMaggio? Yikes.
CF isn’t the only position with superstars here, as four other spots have players that are at least arguably the greatest ever at their position: C Ivan Rodriguez, DH David Ortiz, SP Walter Johnson, and RP Mariano Rivera. And while few would consider Stan Musial the best ever at his three positions of RF, LF, and 1B, I think few would leave him off a top-20 all-time players list either.
Relatively speaking, RF and LF are a bit weaker that CF, though not for a lack of candidates to consider. Besides Musial (who I’ve listed as the top 1B), I included Joe Medwick, Minnie Miñoso, and Bob Johnson in LF, and Dwight Evans, Sammy Sosa, Giancarlo Stanton, and Jack Clark in RF (plus Gary Sheffield in an overall utility spot).
The infield, relatively speaking, is not as strong as some other birthday month’s all-time dream teams. Other than Musial at 1B, the players are a mix of marginal Hall-of-Famers and good but not HOF-caliber guys. Up the middle there are a couple of old-timer Hall of Famers in Bobby Wallace and Bid McPhee, both of whom were good defensively for their eras. Wallace played in parts of 25 seasons and amassed the fourth highest WAR score (70.3) of any position players born in November, while McPhee stole 568 bases in the 14 of 18 seasons where we have SB statistics. More recent stars like Matt Williams, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Howard also have spots in this roster, with Williams and Rollins arguably deserving starting roles on the left side of the infield.
Catcher is a strong position, starting as I noted with Ivan Rodriguez. Roy Campanella and his three MVPs is an impressive backup, with Bill Freehan then being included for extra depth.
I also want to give a hat tip to Negro Leagues star Cristóbal Torriente, who was born in Cuba and played all three outfield positions from 1920-28. The official data we have only adds up to 646 games, but he was outstanding with a slash line of .340/.427/.523 and a 158 OPS+. He led his league in BA once, OBP three times, SLG twice, and doubles twice. Playing mostly CF, and only for nine years with limited data, I can’t rank him over Griffey or DiMaggio—but I certainly think he deserves a spot on this dream team roster.
Starting lineups, against righties and lefties, might look like this:
Against RHP:
Joe DiMaggio CF (R)
Joe Medwick / Minnie Miñoso LF (R)
Stan Musial 1B (L)
Ken Griffey Jr. RF (L)
David Ortiz DH (L)
Matt Williams 3B (R)
Ivan Rodriguez C (R)
Jimmy Rollins SS (S)
Dick McAuliffe 2B (L)
Against LHP:
Joe DiMaggio DH (R)
Joe Medwick / Minnie Miñoso LF (R)
Stan Musial 1B (L)
Ken Griffey Jr. CF (L)
Matt Williams 3B (R)
Dwight Evans RF (R)
Ivan Rodriguez C (R)
Bobby Wallace SS (R)
Bid McPhee 2B (R)
I always like to look for platoon options for these dream team lineups. But I also want to have the very best players in both lineups, so here that meant DiMaggio, Griffey, and Musial. With lots of RF and LF candidates, Musial gets listed at 1B. I couldn’t see Ortiz not being the DH at least against right-handers, so that meant shifting Griffey over to RF in that lineup.
The real challenges came at C, 3B, RF, and LF—as this roster is loaded with right-handed batters with no obvious platoon scenarios. I’ve listed Rodriguez at C and Williams at 3B in both lineups, though obviously Campanella and Freehan deserve some playing time behind the plate, as do Traynor and Elliott at the hot corner.
As noted, I listed Griffey in RF against right-handers, so that only leaves the LHP lineup for one of the many other RF candidates. You could make a case for the power of Sosa, Stanton, Sheffield, or Clark, but I like the combination of power (385 HR) and superior defense (8 Gold Gloves) that Dwight Evans provided.
The hardest spot to choose a starter is perhaps LF. With Musial being used at 1B, there are three candidates, all of whom hit right-handed and had pretty even splits against RHP and LHP. You could make a case for any of these guys:
Bob Johnson: 55.3 WAR, 8,051 PA, 396 doubles, 95 triples, 288 HR, 1,239 Runs, 1,283 RBI, 96 SB, .296 BA, .393 OBP, .506 SLG, 139 OPS+.
Joe Medwick: 54.5 WAR, 8,143 PA, 540 doubles, 113 triples, 205 HR, 1,198 Runs, 1,383 RBI, 42 SB, .324/.362 OBP, .505 SLG, 134 OPS+.
Minnie Miñoso: 53.8 WAR, 8,233 PA, 365 doubles, 95 triples, 195 HR, 1,227 Runs, 1,089 RBI, 216 SB, .299 BA, .387 OBP, .461 SLG, 130 OPS+.
So almost identical WAR from an almost identical number of plate appearances. Pretty similar OPS+ with Johnson having a bit of an edge. He had the most power of the three, with Minoso having the most speed. For what its worth, they even have nearly identical defensive WAR totals for their careers. In terms of seasons, here is some further breakdown:
Bob Johnson: 8-time All-Star, eight 100+ RBI seasons, received MVP votes in six seasons, but never higher than fifth in the vote.
Joe Medwick: 10-time All-Star, six 100+ RBI seasons, won the 1937 MVP award after winning the triple crown (and also leading the league in runs, hits, and doubles), and received MVP votes in eight seasons overall. Led his league in triples once, runs once, HR once, BA once, hits twice, doubles three times, and RBI three times.
Minnie Miñoso: 9-time All-Star (including twice in the Negro Leagues), four 100+ RBI seasons, received MVP votes in eight seasons, including four times finishing in fourth place. He led his league in hits once, doubles once, SB three times, and triples four times. And he had a knack for getting hit by pitch, leading his league in HBP an impressive 10 times.
You could make a case for any of these three guys, but for the lineups above I gave the slightest of edges to Medwick and Miñoso, based on Medwick’s peak offensive seasons and Miñoso’s all-around combination of power and speed (and because segregation kept him out of the AL/NL for the first several years of his career, hurting his career numbers here a bit.)
Here are the position players in the depth chart above listed in order by birthday, with a few career stat highlights for each:
November 1: 2B Bid McPhee (R) 52.5 WAR, 189 triples, 568 SB, .272/.355/.373, 107 OPS+
November 3: RF Dwight Evans (R) 67.2 WAR, 385 HR, .272/.370/.470, 127 OPS+
November 4: SS/3B Bobby Wallace (R) 70.3 WAR, 201 SB, .268/.332/.358, 105 OPS+
*November 8: RF/DH Giancarlo Stanton (R) 44.7 WAR, 378 HR, .264/.354/.537, 141 OPS+
November 10: RF/1B Jack Clark (R) 53.1 WAR, 340 HR, .267/.379/.476, 137 OPS+
November 11: 3B Pie Traynor (R) 38.5 WAR, 164 triples, .320/.362/.435, 107 OPS+
November 11: SS/2B Rabbit Maranville (R) 43.9 WAR, 177 triples, 291 SB, .258/.318/.340, 82 OPS+
November 12: RF Sammy Sosa (R) 58.6 WAR, 609 HR, 234 SB, .273/.344/.534, 128 OPS+
November 16: CF Cristóbal Torriente (L) 25.9 WAR, .340/.427/.523, 158 OPS+
November 18: RF/LF/3B/DH Gary Sheffield (R) 60.5 WAR, 509 HR, 253 SB, .292/.393/.514, 140 OPS+
November 18: DH/1B David Ortiz (L) 55.3 WAR, 632 doubles, 541 HR, .286/.380/.552, 141 OPS+
November 19: C Roy Campanella (R) 41.8 WAR, 259 HR, .283/.364/.498, 126 OPS+
November 19: 1B Ryan Howard (L) 14.7 WAR, 382 HR, .258/.343/.515, 125 OPS+
November 21: RF/LF/1B Stan Musial (L) 128.6 WAR, 725 doubles, 475 HR, .331/.417/.559, 159 OPS+
November 21: CF Ken Griffey Jr. (L) 83.8 WAR, 524 doubles, 630 HR, .284/.370/.538, 136 OPS+
November 24: LF Joe Medwick (R) 54.5 WAR, 540 doubles, 205 HR, .324/.362/.505, 134 OPS+
November 25: CF Joe DiMaggio (R) 79.2 WAR, 361 HR, .325/.398/.579, 155 OPS+
November 26: LF Bob Johnson (R) 55.6 WAR, 288 HR, .296/.393/.506, 139 OPS+
November 26: 3B/RF Bob Elliott (R) 51.0 WAR, 170 HR, .289/.375/.440, 124 OPS+
November 27: C Ivan Rodriguez (R) 68.7 WAR, 572 doubles, 311 HR, .296/.334/.464, 106 OPS+
November 27: SS Jimmy Rollins (S) 47.6 WAR, 511 doubles, 231 HR, 470 SB, .264/.324/.418, 95 OPS+
November 28: 3B Matt Williams (R) 46.6 WAR, 378 HR, .268/.317/.489, 113 OPS+
November 29: LF Minnie Miñoso (R) 53.8 WAR, 195 HR, 216 SB, .299/.387/.461, 130 OPS+
November 29: C Bill Freehan (R) 44.8 WAR, 200 HR, .262/.340/.412, 112 OPS+
November 29: 2B/SS Dick McAuliffe (L) 37.6 WAR, 197 HR, .247/.343/.403, 109 OPS+
* = Active
For now, Stanton is the only active player on this list, though SS Francisco Lindor could one day join him. Amongst retired players with November birthdays, several more deserve honorable mention including: CF/LF Johnny Damon, RF Shawn Green, 1B Norm Cash, LF Ryan Braun, LF Jimmy Sheckard, CF/3B Tommy Leach, RF J.D. Drew, SS/3B Travis Jackson, OF Hugh Duffy, C Javy López, C Bob Boone, 1B Hal Trosky, 3B/CF Freddie Lindstrom, 1B/LF Roy Sievers, LF/DH Greg Luzinski, 3B/SS/OF Howard Johnson, and LF/1B Adam Dunn.
As for the starting pitchers, the ace amongst aces here is arguably the greatest pitcher of all time, Walter Johnson. After him, I like Seaver second and Gibson third. Bob Feller of course lost most of four prime seasons to service in World War II. If that hadn’t happened, perhaps he’d rank ahead of Gibson and even Seaver, but as it is he is a extremely strong fourth.
For the fifth spot in this rotation I went with Curt Schilling, whose numbers I think make him deserving of being in the Hall of Fame. There are plenty of other good starting pitchers who’ve had November birthdays, so adding just a few more to this roster wasn’t an easy task. I went with Luis Tiant next, who I hope gets into the Hall of Fame someday too. Lefty Gomez is in the Hall of Fame of course, was an All-Star seven times, and posted a 189-102 (.649) record, though had the good fortune of playing during a dominant Yankees era.
For an eighth and final spot I went with Hall of Famer Clark Griffith, in part to represent the several old-timers who were candidates here, including Jim McCormick, Bobby Mathews, and Jim Whitney. It is hard to compare pitchers from the 1800s with more recent hurlers, but one statistic that helps do that is ERA+. And Griffith’s ERA+ of 121 was not only higher than his contemporaries I just mentioned, but also of all the other more modern candidates I considered, all of whom deserve honorable mention: Dwight Gooden, Jim Kaat, Fernando Valenzuela, Carl Mays, Mel Stottlemyre, Chuck Finley, Jamie Moyer, Kenny Rogers, Bob Friend, Bob Welch, John Candelaria, Mike Garcia, and Joe Niekro.
Here are the starters I chose in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
November 3: Bob Feller (R) 65.2 WAR, 266-162 W-L, 3.25 ERA, 122 ERA+
November 6: Walter Johnson (R) 152.3 WAR, 417-279 W-L, 2.17 ERA, 147 ERA+
November 9: Bob Gibson (R) 81.7 WAR, 251-174 W-L, 2.91 ERA, 127 ERA+
November 14: Curt Schilling (R) 80.5 WAR, 216-146 W-L, 3.46 ERA, 127 ERA+
November 17: Tom Seaver (R) 106 WAR, 311-205 W-L, 2.86 ERA, 127 ERA+
November 20: Clark Griffith (R) 59.9 WAR, 237-146 W-L, 3.31 ERA, 121 ERA+
November 23: Luis Tiant (R) 65.6 WAR, 229-172 W-L, 3.30 ERA, 114 ERA+
November 26: Lefty Gomez (L) 43.2 WAR, 189-102 W-L, 3.34 ERA, 125 ERA+
For relievers, this November Birthdays Dream Team is truly blessed. Not only was the greatest closer ever, Mariano Rivera, born in November, but many other great relievers have been as well. I ended up including eight, though after Rivera you could certainly debate how to best rank them. And even with that many on the roster, honorable mention is still deserved by at least Gene Garber, Mitch Williams, Tom Gordon, Willie Hernández, Bob Stanley, and Jay Howell.
Again, here are the eight I included in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
October 1: Jeff Reardon (R) 367 SV, 3.16 ERA, 122 ERA+
November 3: Armando Benítez (R) 289 SV, 3.13 ERA, 140 ERA+
November 11: Roberto Hernández (R) 326 SV, 3.45 ERA, 131 ERA+
November 20: Greg Holland (R) 220 SV, 3.14 ERA, 138 ERA+
November 22: Joe Nathan (R) 377 SV, 2.87 ERA, 151 ERA+
November 23: Jonathan Papelbon (R) 368 SV, 2.44 ERA, 177 ERA+
November 28: Robb Nen (R) 314 SV, 2.98 ERA, 139 ERA+
November 28: Dave Righetti (L) 252 SV, 3.46 ERA, 114 ERA+
November 29: Mariano Rivera (R) 652 SV, 2.21 ERA, 205 ERA+
Compare this roster with those of the other months I have done so far: July, August, September, and October.
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.