Utah's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Utah?
Issue #153
This is the 37th 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, and Alaska.
Next up is Utah, which became the 45th US State on January 4th, 1896 (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 Utah towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in Utah.)
Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Utah:
Not much star power here—though at least we have a full roster, unlike yesterday’s entry for Alaska!
The top names are I think SP Bruce Hurst and C Duke Sims. But in looking over the rest of the players, I decided not to create starting lineups as I’ve done for most of the states. Rather, as I did for Alaska, and since many of these players might not be familiar to you, here are the years that each spent in the majors, and a little bit on their performance:
C/1B/LF Duke Sims (1964-1974), 11 years with three of 100+ G, highs of 18 and 23 HR in 1969-70, 100 career HR, .239/.340/..401 slash line and 112 OPS+
C Herman Franks (1939-41, 47-49), 188 G, 3 HR, 2 SB, .199/.302/.275, 57 OPS+
C Payton Henry (2021-2022), 20 G, 0 HR, 0 SB, .186/.314/.209, 51 OPS+
1B Chris Shelton (2004-06, 08-09), highs of 18 and 16 HR in 2005-06, .273/.345/.457, 110 OPS+
1B/LF Doug Howard (1972-1976), 97 G, 1 HR, 2 SB, .212/.239/.258, 47 OPS+
2B Zach Sorenson (2003, 2005), 48 G, 1 HR, 0 SB, .143/.250/.245, 34 OPS+
2B/3B Spencer Adams (1923, 25-27), 180 G, 0 HR, 5 SB, .256/.324/.322, 67 OPS+
SS/2B Gordon Slade (1930-35), 437 G, 8 HR, 12 SB, .257/.307/.335, 74 OPS+
LF/RF George Theodore (1973-1974), 2 HR, 1 SB, .219/.291/.276, 60 OPS+
CF Bobby Mitchell (1980-1983), 202 G, 3 HR, 9 SB, .243/.336/.308, 77 OPS+
RF/CF Chad Hermansen (1999-2004), 189 G, 13 HR, 9 SB, .195/.255/.329, 50 OPS+
SP Bruce Hurst (1980-1994), All-Star in 1987, 10-straight seasons with 10+ wins, 145-113 W-L, 3.92 ERA, 104 ERA+
SP/RP Ed Heusser (1935-36, 38, 40, 43-46, 48), 266 G, 104 GS, 56-67 W-L, 3.69 ERA, 102 ERA+, led NL in ERA with 2.38 mark in 1944
SP Kelly Downs (1986-1993), 237 G, 135 GS, 57-53 W-L, 3.86 ERA, 94 ERA+
SP Gordon Rhodes (1929-1936), 200 G, 135 GS, 43-74 W-L, 4.85 ERA, 95 ERA+
SP Fred Sanford (1943, 46-51), 164 G, 98 GS, 37-55 W-L, 4.45 ERA, 94 ERA+
SP Brandon Duckworth (2001-2008), 134 G, 84 GS, 23-34 W-L, 5.28 ERA, 79 ERA+
RP Brandon Lyon (2001-03, 05-13), 572 G, 79 SV, 4.16 ERA, 107 ERA+
RP Joe Barlow (2021-2023), 79 G, 24 SV, 3.05 ERA, 140 ERA+
RP Tanner Banks (2022-2023), 67 G, 1 SV, 3.79 ERA, 112 ERA+
RP Newt Kimball (1937-38, 40-43), 94 G, 5 SV, 3.78 ERA, 96 ERA+
RP Kent Peterson (1944, 47-53), 147 G, 5 SV, 4.95 ERA, 83 ERA+
RP Elmer Singleton (1945-48, 50, 57-59), 145 G, 4 SV, 4.83 ERA, 84 ERA+
What about players who went to High School in Utah?
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 Utah to players who grew up—which we’ll define as going to high school—in the state of Utah?
First off, some of the players on the roster above were born in Utah but went to high school elsewhere, including:
C/1B/OF Duke Sims – Idaho
CF Bobby Mitchell – California
RF/CF Chad Hermansen – Nevada
RP Newt Kimball – California
On the other hand, I also found several who were born elsewhere but went to high school in the state of Utah:
2B Glenn Hubbard – Germany
3B/2B/SS/1B/OF Vance Law – Idaho
C John Buck – Wyoming
RP Scott Eyre – California
RP Willie Eyre – California
So using this alternate dream team criterion, Buck would take Sims’ spot as the top catcher, as he hit 134 HR over 11 seasons. Glenn Hubbard, who played 12 years mostly for the Braves, and was an All-Star in 1983, would become the starting 2B. And Scott Eyre, who pitched 13 years for five teams and had a 4.23 ERA and 107 ERA+, would join Lyon at the top of the relievers list. His younger brother Willie Eyre would also make the bullpen, a bit further down the list.
The most interesting addition here is Vance Law, who played 11 years for five different teams, and was an All-Star in 1988. He would ideally become the starting 3B, except by losing Mitchell and Hermansen (and Sims), this roster is left with only two outfielders in Theodore and Howard. Law was very versatile, playing extensively at 3B, 2B, and SS, but also a bit at 1B and in the outfield. In particular, he played seven games in the majors in CF, which is where he’d need suit up for this dream team.
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.
