Georgia's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Georgia?
Issue #151
This is the 35th 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, and Texas.
Next up is Georgia, which was one of the original 13 colonies and on January 2nd, 1788, became the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution (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 Georgia towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in Georgia.)
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Georgia:
This roster has six Hall-of-Famers, starting with inaugural member Ty Cobb, the Georgia Peach. Jackie Robinson is of course one of the most important baseball players who ever played, and was an outstanding 2B and hitter on the field, winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 and NL MVP in 1949. And catcher Josh Gibson was one of the all-time greatest players of the Negro Leagues, hitting with as much power as just about anyone.
The three other Hall of Famers were all 1B: Johnny Mize, Bill Terry, and Frank Thomas. The Big Hurt actually played more games as a DH, but with current superstar Matt Olson also hailing from Georgia, 1B is clearly the position with the most depth on this roster.
Catcher Buster Posey will likely one day become the seventh Hall of Famer on this dream team roster. And with Brian McCann also having been born in Georgia, there is no shortage of solid backstops here.
The left side of the infield and the OF after Cobb are less impressive, with a handful of star—but not superstar—names in Cecil Travis, Chone Figgins, Moisés Alou, Dixie Walker, Wally Moon, Lorenzo Cain, and Mike Cameron. Some readers might not be familiar with SS Dobie Moore, who played parts of only seven seasons (1920-1926) for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League. Considered one of the best shortstops of his era, according to the data at baseball-reference.com he had a .350/.393/.524 slash line and 148 OPS+. But according to Wikipedia, his major league career ended abruptly in mid-1926 when, at age 30, he was “shot in the leg by a girlfriend and suffered a compound fracture jumping from a second-story balcony to escape from her.”
Backing up just about everyone on this all-time dream team is super-utility player Tony Phillips. He had an 18-year career (1982-1999), mostly for the A’s and Tigers, playing every position on the field except pitcher and catcher. Although never an All-Star, he scored 100+ runs four times, and could steal a few bases (12 seasons of 10+ SB, including swiping 11 at age 40 in his final year). He was also very patient at the plate with five seasons of 100+ walks, including leading his league twice.
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Ty Cobb (L) CF
Jackie Robinson (R) 2B
Johnny Mize / Bill Terry / Matt Olson (L) 1B
Josh Gibson (R) C
Frank Thomas (R) DH
Dixie Walker / Wally Moon (L) RF
Moisés Alou (R) LF
Cecil Travis (L) SS
Chone Figgins / Tony Phillips (S) 3B
Against LHP:
Ty Cobb (L) CF
Jackie Robinson (R) 2B
Josh Gibson (R) C
Frank Thomas (R) DH
Moisés Alou (R) LF
Bill Terry (L) / Buster Posey (R) 1B
Dixie Walker / Wally Moon (L) RF
Dobie Moore (R) SS
Chone Figgins / Tony Phillips (S) 3B
Cobb and Robinson make for outstanding table-setters at the top of the order ahead of the big sluggers like Mize, Gibson, and Thomas. Mize had very extreme splits, slashing .332/.420/.606 vs. RHP but only .265/.342/.457 vs. LHP. Bill Terry—another lefthanded hitter—had more even splits, so I listed him along with Buster Posey as the 1B vs. LHP, since it would be hard to get him in these lineups with Josh Gibson available at catcher.
There is a platoon option available at SS with Cecil Travis and Dobie Moore, but Dixie Walker and Wally Moon both hit left-handed, so I listed them as sharing RF duties. And both Chone Figgins and Tony Phillips were switch hitters, so I listed them as sharing the hot corner while providing some speed and on-base capability in the ninth spot.
There were several other position players that I considered, so they deserve at least honorable mention, including: 1B Wally Joyner, 1B/RF Ron Fairly, RF Nick Markakis, CF Marquis Grissom, LF/CF Rondell White, RF Josh Reddick, CF Byron Buxton, CF/LF Mack Jones, CF Dexter Fowler, LF Kal Daniels, C Ivey Wingo, C Jody Davis, and three additional stars of the Negro Leagues in 1B/OF George Carr, RF Rap Dixon, and 1B/OF Lennie Pearson.
As for the pitching staff, you could argue over how to rank the top two starters, and some also argue that one or both of them belong in the Hall of Fame. Six-time All-Star Kevin Brown posted a 211-144 (.594) record with a 3.28 ERA and 127 ERA+ (with two NL ERA titles), while four-time All-Star Tim Hudson retired with an impressive 222-133 (.625) record, 3.49 ERA, and 120 ERA+.
Adam Wainwright’s final, age-41 season in 2023 was at times painful to watch, but he did manage to get his 200th career win. Retiring with a 200-128 (.610) record, 3.53 ERA, and 114 ERA+, the three-time All-Star never won a Cy Young Award, but came in the top-three in the voting four times.
How you rank the other pitchers I listed above could be debated, but I went with Spud Chandler and Bill Byrd to round out the five-man rotation. Chandler pitched for the Yankees from 1937-47, was an All-Star four times, and during World War II won the 1943 AL MVP Award after going 20-4 with a 1.64 ERA. He retired with an impressive 2.84 ERA and 132 ERA+. Byrd was a star of the Negro Leagues, playing 15 major league seasons from 1933-1948. He was an All-Star in six seasons, three times leading his league in wins, and according to the numbers at baseball-reference.com retired with a 3.39 ERA and 128 ERA+.
The bullpen on this dream team is led by a few recent closers:
Todd Jones (1993-2008) was inconsistent at times, but had a long career including six seasons with 30+ saves.
Jonathan Broxton (2005-2017) was a two-time All-Star including in 2009 for the Dodgers when he posted a 2.61 ERA, with 36 saves, and an impressive 114 K in 76 IP.
Matt Capps (2005-2012) was an All-Star in 2010, a season split between the Nationals and Twins but which saw him collect 42 saves with a 2.47 ERA.
What about players who went to High School in Georgia?
As noted at the outset of this article, and as I’ve done for my other US State dream team write-ups, what if you change the criteria from players who were born in the state of Georgia to players who grew up—which we’ll define as going to high school—in the state of Georgia?
First off, some of the players on the roster above were born in Georgia but went to high school elsewhere, including:
2B/3B Jackie Robinson – California
3B/CF Chone Figgins – Florida
C Josh Gibson – Pennsylvania
OF Moisés Alou – Dominican Republic
CF Lorenzo Cain – Florida
SP Tim Hudson – Alabama
On the other hand, I also found many who were born elsewhere but went to high school in the state of Georgia and would either be deserving of roster spots or at least consideration:
2B Brandon Phillips – North Carolina
SS Luke Appling – North Carolina
SS Marty Marion – South Carolina
RF Jason Heyward – New Jersey
RF J.D. Drew – Florida
CF/RF Charlie Blackmon – Texas
So if I use this alternate dream team criterion, the offense would suffer from losing Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, and Moisés Alou as the starters at C, 2B, and LF, respectively. Dixie Walker would shift over to LF, with Heyward, Drew, and Blackmon joining Moon in the mix in RF. Brandon Phillips would be the starter at 2B, while Hall of Famer Luke Appling would be an upgrade at SS, with Cecil Travis moving over to 3B in place of the departed Figgins.
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.
