South Carolina's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in South Carolina?
Issue #89
This is the fourth article in a new series I’ve started where I’m 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 done Maryland, Louisiana, and Minnesota. Next up is South Carolina, the 8th state admitted to the union on May 23, 1788 (according to Wikipedia.)
[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 South Carolina:
Like the other US State dream teams I’ve created so far, this one has a few Hall of Famers and other stars, but also some positions that are relatively lacking. There is a lot of OF depth here, with three HOF stars as the starters: Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jim Rice, and Larry Doby. Jackson split his time almost evenly between RF (570 games) and LF (565), so with Rice available as a LF, I obviously went with Joe in RF. OF depth is solid with all-stars Brett Gardner, Reggie Sanders, Gorman Thomas, Preston Wilson, and his uncle and stepfather Mookie Wilson (according to Wikipedia.)
The other heavy hitter on this roster is Al Rosen, who had a short but solid career for the Indians after World War II, including 1953 when he took home AL MVP honors after slashing .336/.422/.613 with a league-leading 43 HR, 145 RBI, and 115 runs. Unfortunately back and leg issues led to his early retirement at age 32, but he did return to the game later as a well-respected executive for several clubs.
There is actually one more Hall of Famer on this roster, one that some fans might be less familiar with. Ben Taylor played in various Negro Leagues from 1908-1929, starting out as a pitcher, before switching to playing mostly 1B. His seasons from 1920-1929 were in leagues that are now recognized as Major Leagues by Major League Baseball, and for which we have some statistics at baseball-reference.com. The stats we have from those years having him slashing .337/.398/.461 with a 133 OPS+ over 2,600 plate appearances.
There were a few other position players I considered for this roster, including late 70s/early 80s power hitting 1B Willie Aikens and speedster OF Gene Richards, as well as 2B/SS Pokey Reese who provided good defense and some SB a generation later.
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Shoeless Joe Jackson RF (L)
Brett Gardner CF (L)
Larry Doby DH (L)
Jim Rice LF (R)
Al Rosen 3B (R)
Dan Driessen / Ben Taylor 1B (L)
Matt Wieters C (S)
Willie Randolph / Del Pratt 2B (R)
Marty Marion SS (R)
Against LHP:
Shoeless Joe Jackson RF (L)
Reggie Sanders DH (R)
Al Rosen 3B (R)
Jim Rice LF (R)
Larry Doby CF (L)
Ken Harrelson 1B (R)
Matt Wieters C (S)
Willie Randolph / Del Pratt 2B (R)
Marty Marion SS (R)
Shoeless Joe Jackson is a great leadoff hitter here, even against lefties. There is solid power with Rosen, Doby, and Rice in whatever order you prefer 3-4-5. I suppose you could also give Doby a breather against the toughest LHP by playing either Gorman Thomas or Preston Wilson in CF those games. I included Brett Gardner and Reggie Sanders here as a platoon of sorts between the CF and DH positions.
Another platoon that made sense was at 1B where I figure Dan Driessen (who didn’t hit lefties well) and Ben Taylor should play against RHP, with Ken Harrelson hitting against LHP. Willie Randolph and Del Pratt each deserve some playing time at 2B, but they both batted right-handed so there isn’t a natural platoon available. Matt Wieters and Marty Marion provide solid defense up the middle.
As for the pitchers, this is certainly the weakest crop, for both starters and relievers, of the four US State dream teams I’ve considered so far. The ace is the well-travelled Bobo Newsom, who pitched in the majors for 20 years, with nine different franchises—but changed teams an impressive 16 times! His career ended with a losing 211-222 record, with a 3.98 ERA, and 107 ERA+. He didn’t have outstanding control, as his K9 rate was 5.0 but his BB9 rate was 4.1, leading to a 1.463 career WHIP. He was an All-Star four times, and won 20+ games each year from 1938-1940, but he also led his league in losses four times. He was a bit of workhorse, completing 246 of his 483 starts—leading his league in CG twice.
Next on this staff is Newsom’s contemporary Van Mungo, who unlike Bobo pitched nearly his entire career for one team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was an All-Star each year from 1934-37, but like Newsom didn’t have the best control with a 3.7 BB9 rate vs. a 5.3 K9 rate, leading the league with 238 K in 1936, but also leading the league in walks that year and in two previous seasons.
The remaining starting pitchers I included could be ranked in different ways: Billy O’Dell was a two-time All-Star an won 19 games in a third season; Kirby Higbe was also an All-Star twice, and led the NL with 22 wins in 1941; and LaMarr Hoyt led the AL in wins in 1983 and then again in 1984 when he took home the Cy Young Award after leading the league with 24 wins and a 1.024 WHIP.
There really weren’t many relief options for this all-time dream team, so I decided to include only four—though some of the starters, such as Billy O’Dell and Bobby Bolin, pitched more games in relief than as a starter. Bill Landrum had a few good seasons for the Pirates, such as 1989 when he posted 26 saves with a 1.67 ERA. Emilio Pagán recorded 20 saves with a 2.31 ERA in 2019 for the Rays, and now is a middle-reliever for the Twins. And Art Fowler in the 50s/60s and Lou Brissie in the 40s/50s each began their careers as starters, but then pitched more in relief.
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.
