Wisconsin's Baseball All-Time Dream Team
What would a dream team roster look like for major league players born in Wisconsin?
Issue #91
This is the sixth 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, Minnesota, and South Carolina.
Next up are two in one day, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. I published the Rhode Island article first, since they were one of the original 13 colonies. The Badger State of course came along later, becoming the 30th admitted to the union on May 29, 1848 (according to Wikipedia.) Interestingly, both Wisconsin and Rhode Island have the same state flower, the violet.
[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 Wisconsin:
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. The Hall of Famers include LF Al Simmons and three early pitchers in Kid Nichols, Addie Joss, and Burleigh Grimes. Beyond Simmons, who had 12 seasons with 100+ RBI, Andy Pafko and Ken Keltner provide some additional power for this roster. And Ginger Beaumont (NL) and Harvey Kuenn (AL) have something in common: they each led their respective league in hits four times and batting average once.
The right side of the infield is a bit weaker, with three early 20th century players at 1B (two Freds and an Ed), and two more recent players at 2B in Jim Gantner and Mark Grudzielanek. Catcher candidates were not plentiful, so I went with Damian Miller who played for five teams from 1997-2007, and Lave Cross who played over 100 years earlier, starting his career in 1887 and playing mostly catcher for several years before shifting to mostly 3B for the bulk of his 21 seasons. He stole 303 bases, scored 1,338 runs, had 1,378 RBI, and posted a .292 career average. He didn’t walk much leading to a mediocre .329 OBP, and so without much power his career OPS+ was only a league average 100.
Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:
Against RHP:
Ginger Beaumont CF (L)
Harvey Kuenn SS (R)
Al Simmons LF (R)
Ken Keltner 3B (R)
Andy Pafko RF (R)
Eric Hinske / Abner Dalrymple DH (L)
Ed Konetchy 1B (R)
Lave Cross / Damian Miller C (R)
Jim Gantner 2B (L)
Against LHP:
Harvey Kuenn SS (R)
Ginger Beaumont CF (L)
Al Simmons LF (R)
Ken Keltner 3B (R)
Andy Pafko RF (R)
Rick Reichardt / Joe Randa DH (R)
Ed Konetchy 1B (R)
Lave Cross / Damian Miller C (R)
Mark Grudzielanek 2B (R)
I flipped Harvey Kuenn and Ginger Beaumont in the 1-2 spots depending on RHP/LHP. The middle of the order is pretty solid with Simmons, Keltner, and Pafko. There were a few platoon options, such as 2B with Gantner and Grudzielanek, and then a variety of guys who could be used in the DH spot. Lave Cross and Damian Miller batted right handed, so I just listed them both at catcher.
As for the pitchers, the starting rotation has three Hall of Famers, including Kid Nichols who pitched from 1890-906, racking up a 362-208 (.625) record with a 2.96 ERA and 139 ERA+. A consistent workhorse, he started 40+ games in all of his first nine seasons, with 27-35 wins each year—numbers that are hard to fathom today.
Addie Joss was on his way to becoming one of the all-time great pitchers when he fell ill and died of tuberculosis at age 31. Nonetheless, in his career from 1902-1910 he posted a 160-97 record (.623) with a microscopic 1.89 ERA and 143 ERA+. And then Burleigh Grimes had the longest career of the three, pitching for seven different teams from 1916-1934. His peak performance level was not as strong as Nichols or Joss, but like Kid he was workhorse, leading his league in complete games four times and innings pitched three times. He won 20+ games five times, and finished with a 3.53 ERA and 108 ERA+.
I went with Brad Radke as the fourth starter. He was born in Wisconsin, played high school ball in Florida, but then came back north for his entire MLB career with the Twins. He was selected as an All-Star in 1998, though his best season was the year before when he posted a 20-10 record and came in third in the AL Cy Young voting. How you rank the remaining starters could be debated, but I went with two-time All-Star Jordan Zimmerman for the fifth spot.
Bob Wickman headlines the bullpen for this dream team, as he collected 267 saves over 15 seasons with five teams. A two-time All-Star, he led the AL with 45 saves in 2005. Pat Neshek was a reliable setup man, pitching 13 years for seven different teams and retiring with a 2.82 ERA, 146 ERA+, and 1.041 WHIP. And many years earlier Ryne Duren also pitched for seven different teams, though was best known for his time with the Yankees. A high-strikeout reliever before that became a more common role, he was an All-Star in 1958 with 19 saves and 2.02 ERA and again in 1959 with 14 saves and a 1.88 ERA.
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.
