Michigan's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Michigan?
Issue #158
This is the 40th 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, and Connecticut.
Next up is Michigan, which became the 26th state to join the union on January 26th, 1837 (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 Michigan towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in Michigan.)
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Michigan:
Michigan has the 10th largest population amongst the US States, but it has pretty harsh weather for many months of the year. So I was expecting to see several Hall of Famers and other stars here, but not quite the loaded lineup of states that are both larger and warmer (like California, Texas, or Florida). And that is exactly what we have above, with six Hall of Famers and several other stars that some fans have advocated for Cooperstown enshrinement.
Besides the pitching staff, the two strongest positions are 2B and Catcher. At 2B, Charlie Gehringer is a solid Hall of Famer, and Bobby Grich is one of the players most often debated as a Hall of Fame snub. Indeed, for the position players shown above, his total baseball-reference WAR of 71.1 is second only to Gehringer’s 84.8, and well ahead of Ted Simmons’ 50.3.
Speaking of Simmons, he was finally selected for the Hall of Fame in 2020. The Tigers’ Bill Freehan has nearly the same career WAR at 44.8, and in far fewer plate appearances (6,900 vs. 9,685). That, along with being an 11-time All-Star and 5-time Gold Glove Award winner, are reasons some advocate for him for the Hall too.
The rest of the infield was lighter in star power, with Chris Sabo at 3B, Mike Bordick at SS, Jack Fournier and John Mayberry at 1B, and Tom Tresh and Tommy Edman available as utility guys (both of whom also played some OF). Sabo was an All-Star three times, and Bordick and Mayberry were All-Stars twice each, with Mayberry having the most consistent power of the bunch with eight seasons of 20+ HR. That said, Jack Fournier, though less well known since he played from 1912-18, 1920-27, might be the best of this group as he had 20+ HR and 100+ RBI three times in the early 1920s, and had an impressive career .313/.392/.483 slash line and 142 OPS+.
The outfield is an interesting mix of guys, headlined by Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler, who had his best seasons for the Pirates and Cubs. He scored 100+ runs five times, including lofty totals of 144 in 1925 and 155 in 1930. He also had some speed, stealing 30+ bases six times, including four times leading the NL. Overall he retired with a .321/.386/.474 slash line and 125 OPS+.
I included four CF on this roster, and you could argue about how to rank them:
Jim Northrup (1964-75) hit 153 HR with a 116 OPS+, but played more games in RF than CF.
Bill Virdon (1955-65, 68) hit 17 HR and won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1955, but never displayed that much power again. He won a Gold Glove Award in 1962.
Ira Flagstead (1917, 19-30) didn’t hit many HR or steal many bases, but he had a career slash line of .290/.370/.407 and 103 OPS+.
Ron LeFlore (1974-82) scored 100+ runs three times, and had some impressive SB totals including 58, 68, 78, and a high of 97 in 1980. But drug use and other challenges cut his career short at age 34.
In LF there is another Tigers’ great in Kirk Gibson who has to be one of the best players since 1933 to never be named an All-Star. He actually split his playing time pretty evenly across the three OF spots, and had 20+ HR in six seasons and also had 25+ SB six times—even though he was frequently injured and only played 130+ games four times. He was a key part of the 1984 Tigers championship team, and then was a leader, NL MVP, and one-legged HR-hitter on the 1988 Dodgers championship team.
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Kiki Cuyler (R) RF
Jack Fournier (L) 1B
Charlie Gehringer (L) 2B
Kirk Gibson (L) LF
John Mayberry (L) DH
Jim Northrup / Bill Virdon (L) CF
Ted Simmons (S) / Bill Freehan (R) C
Chris Sabo (R) 3B
Mike Bordick (R) SS
Against LHP:
Ira Flagstead / Ron LeFlore (R) CF
Charlie Gehringer (L) 2B
Kiki Cuyler (R) RF
Bobby Grich (R) DH
Bill Freehan (R) / Ted Simmons (S) C
Chris Sabo (R) 3B
Kirk Gibson (L) LF
Jack Fournier / John Mayberry (L) 1B
Mike Bordick (R) SS
I couldn’t see platooning the two hitters with the highest career WAR on the team, so I listed Gehringer at 2B and used Grich as the DH against LHP, though he could spell Gehringer at 2B against the toughest southpaws. The only real platoon option that I saw was in CF where I listed Northrup and Virdon as lefties against RHP, and then Flagstead and the speedy LeFlore as right-handed leadoff men against LHP.
Cuyler usually hit third during his career, but against RHP I’ve listed him as the leadoff hitter given his ability to steal bases. Fournier’s ability to get on base works well as a second hitter against RHP, with Mayberry hitting fourth or fifth as the DH.
As for the pitching staff, there are three Hall of Famers at the top and you could argue about who should be considered the ace:
John Smoltz pitched 21 years in the majors, most of them as a starter but four as a closer after missing a year due to injury in the middle of his career. He had three impressive save totals of 55, 45, and 44 from 2002-04, but also led his league in wins twice and strikeouts twice. He won the 1996 NL Cy Young Award and was an All-Star eight times.
Hal Newhouser was an All-Star in seven consecutive seasons and had a very impressive peak run from 1944-46 when he won two AL MVP Awards and led the AL in ERA twice, strikeouts twice, and wins all three years.
Jim Kaat didn’t have as many strong peak seasons as Smoltz or Newhouser, but he pitched in the majors in 25 seasons, spanning from 1959-1983, winning 20+ games three times, including a 25-13 record in 1966. He was an All-Star only three times, and his career ERA+ was only 108, compared to 130 for Newhouser and 125 for Smoltz. But he did take home 16 Gold Glove Awards, and he is 17th all-time in games started and 25th all-time for innings pitched.
After those three, you could again debate who should round out this dream team’s starting rotation, and how to rank the others that I included. I went with Eddie Cicotte for the fourth spot, a pitcher who found another gear in his mid-30s before participating in the Black Sox scandal and getting banned from the game. He was 104-93 with a 2.49 ERA and 114 ERA+ in his first nine seasons in the majors, but then went 105-55 with a 2.23 ERA and 136 ERA+ in his final five seasons. That span included twice leading the AL in wins with a 28-12 record in 1917 and a 29-7 record in his ultimately infamous 1919 season.
Billy Pierce pitched in the majors for 18 seasons from 1945-1964, accumulating a 211-169 record with a 3.27 ERA and 119 ERA+. He led the AL in strikeouts once and ERA once, and was an All-Star seven times. Ed Reulbach was a deadball-era pitcher, mostly for the Cubs, posting a 182-106 record with a 2.28 ERA and 123 ERA+. And Frank Tanana was a three-time All-Star who won 240 games over 21 seasons, leading the AL in strikeouts in 1975 and ERA in 1977.
The bullpen on this dream team also has several solid stars, and you could again debate how to rank them:
Mike Marshall (1967, 69-81) was a closer during an era when they still most often pitched more than one inning. In his case this meant pitching 179 IP in 92 games for the Expos in 1973 and then 208.1 IP in 106 games (an all-time record) for the Dodgers in 1974, which along with 21 saves and a 2.42 ERA earned him the NL Cy Young Award. He retired with 188 saves, a 3.14 ERA, and 118 ERA+.
J.J. Putz (2003-2014) had four seasons of 30+ saves, including his one All-Star campaign in 2007 when he posted 40 saves with an impressive 1.38 ERA. He retired with 189 saves overall, with a 3.08 ERA and 138 ERA+.
Dick Radatz (1962-67, 69) began his career in dominating fashion for the Red Sox with 76 saves, a 40-21 record, 487 strikeouts in 414 IP, and a 2.17 ERA and 181 ERA+.
This bullpen also includes Phil Regan (1960-72) who had a 14-1 record, 1.62 ERA, and league-leading 21 saves for the Dodgers in 1966, and 3-time All-Star Jim Kern (1974-86) who was 13-5 with 29 saves and 1.57 ERA in 1979. In addition to the others I listed above (and as mentioned John Smoltz as a combined starter/reliever), there is also Derek Lowe (1997-2013) who was mostly a starter during his career, but was more of a reliever early on including in 2000 when he led the AL with 42 saves.
And beyond all of the pitchers I listed above, there were still more that I considered and that at least deserve honorable mention, including Bob Rush, Pat Hentgen, Rick Wise, Bob Buhl, Scott Sanderson, Steve Gromek, Frank Kitson, Jim Abbott, and Steve Avery.
What about players who went to High School in Michigan?
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 Michigan to players who grew up—which we’ll define as going to high school—in the state of Michigan?
First off, some of the players on the roster above were born in Michigan but went to high school elsewhere, including:
1B Jack Fournier – Washington
2B Bobby Grich – California
SS Mike Bordick – Maine
C Bill Freehan – Florida
C Jason Varitek – Florida
OF Ira Flagstead – Washington
2B/SS/OF – Tommy Edman
SP Ed Reulbach – Missouri
RP Bill Campbell – California
RP Jason Grilli – New York
RP Jason Motte – New York
Losing Grich, Freehan, Reulbach, and a few of these others would hurt this roster. I’d say catcher is the spot most impacted, since losing both Freehan and Varitek leaves only Simmons.
On the other hand, I also found several who were born elsewhere but went to high school in the state of Michigan:
1B Wally Pipp – Illinois
SS Derek Jeter – New Jersey
2B/3B/1B DJ LeMahieu – California
LF/DH Willie Horton – Virginia
OF Barney McCosky – Pennsylvania
SP Kevin Tapani – Iowa
RP Paul Quantrill – Canada
RP Matt Mantei – Florida
Using this alternate dream team criterion, these players would all be included on a Michigan dream team. The biggest impact would come from adding Jeter in place of Bordick at SS. LeMahieu is an upgrade over Edman as a utility type of player, and Willie Horton is a nice added power bat in the LF/DH mix. I think Pipp replacing Fournier at 1B is a pretty even swap, and the pitching changes here wouldn’t be very material since none of the top five SPs or the top relievers are impacted.
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.
