North and South Dakota's Baseball All-Time Dream Teams

What would dream team rosters look like for major league players born in North Dakota and South Dakota?

Issue #132

This is the 21st 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, and Nevada.

Next up are North and South Dakota, which became the 39th and 40th states to join the union, November 2, 1889. Interestingly, president Benjamin Harrison shuffled the statehood papers before signing them so that no one could tell which became a state first (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 North or South Dakota towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in North or South.)

Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in North Dakota:

This is obviously a pretty thin roster. Darin Erstad played mostly for the Angels, was an All-Star twice, and interestingly won three Gold Glove Awards across two different positions: two in the OF and one at 1B. His best season came in 2000 when he led the AL with 240 hits, while scoring 121 runs, with 39 doubles, 25 HR, 28 SB, a .355/.409/.541 slash line and 137 OPS+.

Travis Hafner was a great slugger, mostly for the Indians, but was never named to an All-Star team. He hit 20+ HR four times, including a high of 42 in 2006. That year he also had careers highs of 100 runs and 117 RBI, while slashing .308/.439/.659 with a 181 OPS+.

Beyond those two star players though, the rest of the lineup I’d create from this roster is not particularly strong:

1. Darin Erstad CF (L)

2. Ken Hunt RF (R)

3. Travis Hafner DH (L)

4. Chris Coste 1B (R)

5. Lynn Nelson LF (L)

6. Truck Hannah C (R)

7. Andrew Young 2B (R)

8. Tim Johnson SS (L)

9. Tim Olson 3B (R)

The pitching staff is even thinner in that there are no real star names, and not enough players to fill out a 5-man rotation and full bullpen. Indeed, since some of the pitchers were both starters and relievers, there are really only five pitchers named above—and one of them, Lynn Nelson, I also listed as the starting LF since I lacked other candidates. Nelson only played LF in six major-league games, but he was used 97 times as a pinch hitter and was a capable hitter with 5 HR and 55 RBI in 367 at-bats, with a .281/.313/.371 slash line.

What about players who went to High School in North Dakota?

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 North Dakota to players who grew up—which we’ll define as going to high school—in the state of North Dakota?

From what I found, two of the players listed above were born in North Dakota but went to High School elsewhere:

• SP/RP Gary Serum – Minnesota

• RP Erik Swanson – Ohio

On the flip-side, I found two players who were born elsewhere but went to high school in North Dakota:

• RF Roger Maris – Minnesota

• RP Jeremy Horst – Wyoming

Obviously including Roger Maris to this Dream Team roster is a massive improvement, both for the power added to the lineup, but also because he would play RF, shifting Ken Hunt to LF, allowing Nelson to go back to his primary role of pitcher.

What about South Dakota?

Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in South Dakota:

This roster has a bit more depth to it, but even less star power. I don’t see any hitters of the caliber of Erstad or Hafner (not to mention Maris). Jason Kubel had four seasons with 20+ HR, and Dave Collins had 395 SB over a 16-year career. You’ll notice Terry Francona on this roster too, though he’s been a much better manager than he was a player.

For this roster’s lineup I’d build it like this:

1. Dave Collins (S) LF

2. Terry Francona (L) 1B

3. Mark Ellis (R) 2B

4. Jason Kubel (L) RF

5. Del Paddock (L) 3B

6. Carroll Hardy (R) CF

7. Len Rice (R) C

8. Kermit Wahl (R) SS

9. DH? Take your pick from Sparky Anderson, Marv Olson, Kelvin Torve

And yes, Kermit Wahl’s first name was actually Kermit—his full name was Kermit Emerson Wahl, and he played parts of five seasons in the majors for the Reds, Athletics, and Browns from 1944-51.

Where South Dakota’s roster is stronger than North Dakota’s is on the pitching side. For one thing, there were actually enough candidates to have a five-man starting rotation, and seven more to flesh out a bullpen. And several of the pitchers included here had pretty decent careers, starting with Jim Scott who pitched for the White Sox from 1909-1917 and had a 2.30 ERA and 121 ERA+. His best season came in 1915 when he posted a 24-11 record with a 2.03 ERA which was a 147 ERA+.

Another starting pitcher of note born in South Dakota is Floyd Bannister. He won 10+ games in 8 of his 15 major league seasons, and managed to lead the AL with 209 strikeouts for the Mariners in 1982.

The bullpen is arguably even stronger, led by Keith Foulke who had four seasons with 30+ saves, and a career 3.33 ERA and 140 ERA+. He was an All-Star with Oakland in 2003, posting a 2.08 ERA while leading the AL with 43 saves.

But wait… there’s more! Sean Doolittle has been an All-Star twice, had 20+ saves in four seasons, and has a career 3.20 ERA and 130 ERA+. And Terry Forster pitched in the majors from 1971-86, posted a career 3.23 ERA and 116 ERA+, and had five seasons with double-digit saves, including an AL-leading 24 in 1974.

What about players who went to High School in South Dakota?

And again, what if we change the criteria from players who were born in the state of South Dakota to players who grew up—which we’ll again define as going to high school—in the state of South Dakota?

First, it must be noted that many of the players on the roster above were born in South Dakota but went to High School elsewhere, including:

• Jason Kubel – California

• Sparky Anderson – California

• Terry Francona - Pennsylvania

• Floyd Bannister - Washington

• Brandon Claussen – New Mexico

• Keith Foulke - Texas

• Sean Doolittle – New Jersey

• Terry Forster - California

• Kerry Ligtenberg - Minnesota

• Justin Duchscherer – Texas

• Tom Hausman - California

So removing those players really decimates this dream team roster, especially in terms of pitchers. On the flip side, I only found one player who was born elsewhere but went to high school in South Dakota:

• 2B Dick Green - Iowa

While Green played 12 years in the majors and was a fine 2B for the Athletics franchise, clearly he alone is not a substitute for all the guys this roster would lose under this alternate criterion.

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.