Oregon's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Oregon?
Issue #162
This is the 43rd 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, Michigan, Kansas, and Massachusetts.
Next up is Oregon (the first of two states with an anniversary on Valentine’s Day) which became the 33rd US State on February 14th, 1859 (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 Oregon towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in Oregon.)
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Oregon:
This all-time dream team has stars at many positions, but no Hall of Famers—yet. I say that because many would argue, and I tend to agree with them, that two-time MVP Dale Murphy should be enshrined in Cooperstown. I suspect he will be some day, and he is clearly one of the highlights of this dream team roster. He played more games in CF than RF during his career, but as you can see there were far more solid CF candidates, so that is why I listed him as the RF starter.
The position with even more depth than CF was 1B, where I included five guys. Scott Hatteberg also played some at catcher, and so provides added support there. And clearly with so much power in Dave Kingman, Richie Sexson, and John Jaha, both 1B and DH will get filled in the below lineups by some combination of these players.
On the other hand, there wasn’t as much depth on the left side of the infield with Johnny Pesky the best option at SS, Scott Brosius at the hot corner, and Jed Lowrie and Brandon Drury serving as utility players to back them up.
Another potential Hall of Famer for this dream team down the road could be found in catcher Adley Rutschman, an overall #1 draft pick who is off to a great start in his young career. And could 2B Harold Reynolds one day be considered for the Hall of Fame based on his combined playing career and long time in television media? That might seem like a stretch, but we’ll see.
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Jacoby Ellsbury (L) CF
Johnny Pesky (L) SS
Ken Williams (L) LF
Dale Murphy (R) RF
Dave Kingman (R) DH
Richie Sexson / John Jaha (R) 1B
Adley Rutschman (S) C
Scott Brosius (R) 3B
Harold Reynolds (S) 2B
Against LHP:
Aaron Rowand / Brian Hunter (R) CF
Johnny Pesky (L) SS
Dale Murphy (R) RF
Dave Kingman (R) DH
Richie Sexson / John Jaha (R) 1B
Ken Williams (L) LF
Adley Rutschman (S) C
Scott Brosius (R) 3B
Harold Reynolds (S) 2B
I saw only one real platoon opportunity with this roster, and that was in CF and in the leadoff spot, where Jacoby Ellsbury, as a left-handed hitter should get the most playing time, and righties Aaron Rowand and Brian Hunter could share the games vs. LHP. These guys, along with SS Johnny Pesky, make great table-setters for the power bats that follow.
Sluggers Dave Kingman, Richie Sexson, and John Jaha were all right-handed hitters, so I went with Kingman as the DH and listed both Sexson and Jaha as sharing 1B duties. In LF, both Ken Williams and Carson Bigbee were lefties, so I just listed the superior Williams as the starter in both lineups, though shifted down from third to sixth in the batting order against LHP.
As for the pitching staff, the first two spots in the starting rotation seemed pretty clear cut. Mickey Lolich pitched 16 years in the majors and retired with 217 wins, a 3.44 ERA, and 104 ERA+. A three-time All-Star, he had 200+ strikeouts seven times, including in 1971 when he paced the AL with 308 Ks, and also led the league in wins with a 25-14 record, and also games started (45) and complete games (29).
Larry Jansen had a much shorter career than Lolich, pitching nine out of his ten major league seasons for the New York Giants. He was runner-up for the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 after posting a 21-5 record and a 3.16 ERA, and then later in 1953 went 23-11 with a 3.04 ERA.
After those two, you could argue about how to round out the five-man rotation for this dream team. I went with Jim Rooker (1968-1980) who had six 10+ win seasons, a 3.46 ERA, and 104 ERA+; then Jeremy Guthrie (2004-15, 17) who had five 10+ win seasons, a 4.42 ERA, and 97 ERA+; and then the still active Jimmy Nelson (2013-17, 19, 21) who pitched some in the minors in 2023, but prior to that had a 4.12 ERA and 101 ERA+ across parts of seven seasons in the majors.
The bullpen here is full of quality relievers, though none are overpowering closer types. Larry Anderson (1975, 77, 79, 81-94) pitched in 699 games over 17 seasons in the majors, accumulating 49 saves with a high of 13 late in his career in 1991. He retired with a solid 3.15 ERA and 121 ERA+, so I gave him the top spot in this dream team’s pen.
Kevin Gregg (2003-2015) had six seasons with 20+ saves, with a high of 37 in 2010 and 177 total for his career. Pitching for six teams across 13 seasons, he retired with a respectable 4.24 ERA and 102 ERA+.
And Steve Olin (1989-1992) and his sidearm/submarine delivery found success in the majors, especially against right-handed hitters, as he had 17 saves in 1991 and then 29 saves with a 2.34 ERA in 1992. But then tragedy struck as he died at the age of 27 when he and teammate Tim Crews died in a boating accident after Crews’ powerboat crashed into a dock.
What about players who went to High School in Oregon?
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 Oregon to players who grew up—which we’ll define as going to high school—in the state of Oregon?
First off, there were many players on the above roster who were born in Oregon but went to high school elsewhere:
1B Richie Sexson – Washington
1B/LF Dave Kingman – Illinois
1B/C Scott Hatteberg – Washington
C Nick Hundley – Washington
CF Aaron Rowand – California
CF Brian Hunter – Washington
SP Jim Rooker – Colorado
SP Jimmy Nelson – Florida
SP Cliff Chambers – Washington
RP Larry Anderson – Washington
RP Adam Cimber – Washington
Losing two of the three big power bats at 1B, as well as two of the CF, reduces this rosters’ depth at this positions.
On the other hand, I found several players who were born elsewhere but went to high school in the state of Oregon:
2B Joe Gordon – California
3B/LF/1B Pete Ward – Canada
C Carson Kelly – Illinois
SP Rick Wise – Michigan
RP Mitch Williams – California
RP Dave Veres – Alabama
RP Ken Dayley – Idaho
Using this alternate dream team criterion, this roster finally gets a Hall of Famer in 2B Joe Gordon. He would takeover as the new starter at 2B, with catcher Carson Kelly also being an important addition given the losses of both Hundley and Hatteberg. Pete Ward was a left-handed hitter so could be useful in a platoon with Brosius at 3B, while also seeing some action at 1B or DH.
On the pitching side Rick Wise (1964, 1966-1982) would take the place of Jim Rooker as the #3 man in the rotation, as he was a two-time All-Star who won 188 games over 18 seasons, retiring with a 3.69 ERA and 101 ERA+. And then Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams would take Andersen’s spot as the top reliever, with Dave Veres and Ken Dayley providing two more bullpen arms and allowing some of the guys listed who also spent some time as starters to compete with Howie Fox for the fifth spot in the rotation.
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.
