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EVIL~! alkeiper

Greatest Living Ballplayers

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From time to time I've tried coming up with an MLB Dream Team. Always a fun idea, but it leads to a lot of tough cuts. Particularly when it comes to an established ancient player like Honus Wagner or Babe Ruth where the statistical evidence is overwhelming. If we limit the player pool strictly to surviving players though, we get players who are still relatively fresh in the memories of the fans. Players of whom we actually have footage. Let's see what we come up with.

 

LINEUP

C: Johnny Bench

1B: Stan Musial

2B: Joe Morgan

SS: Alex Rodriguez

3B: Mike Schmidt

LF: Barry Bonds

CF: Willie Mays

RF: Hank Aaron

DH: Frank Robinson

 

BENCH

C: Yogi Berra

C: Mike Piazza

IF: Frank Thomas

IF: Cal Ripken

IF: George Brett

OF: Ken Griffey Jr.

OF: Manny Ramirez

UT: Pete Rose

 

STAFF

SP: Roger Clemens

SP: Greg Maddux

SP: Tom Seaver

SP: Randy Johnson

SP: Pedro Martinez

CL: Mariano Rivera

RP: Goose Gossage

RP: Rollie Fingers

RP: Bruce Sutter

RP: Dennis Eckersley

RP: Billy Wagner

P: Sandy Koufax

P: Bob Feller

 

M: Earl Weaver

 

Feel free to come up with NBA, NFL or NHL versions if you wish. Or post criticisms of this one.

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Off the top of my head for NBA:

 

Starters

 

PG: Magic Johnson

SG: Michael Jordan

SF: Larry Bird

PF: Tim Duncan

C: Bill Russell

 

Reserves

 

PG: John Stockton

SG: Kobe Bryant

SF: LeBron James

PF: Kevin Garnett

C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

I'd round it out with Reggie Miller and Hakeem Olajuwon. Coach is Phil Jackson.

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Hockey:

 

The only question is who is Bobby Orr's defense pairing on the top unit. Robinson, Potvin or Lidstrom?

 

Could debate over who's in net too. Roy? Hasek (count me in for Hasek)? Dryden?

 

Is it undebateable that you'd have a top three of Howe-Gretzky-Lemieux?

 

I'd go Howe-Gretzky-Lemieux with Orr-Robinson and Hasek.

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Off the top of my head for NBA:

 

Starters

 

PG: Magic Johnson

SG: Michael Jordan

SF: Larry Bird

PF: Tim Duncan

C: Bill Russell

 

Reserves

 

PG: John Stockton

SG: Kobe Bryant

SF: LeBron James

PF: Kevin Garnett

C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

I'd round it out with Reggie Miller and Hakeem Olajuwon. Coach is Phil Jackson.

 

Where is Shaq?

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Where would you rank Roberto Alomar in terms of second basemen, and how close was he to making this line-up?

 

 

I would have Morgan, Kent, Sandberg, Biggio and then Alomar

Robinson Cano?

 

Sorry... I just had to.

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I'd have Sparky Anderson as the manager of that club. And I'm not certain I'd have Billy Wagner on the team. I'd sooner put John Franco in his spot, but maybe that's my Mets bias coming in from two different directions. Franco has the most saves for a lefty though, and a shitload of appearances. Somewhere high on the list.

 

The hockey goaltender is Patrick Roy, max. C'mon. Even if we extend this to dead guys he's my starting goalie. Otherwise, Howe-Gretzky-Lemieux with Orr-Robinson sounds right to me.

 

Fuck Robbie Alomar.

 

 

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With Mike Piazza's bat! I remember that game.

 

I'm sure I've told this story a thousand times, but I went to the Met game where Dontrelle Willis hit a grand slam off Jose Lima.

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Second basemen? Let's see. Obviously there's Joe Morgan and then a chasm. Craig Biggio is probably second, he racked up a huge number of win shares. Rod Carew actually would rank third on my list. An amazing 18 All-Star appearances there. I think Roberto Alomar has as good an argument as any player to rate fourth. A higher OPS+ than Ryne Sandberg. And this may come as a stunner, but Bobby Grich takes the fifth spot on my list.

 

To summarize:

1. Morgan

2. Biggio

3. Carew

4. Alomar

5. Grich

 

I'd have Sparky Anderson as the manager of that club. And I'm not certain I'd have Billy Wagner on the team. I'd sooner put John Franco in his spot, but maybe that's my Mets bias coming in from two different directions. Franco has the most saves for a lefty though, and a shitload of appearances. Somewhere high on the list.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/qNrs

 

That's a list of lefty relievers in baseball history. The gap in ERA between Wagner and the rest is HUGE. I mean, I don't see any intangibles in the world closing the gap on that.

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Off the top of my head for NBA:

 

Starters

 

PG: Magic Johnson

SG: Michael Jordan

SF: Larry Bird

PF: Tim Duncan

C: Bill Russell

 

Reserves

 

PG: John Stockton

SG: Kobe Bryant

SF: LeBron James

PF: Kevin Garnett

C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

I'd round it out with Reggie Miller and Hakeem Olajuwon. Coach is Phil Jackson.

 

Where is Shaq?

 

Watching from the stands.

 

 

NBA

 

PG: Magic Johnson

SG: Micheal Jordan

SF: Larry Bird

PF: Tim Duncan

C: Wilt Chamberlain

 

Reserves

 

PG: Oscar Robertson

SG: Jerry West

SF: Julius Erving

PF: Karl Malone (blatant homerism)

C: Bill Russell

 

Pete Maravich and Kareem filling out the roster.

 

Red Auerbach coaching.

 

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I'll take a shot at an NFL 53-man roster. Everyone on here is alive last I checked. It gets pretty damn hard once you get further along (to the point where I had to put 5 MLB's on the roster and move some players into different positions), but that's the way it goes.

 

Starters-Offense:

 

QB: Joe Montana (1)

RB: Barry Sanders (2)

FB: Jim Brown (3)

WR: Jerry Rice (4)

WR: Randy Moss (5)

TE: Kellen Winslow (6)

LT: Anthony Munoz (7)

LG: John Hannah (8)

C: Dwight Stephenson (9)

RG: Larry Allen (10)

RT: Art Shell (11)

 

Starters-Defense:

 

DE: Deacon Jones (12)

DE: Gino Marchetti (13)

DT: Mean Joe Greene (14)

DT: Bob Lilly (15)

MLB: Dick Butkus (16)

OLB: Lawrence Taylor (17)

OLB: Jack Ham (18)

CB: Deion Sanders (19)

CB: Mel Blount (20)

FS: Rod Woodson (21)

SS: Ronnie Lott (22)

 

Special Teams:

 

K: Adam Vinatieri (23)

P: Ray Guy (24)

KR: Gale Sayers (25)

PR: Devin Hester (26)

 

Reserves-Offense:

 

QB: John Elway (27)

RB: LaDainian Tomlinson (28)

RB: Emmitt Smith (29)

FB: John Riggins (30)

WR: Marvin Harrison(31)

WR: Cris Carter (32)

WR: Michael Irvin (33)

TE: Shannon Sharpe (34)

TE: Tony Gonzalez (35)

LT: Jonathan Ogden (36)

LG: Randall McDaniel (37)

C: Dermontti Dawson (38)

RG: Bruce Matthews (39)

RT: Dan Dierdorf (40)

 

Reserves-Defense:

 

DE: Bruce Smith (41)

DE/DT: Randy White (42)

DT: Alan Page (43)

DT: Merlin Olsen (44)

MLB: Jack Lambert (45)

MLB: Ray Lewis (46)

MLB: Mike Singletary (47)

OLB: Junior Seau (48)

OLB: Ted Hendricks (49)

CB: Mike Haynes(50)

CB: Darrell Green (51)

FS: Ed Reed (52)

SS: Ken Houston (53)

 

Coach: Bill Belichick

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NBA

 

PG: Magic Johnson

SG: Micheal Jordan

SF: Larry Bird

PF: Tim Duncan

C: Wilt Chamberlain

 

Reserves

 

PG: Oscar Robertson

SG: Jerry West

SF: Julius Erving

PF: Karl Malone (blatant homerism)

C: Bill Russell

 

Pete Maravich and Kareem filling out the roster.

 

Red Auerbach coaching.

 

Wilt Chamberlain, Pete Maravich and Red Auerbach are all very dead.

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NBA:

 

Starters

PG. Chris Paul

SG. Michael Jordan

SF. Lebron James

PF. Kevin Garnett

C. Dwight Howard

 

Reserves

PG. Steve Nash

SG. Reggie Miller

SF. Scottie Pippen

PF. Tim Duncan

C. Shaq

 

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson filling out the roster. Phil Jackson as coach.

 

 

NFL:

 

QB: Tom Brady (Starter) Brett Favre (Backup)

RB: Barry Sanders (Starter) Earl Campbell (Backup) Marshall Faulk (Backup)

FB: Mike Allstott (Starter) Daryl Johnston (Backup)

WR: Jerry Rice (Starter) Marvin Harrison (Backup)

WR: Larry Fitzgerald (Starter) Terrell Owens (Backup) Wes Welker (Backup)

TE: Jason Witten (Starter) Tony Gonzales (Backup)

 

OL: The Hogs

 

DE: Reggie White (Starter) Jason Taylor (Backup)

DT: Albert Haynesworth (Starter) Warren Sapp (Backup)

DE: Bruce Smith (Starter) Michael Strahan (Backup)

LBs: "Dome Patrol" - Pat Swilling, Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills (Don't care if he's dead), Vaughn Johnson (Starters)

LB: Lawrence Taylor (Backup)

LB: DeMarcus Ware (Backup)

CB: Deion Sanders (Starter) Champ Bailey (Backup)

SS: Troy Polamalu (Starter) Ronnie Lott (Backup)

FS: Ed Reed (Starter) Brian Dawkins (Backup)

CB: Rod Woodson (Starter) Nnamdi Asomugha (Backup)

K: Nick Folk (Sorry, but he's dead on 99% of the time)

P: Sean Landetta

KR: Brian Mitchell

PR: Dante Hall

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Guest Agent of Oblivion
RB: Walter Payton(28)

 

Dead.

 

QB: Joe Montana (1)

 

Get bent.

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Magic & Bird are the 11th & 12th people on your team? Really?

 

Magic should probably be ahead of Steve Nash, but for some reason, I just think Chris Paul is an all around better fit for the starting 5. Lebron is just filthy so he's not going anywhere, but I could see swapping out Pippen for Bird for a 3 ball shooter off the bench. Bird would be a great 6th man.

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From time to time I've tried coming up with an MLB Dream Team. Always a fun idea, but it leads to a lot of tough cuts. Particularly when it comes to an established ancient player like Honus Wagner or Babe Ruth where the statistical evidence is overwhelming. If we limit the player pool strictly to surviving players though, we get players who are still relatively fresh in the memories of the fans. Players of whom we actually have footage. Let's see what we come up with.

 

LINEUP

C: Johnny Bench

1B: Stan Musial

2B: Joe Morgan

SS: Alex Rodriguez

3B: Mike Schmidt

LF: Barry Bonds

CF: Willie Mays

RF: Hank Aaron

DH: Frank Robinson

 

BENCH

C: Yogi Berra

C: Mike Piazza

IF: Frank Thomas

IF: Cal Ripken

IF: George Brett

OF: Ken Griffey Jr.

OF: Manny Ramirez

UT: Pete Rose

 

STAFF

SP: Roger Clemens

SP: Greg Maddux

SP: Tom Seaver

SP: Randy Johnson

SP: Pedro Martinez

CL: Mariano Rivera

RP: Goose Gossage

RP: Rollie Fingers

RP: Bruce Sutter

RP: Dennis Eckersley

RP: Billy Wagner

P: Sandy Koufax

P: Bob Feller

 

M: Earl Weaver

 

Feel free to come up with NBA, NFL or NHL versions if you wish. Or post criticisms of this one.

 

A really solid list. The only thing I would change is Jeter for A-Rod at SS and I would get rid of Pedro and put in Nolan Ryan.

 

Edit: Oh, and take that shitbag Manny out and put in Reggie Jackson.

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A really solid list. The only thing I would change is Jeter for A-Rod at SS and I would get rid of Pedro and put in Nolan Ryan.

A-Rod >>>>>>>>> Jeter

 

Pedro >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ryan

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Guest Agent of Oblivion
TE: Jason Witten (Starter) Tony Gonzales (Backup)

 

bwuh.jpg

 

Tony Gonzalez is ninth all time in career receptions. NINTH! That's more than Randy Moss, Steve Largent, Shannon Sharpe, and Michael Irvin. He's 21st all time in receiving yards, which is ten places ahead of Sharpe, and will likely pass Irvin next season (if not, definitely the year after), and is only 2000 yards or so behind Largent. It's likely he'll pass him as well, landing Gonzalez near the top ten. His 76 TDs is by FAR the most for a TE. Jason Witten my ass.

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NBA:

 

Starters

PG. Chris Paul

SG. Michael Jordan

SF. Lebron James

PF. Kevin Garnett

C. Dwight Howard

 

Reserves

PG. Steve Nash

SG. Reggie Miller

SF. Scottie Pippen

PF. Tim Duncan

C. Shaq

 

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson filling out the roster. Phil Jackson as coach.

 

I'm guessing that you are a younger guy, as your list reflects that.

 

My NBA team would be:

 

Starters

PG. Magic Johnson

SG. Michael Jordan

SF. Larry Bird

PF. Tim Duncan

C. Bill Russell

 

Reserves

PG. Isiah Thomas

SG. Kobe

SF. LeBron James

SF. Scottie Pippen

PF. Karl Malone

PF. Kevin Garnett

C. Shaq

 

Leaving Olajuwon off hurts, but I think overall I'd like to have Shaq as the back up center.

 

Everyone leaving Isiah off their lists is criminal. Chris Paul may get there someday, but he's not in Zeke's league yet.

 

 

 

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