One of the questions I get asked often during radio interviews and other discussions of my book Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises is: Which teams are particularly strong or weak at each position? After all, even the best overall dream teams have some relatively strong or weak spots.
This is the third post in a series, this time focusing on second basemen (see also catcher and first base). The oldest teams have had a lot more history to draw from, so I’ll separate the analysis into two groups: the original 16 franchises (where the AL teams date back to 1901 and the NL teams date back to the 1800s) and the 14 expansion-era teams that date to the 1960s-1990s only. And for each team I’ll list only the most notable candidates: the starter and backup I selected and one or two others I considered, though in many cases I considered several others in the book.
The Best of the Original 16 Franchises
Cardinals: Rogers Hornsby, Frankie Frisch (Red Schoendienst, Miller Huggins, Tom Herr)
Hornsby remains arguably the greatest 2B ever, and certainly the best hitting 2B ever. Frisch and Schoendienst are also in the Hall of Fame, and Huggins is also though primarily as a manager not his playing time for the Cardinals and Reds.
Cubs: Ryne Sandberg, Billy Herman (Johnny Evers, Fred Pfeffer)
Sandberg is one of the top-10 2B of all time, and Herman and Evers are also in the Hall of Fame, making this cohort one of the strongest.
White Sox: Eddie Collins, Nellie Fox (Ray Durham, Don Buford)
Collins split his career with the Athletics, but he and fellow Hall-of-Famer Fox make for a strong top two here.
Tigers: Charlie Gehringer, Lou Whitaker (Dick McAuliffe, Placido Polanco)
A clear Hall-of-Famer in Gehringer, a player who I hope will get in soon in Whitaker, and a solid 3-time all-star in McAuliffe makes for a strong cohort here.
Reds: Joe Morgan, Bid McPhee (Brandon Phillips, Lonny Frey)
Morgan is one of the best 2B ever with back-to-back MVP seasons for the Big Red Machine in the mid 1970s, while McPhee is a lesser-known Hall-of-Famer who played 18 seasons for the Reds in the 1800s and had a peak of 95 stolen bases in 1887.
The Other Original Franchises (alphabetical order)
- Athletics: Eddie Collins, Max Bishop (Danny Murphy, Mark Ellis)
- Braves: Rabbit Maranville, Marcus Giles (Bobby Lowe, Martin Prado)
- Dodgers: Jackie Robinson, Davey Lopes (Tom Daly, Steve Sax)
- Giants: Jeff Kent, Larry Doyle (Robby Thompson)
- Indians: Nap LaJoie, Bobby Avila (Jason Kipnis, Carlos Baerga)
- Orioles: Bobby Grich, Brian Roberts (Del Pratt, Davey Johnson)
- Phillies: Chase Utley, Tony Taylor (Juan Samuel, Nap LaJoie)
- Pirates: Bill Mazeroski, Claude Ritchey (Neil Walker, Johnny Ray)
- Red Sox: Dustin Pedroia, Bobby Doerr (Billy Goodman)
- Twins: Rod Carew, Chuck Knoblauch (Buddy Myer, Brian Dozier)
- Yankees: Robinson Cano, Tony Lazzeri (Willie Randolph, Joe Gordon, Gil McDougald)
Plenty of Hall of Famers and other star names here, including Collins for a second time, Robinson, LaJoie, Carew, and more. As was the case at 1B, a couple of guys split time between 2B and 3B and were included on their respective all-time dream teams at the hot corner, namely Frankie Frisch for the Giants and Jim Gilliam for the Dodgers. The Pirates are pretty weak here: after defensive wizard Bill Mazeroski the candidates weren’t really all-time dream team caliber. And the Braves franchise has rarely been strong at 2B, so I slotted Hall-of-Famer Maranville here even though he played far more time at SS than 2B.
The Best of the 14 Expansion Era Franchises
Astros: Craig Biggio, Jose Altuve (Joe Morgan, Bill Doran)
For an expansion-era franchise, this is an impressive group of 2B. Biggio played his entire Hall-of-Fame career for the Astros, and Altuve seems to be on a similar track. And although Morgan had his best years for the Reds, he started his great career with Houston and then returned late before ending with the Phillies.
Mariners: Robinson Cano, Bret Boone (Harold Reynolds, Julio Cruz)
A strong cohort of 2B here, with a nice combination of power from Cano and Boone, and speed from Reynolds and Cruz. Also some solid defense, with both Boone and Reynolds taking home three Gold Gloves while with Seattle.
The Other Expansion Era Franchises (alphabetical order)
- Angels: Bobby Grich, Howie Kendrick (Adam Kennedy, Bobby Knoop)
- Blue Jays: Roberto Alomar, Aaron Hill (Orlando Hudson, Damaso Garcia)
- Brewers: Jim Gantner, Rickie Weeks (Fernando Vina)
- Diamondbacks: Orlando Hudson, Jay Bell (Aaron Hill)
- Marlins: Luis Castillo, Dan Uggla (Dee Gordon)
- Mets: Edgardo Alfonso, Daniel Murphy (Wally Backman, Gregg Jefferies, Jeff Kent, Ron Hunt)
- Padres: Bip Roberts, Roberto Alomar (Mark Loretta, Quilvio Veras)
- Rangers: Ian Kinsler, Julio Franco (Bump Wills, Mark McLemore)
- Rays: Ben Zobrist, Logan Forsythe
- Rockies: DJ LeMahieu, Eric Young
- Royals: Frank White, Whit Merrifield (Cookie Rojas, Jose Offerman)
- Nationals: Anthony Rendon, Jose Vidro (Ron Hunt, Delino DeShields, Mike Lansing)
Some good names here, including Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar twice, as well as underrated stars like Bobby Grich and Frank White. Bip Roberts played all over the field for the Padres, and Anthony Rendon of course played a mix of 2B and 3B, with his time with the Nationals now appearing to be over.