Ah, the epitome of fantasy baseball; the opportunity to assemble the greatest fantasy baseball team of all-time. The marvelous thing about writing an article about the greatest baseball players of all time is that it enables one to reflect on the glorious statistical history that the game of baseball has to offer. For those of us that have always had baseball in our lives, it is mind boggling to look at the players of today alongside the players that touched our lives growing up. It is icing on the cake when you additionally consider the iconic personas that we learned through secondhand historical knowledge. 

When writing an article about the greatest fantasy players of all time, it would be justifiable to assemble a team of players beginning in the 80’s and only consider the start of the Fantasy Baseball craze. A second acceptable method would be to look at players solely based on the “Win Shares System” developed by Bill James and expand on that concept since it is a wonderful way of identifying some of the greatest players of all time. Instead, I chose to reflect on players that fell into one of three categories: Stars of today, players that I idolized growing up or a player that has special historical standing. To give credit where credit is due, I did solicit some of my friends from various baseball leagues to send me names of players that had been particularly good for them over the years. Although I did not choose many of these players in my final selection, this input from my partners in crime is where you may detect a hint of 1990’s Mid-West, NL only bias in the player pool. 

Below you will find a trimmed down list of players that I gave a “try out” before I made the final cut. Players with a year beside their name were seriously considered on the final team.

Brian McCann, Mike Piazza (1997), Johnny Bench (1972)

First Base        

Albert Pujols (2005), Adam Dunn, Todd Helton, Mark McGwire, Willie McCovey, Lou Gehrig (1934)

Chase Utley (2006), Jeff Kent (2000), Joe Morgan, Rod Carew (1977), Rogers Hornsby

Third Base        

David Wright (2007), Miguel Cabrera (2006), Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones (2001), Mike Schmidt (1980), George Brett, Paul Molitor, Wade Boggs, Brooks Robinson

Short Stop        

Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes, Miguel Tejada, Derek Jeter, Barry Larkin(1995), Cal Ripken Jr. (1991), Robin Yount, Honus Wagner (1908)

Outfield/Utility      

Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds (2001), Sammy Sosa, Roberto Clemente (1967), Ted Williams, Ty Cobb (1B), Willie Mays (1955), Hank Aaron (1959), Stan Musial, Pete Rose (1969), Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle (1956), Joe DiMaggio (1948), Babe Ruth (1927) 

Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Randy Johnson (2002), Roy Oswalt, Greg Maddux, Pedro  Martinez, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan (1973), Bob Gibson (1968), Sandy Koufax (1965), Walter Johnson (1913), Cy Young (1901)

Relief Pitchers        

John Smoltz (2002), Eric Gagne (2003), Trevor Hoffman (1998), Lee Smith, Rollie Fingers

So, how do you boil down such an awesome group of talented people to a team that will make the final list? A statistician would have taken every player, crunched their numbers and developed the best statistical team. I, on the other hand, selected a few players I liked at each position and then selected their best statistical years. As you would guess, many of these players have had many great years. When I had to make difficult decisions, I typically chose power over speed and batting average over power for hitters. For pitchers, I chose wins over strikeouts.

I did not go through every player’s numbers, year by year, so I may not have assembled the very best team statistically possible. However, from a pure fan perspective, I’ll put this team up against anyone’s. Considering I have Hank Aaron, Mike Schmidt, Rod Carew, Rickey Henderson, Albert Pujols, Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, John Smoltz and Roger Clemens on my bench to round out my 23 man roster, I think I’ll be able to catch up if I’m a little short on stolen bases or strikeouts. Heck, I might even call In the Babe to pitch a few games if I need to.

Catcher

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Ah, The Wizard of Oz
written by Richard Carter, May 28, 2009

Yes, Orel and Ozzie should have definitely been considered in the list. Maybe Ozzie will make the All-Gold Glove or Backflip list.

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The All Time Fantasy Team
written by Brent Sheftz, May 28, 2009

Other notables in my book are:
1st Base- Eddie Murray
SS- Ozzie Smith
OF- Jim Edmonds
SP- Orel Hershiser
Great stuff Richard, thanks for the good memories of past players!

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Best Managers?
written by Richard Carter, May 27, 2009

I don't know if there really are any "Best" managers, but the one's that I favor (in no particular order) are: Casey Stengal, Bobby Cox, Sparky Anderson, Connie Mack, Tommy Lasorda, Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, and Joe Torre

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...
written by david, May 27, 2009

It is really hard to select an all time team. Who would be the altime managers?

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Nice Job, Richard.
written by Ackshawn, May 26, 2009

I thought you did a fine job explaining your selections and your organization of the table was great. Obviously I went in a different direction than this, but that was just a personal choice. As a "greatest fantasy team of all time" goes, yours kicks ass.

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