Louisiana's Baseball All-Time Dream Team

What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Louisiana?

Issue #83

This is the second article in a new series I’m starting up that will create 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. The first I did was for Maryland, and now two days later I’ve got Louisiana, which was the 18th state admitted to the union on April 30th, 1812. According to Wikipedia, the Territory of Orleans became the State of Louisiana and the Louisiana Territory was simultaneously renamed the Missouri Territory.

[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 Louisiana:

The headliners here are some Hall of Famers like Mel Ott, Bill Dickey, and Lee Smith, plus some other star names like Will Clark, Andy Pettitte, Ron Guidry, Rusty Staub, Reggie Smith, and Albert Belle. There are a lot of solid players at 1B and the OF positions, but much less so at 2B, SS, and 3B, so I included three additional utility players to help flesh the infield out a bit.

Some fans might not be familiar with two names on this roster, CF Willard Brown and LF Roy Parnell, both of whom played in the Negro Leagues. Brown is in the Baseball Hall of Fame having frequently led his league in several offensive categories, such as (according to baseball-reference.com) hits six times, HR four times, RBI five times, and batting average and stolen bases once each. The statistics we have for him add up to a .351/.398/.579 slash line and 178 OPS+ over 1,785 plate appearances. Parnell’s numbers aren’t quite as impressive, but he batted .422 in 334 at-bats in his 1927 rookie year, and then after 13 seasons (again according to baseball-reference.com) had a career .329/.390/.486 slash line and 137 OPS+ in 2,459 pate appearances.

Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:

Against RHP:

1. Tommy Harper 3B (R)

2. Reggie Smith CF (S) / Willard Brown CF (R)

3. Will Clark 1B (L)

4. Mel Ott RF (L)

5. Albert Belle LF (R)

6. Bill Dickey C (L)

7. Rusty Staub DH (L)

8. Odell Hale 2B/3B (R)

9. John Peters SS (R) / Wayne Causey SS (L)

Against LHP:

1. Tommy Harper 3B (R)

2. Reggie Smith CF (S) / Willard Brown CF (R)

3. Mel Ott RF (L)

4. Albert Belle LF (R)

5. Joe Adcock / Zeke Bonura 1B (R)

6. Vernon Wells DH (R)

7. Bill Dickey C (L)

8. Odell Hale 2B/3B (R)

9. Ryan Theriot SS (R)

Tommy Harper batting leadoff provides ample speed at the top, as he stole 408 bases in his career, and led the AL with 73 in 1969 and 54 in 1973. Then I figured either Reggie Smith (a switch hitter) or Willard Brown as CF would work well batting second. Vernon Wells could also be used in CF (he won three Gold Glove Awards), but here I’ve slotted him as a DH against LHP, with Rusty Staub serving as DH against RHP.

The middle of the order is powerful with a platoon at 1B with Will Clark and Joe Adcock, and of course Mel Ott in RF, Albert Belle in LF, and Bill Dickey behind the plate. The bottom of these lineups are the only relatively weak spots. Odell Hale only played over 100 games in six seasons, but he hit over .300 a few times and had 101 RBI for the Indians in both 1934 and 1935. At SS I listed all three candidates in these lineups, as Ryan Theriot hit better against LHP, so lefty Wayne Causey and old-timer John Peters can split the time against RHP.

As for pitchers, Ted Lyons is a Hall of Famer (though some would argue a pretty weak selection), and most of the others I included were stars but not-quite-Hall-of-Famers. Ron Guidry had the nickname “Louisiana Lightning” and had the best single season of the bunch, as his 1978 statistics still impress: 25-3, 1.74 ERA, 248 K, 208 ERA+. Of course Vida Blue had several great seasons, including his first full year in 1971 when he went 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA, 301 K, and 183 ERA+. And I felt I should include Aaron Nola, who has four 200+ K seasons, and was born in Baton Rouge, not New Orleans, though he does have the last name NOLA (get it?)

There were a few other starting pitchers born in Louisiana that deserve honorable mention, including: Don Wilson, Ben Sheets, Ben McDonald, Watson Clark, Shane Reynolds, and Earl Wilson.

The bullpen for this dream team is headlined by Hall of Famer Lee Smith and the sometimes even more dominating Jonathan Papelbon. And after many years serving as a setup man, B.J. Ryan became a closer and was an All-Star twice.

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.

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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.