New Hampshire's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in New Hampshire?
Issue #101
This is the eleventh article in a series where I am creating 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. So far I’ve covered Maryland, Louisiana, Minnesota, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and West Virginia.
Next up is New Hampshire, which on June 21st, 1788, became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, bringing that document into effect (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 list the players that I know went to high school in a state other than New Hampshire towards the end of this article.
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in New Hampshire:
Sorry folks from New Hampshire, but this is the weakest roster amongst the states that I’ve covered so far in this series. Granted, New Hampshire is one of the smallest states in the US, but I had to really search for enough players to have one or two at each position, and then flesh out a full pitching staff too. Also, unlike the other states I’ve covered so far, this one lacks any Hall of Famers—though there is one solid HOF player who went to high school in New Hampshire, and I’ll cover that at the end.
The two top position players here were actually both primarily 3B. Arlie Latham was a 19th century star from 1880-1896 (with brief returns in 1899 and even 1909). Like many players from that era he stole a lot of bases, but in his case that is an understatement: he had 45+ SB in all ten of his full seasons for which we have statistics, including highs of 129 in 1887 and 109 in 1888 while playing for St. Louis of the American Association (a major league at that time). Overall he had 742 career SB, and scored 100+ runs nine times (even though the season was a bit shorter back then).
Robert “Red” Rolfe played nine full seasons in the majors, all for the New York Yankees. He came right after Ruth, but was a teammate of Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Dickey. A four time All-Star, he had a career slash line of .289/.360/.413, leading the AL in doubles and triples once each, and scoring 100+ runs seven times—as almost always batted second on some very powerful Yankees lineups. He played 1,084 games at 3B and only 64 at SS (all early in his career)—but given the lack of candidates for this dream team, I can’t have one of the few real stars sitting on the bench, so he is listed above as the starting SS.
I found four outfielders and they had some position versatility so can cover all three spots. Phil Plantier had some power, hitting 34 HR with 100 RBI in 1993 for the Padres. And Sam Fuld wasn’t a great hitter (.227 average with no power), but did steal 20+ bases twice.
The highlight of the right side of the infield is Bernie Friberg who played parts of 14 years in the majors from 1919-1933, mostly with the Cubs and Phillies. By far his best season came in 1923 when he hit .318 with 12 HR, 11 triples, and 88 RBI. I really struggled to find any candidates at 1B, and so had to go with Art Nichols who slashed .245/.308/.299 from 1898-1903 and Walter Prince who slashed an even less impressive .208/.276/.257 across just two seasons (1883-84).
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Arlie Latham 3B (R)
Red Rolfe SS (L)
Bernie Friberg 2B (R)
Phil Plantier LF (L)
Joe Lefebvre RF (L)
Sam Fuld CF (L)
Kevin Romine DH (R)
Harry Bemis / Tom Padden C (R)
Walter Prince 1B (L)
Against LHP:
Arlie Latham DH (R)
Red Rolfe 3B (L)
Bernie Friberg SS (R)
Phil Plantier LF (L)
Kevin Romine RF (R)
Sam Fuld CF (L)
Tim Shinnick 2B (S)
Harry Bemis / Tom Padden C (R)
Art Nichols 1B (R)
As noted earlier, Latham and Rolfe hitting at the top of these lineups is a good start, but then it goes downhill from there. Lefebvre really didn’t hit lefties well, so I platooned Romine with him in RF. Both catchers were right-handed batters, but the two light-hitting 1B could at least share playing time in a platoon situation.
As for the pitchers, the top two candidates actually each one a Cy Young Award. Chris Carpenter pitched from 1997-2012 for the Blue Jays and then the Cardinals, winning the NL Cy Young Award in 2005 after posting a 21-5 record with a 2.83 ERA and a career-high 213 strikeouts. A three-time All-Star, he came in third in the Cy Young Award vote the following year, and second in the voting in 2009.
Mike Flanagan pitched from 1975-1992, mostly for the Orioles but a few seasons for the Blue Jays as well. He made the All-Star team in 1978 but then had his best season in 1979, taking home the AL Cy Young Award after leading the AL in wins with a 23-9 record and posting a 3.08 ERA.
How you rank the rest of the starting pitchers I included above could be argued. Tewksbury was an All-Star in 1992 when he went 16-5 with a 2.16 ERA. Stan Williams was also an All-Star once, in 1960, before pitching more in relief in the second half of his career. Lefty Tyler pitched from 1910-21, winning 15+ games four times and posting a career 2.95 ERA—though that was about the league average during that time.
The bullpen is led by three-time Giants All-Star Brian Wilson, who from 2008-11 posted save totals of 41, 38, 48, and 36. But the relief candidates thinned out quickly after The Beard, with none of the others being closers or star relievers in other respects.
To wrap up, here are the New Hampshire-born players who I could determine went to high school in other states—and so might be more associated with those states than New Hampshire:
Phil Plantier = California
Stan Williams = Colorado
Bob Savage = Virginia
What about the other direction—born elsewhere but went to high school in New Hampshire? There were a few that I could find, most notably Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, who was born just across the border in Bellows Falls, Vermont, but went to high school in Charlestown, New Hampshire, just a bit further north on the Connecticut river.
A few other notables who were born elsewhere, but went to high school in New Hampshire include 1B/DH Steve Balboni (Massachusetts), C Birdie Tebbetts (Vermont), Roberto Hernandez (Puerto Rico), and C Mike LaValliere (North Carolina). Swapping those guys in for Plantier, Williams, and Savage would be an overall upgrade to this dream team roster for New Hampshire, primarily by completely transforming the Catcher position. There would also be a swapping of one power bat for another (Balboni for Plantier) while upgrading the 1B position significantly, and adding a second legit-closer to the bullpen.
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.
