Kansas' Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Kansas?
Issue #159
This is the 41st 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, Georgia, Alaska, Utah, New Mexico, Connecticut, and Michigan.
Next up is Kansas, which became the 34th state to join the union on January 29th, 1861 (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 Kansas towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in Kansas.)
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Kansas:
My expectations for this all-time dream team roster were tempered by the fact that Kansas has only a mid-sized population relative to other states. And indeed, there are only two Hall of Famers above—the all-time great pitcher Walter Johnson, and SS Joe Tinker who was part of the Chicago Cubs’ famed double-play combo of Tinker to Evers to Chance. That said, several other position players were All-Stars at times during there careers, such as Bill Russell (3-time All-Star), C Darren Daulton (3), CF Johnny Damon (2), 3B/1B Bob Horner (1), 1B Tony Clark (1), and C Ray Mueller (1).
Also of note, Oscar “Heavy” Johnson was a star in the Negro Leagues (1920, 22-28, 30-32), and in 1922 led his league with a .406 average, only to do the same the following year while taking home his league’s triple crown with a .406 average, 20 HR, and 120 RBI in 98 games played. According to the statistics available at baseball-reference.com, he retired with an impressive .370/.428/.592 slash line and 170 OPS+.
Two other early players shown above, who some readers might not be familiar with, are 2B/1B George Grantham and LF Duff Cooley. Grantham played from 1922-1934, with his best seasons coming with the Pirates, including 1930 when he slashed .324/.413/.534 with 18 HR and 14 triples, along with 99 RBI and 120 runs scored. Overall he retired with a solid .302/.392/.461 slash line and 122 OPS+. Cooley played for five different clubs from 1893-1905, scoring 100+ runs three times, with five seasons of 25+ SB to go with a .294 career average.
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Johnny Damon (L) CF
George Grantham (L) 2B
Heavy Johnson (R) RF
Bob Horner (R) 3B
Tony Clark (S) 1B
David Segui (S) DH
Duff Cooley (L) LF
Darren Daulton (L) C
Joe Tinker / Bill Russell (R) SS
Against LHP:
Johnny Damon (L) CF
George Grantham (L) / Don Gutteridge (R) 2B
Heavy Johnson (R) RF
Bob Horner (R) 3B
Tony Clark (S) 1B
David Segui (S) DH
Duff Cooley (L) LF
Darren Daulton (L) / Ray Mueller (R) C
Joe Tinker / Bill Russell (R) SS
There weren’t really any obvious platoon options for these lineups. I consider George Grantham to be the stronger 2B candidate, but he did have extreme splits so against the toughest LHP it would make sense to give Don Gutteridge some playing time. Similarly, Darren Daulton was a good-hitting catcher, but against the toughest southpaws you could give him a rest in favor of backup Ray Mueller.
Johnny Damon most often hit leadoff during his career, so it makes sense for him to do the same in these lineups. He and Grantham would be good table-setters for the power provided by Heavy Johnson, Bob Horner, Tony Clark, and David Segui. And both Joe Tinker and Bill Russell hit right-handed, so I listed them both as sharing SS and the ninth spot in these lineups.
As for the pitching staff, Walter Johnson is arguably the greatest pitcher ever, so clearly he is the ace of this dream team’s rotation. After him you could argue how to rank some of the others I included, but I went with Claude Hendrix (1911-1920) next, as he won 20+ games three times (including 24-9 in 1912 and 29-10 in 1914) and retired with a 2.65 ERA and 113 ERA+.
Chet Brewer was a star in the Negro Leagues, playing in 13 major league seasons spread from 1925 to 1948. He went 12-1 as a 19-year old for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1926, and then 15-2 with a league-leading 1.93 ERA in 1929.
Mike Torrez had a longer career (1967-1984), and won 15+ games six times, including posting a 20-9 record during his one season with the Orioles in 1975. Overall he pitched for seven teams, and was fairly wild as he led his league in walks three times. He had a career record of 185-160 with a 3.96 ERA, though that translates to a slightly below league-average 98 ERA+.
Others that you could argue deserve spots in this dream team’s five-man rotation include:
Larry Cheney (1911-1919) had a relatively short career in the Majors, but won 20+ games in three consecutive seasons from 1912-14. Overall he posted a 2.70 ERA and 109 ERA+.
Rudy May (1965, 69-83) had almost as long of a career as Torrez, mostly with the Angels and Yankees, winning 15+ games three times and retiring with a 3.46 ERA and 102 ERA+.
Luther Taylor (1900-1908) was an early 20th century pitcher, mostly for the New York Giants, posting 116 career wins, a 2.75 ERA, and 107 ERA+.
The bullpen on this dream team is led by Brad Ziegler, who rose up the minors as a starter before becoming a reliever and getting the call to the Majors by the A’s at age 28. A side-armer, he posted an impressive 1.06 ERA over 59.2 IP as a rookie in 2008, and then later had 30 saves and a 1.85 ERA for the Diamondbacks in 2015. Overall in his career he had 105 saves with a 2.75 ERA and an impressive 149 ERA+.
Blake Treinen (2014-2022) also spent time in Oakland, including his one All-Star campaign in 2018 when he posted 38 saves and a microscopic 0.78 ERA. Although a very different type of pitcher, Treinen’s career numbers so far are similar to Ziegler’s as he has a 2.86 ERA and 146 ERA+. After injury and surgery, Treinen is hoping for a bounce-back season in 2024 with the Dodgers.
What about players who went to High School in Kansas?
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 Kansas to players who grew up—which we’ll define as going to high school—in the state of Kansas?
First off, many of the players on the roster above were born in Kansas but went to high school elsewhere, including:
1B Tony Clark – California
2B/1B George Grantham – Arizona
3B/1B Bob Horner – Arizona
3B/1B Enos Cabell – California
OF Johnny Damon – Florida
SP Walter Johnson – California
SP Rudy May – California
SP Chet Brewer – Iowa
SP Ross Grimsley – Tennessee
RP Brad Ziegler – Missouri
RP Kyle Farnsworth – Georgia
RP Tom Sturdivant – Oklahoma
RP Brian Duensing – Nebraska
Obviously losing The Big Train from the pitching staff is the most painful here. On the other hand, I also found several who were born elsewhere but went to high school in the state of Kansas:
1B Adam LaRoche – California
1B Kevin Young – Michigan
1B Lee Stevens – Missouri
CF Ken Berry – Minnesota
SP Murry Dickson – Missouri
RP Ryne Stanek – Missouri
Using this alternate dream team criterion, the pitching staff would look very different with Murry Dickson joining Hendrix and Torrez as the main arms. The bullpen is also impacted with top relievers Ziegler and Farnsworth gone, along with a couple others, and only Ryne Stanek added.
On the flipside, 1B is a bit stronger with Adam LaRoche taking the place of Tony Clark as the top option, and Kevin Young and Lee Stephens adding some depth. Ken Berry is not a full replacement for Johnny Damon in CF, but would mix in with Mitch Webster and Don Lock for playing time.
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.
