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 fourth post in a series, this time focusing on third basemen. 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
Braves: Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones (Bob Elliott, Jimmy Collins, Bob Horner, Darrell Evans, Terry Pendleton)
This is one of the best combinations at any position for any franchise, as Mathews and Jones were both superstars during their respective eras. And the Braves have had many other good third basemen over the years including Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Collins and power hitters like Elliott, Horner, and Evans.
Phillies: Mike Schmidt, Scott Rolen (Placido Polanco, Willie Jones, Pinky Whitney)
Mike Schmidt remains arguably the greatest 3B of all time. Scott Rolen split his career between the Phillies and Cardinals, but had some fine seasons in Philadelphia both offensively and defensively. The depth after that is not impressive, but I shifted Dick Allen over to 1B for the Phillies all-time dream team as they had less impressive candidates there than Schmidt and Rolen here.
The Other Original Franchises (alphabetical order)
- Athletics: Sal Bando, Frank Baker (Eric Chavez, Carney Lansford, Jimmy Dykes)
- Cardinals: Ken Boyer, Scott Rolen (Joe Torre, Matt Carpenter, Whitey Kurowski)
- Cubs: Ron Santo, Stan Hack (Ned Williamson, Kris Bryant, Aramis Ramirez, Heinie Zimmerman)
- Dodgers: Ron Cey, Jim Gilliam (Adrian Beltre, Justin Turner)
- Giants: Frankie Frisch, Matt Williams (Art Devlin, Freddie Lindstrom, Jim Ray Hart, Hank Thompson, Darrell Evans)
- Indians: Al Rosen, Ken Keltner (Bill Bradley, Jose Ramirez, Buddy Bell)
- Orioles: Brooks Robinson, Harlond Clift (Manny Machado, Doug DeCinces, Melvin Mora)
- Pirates: Pie Traynor, Tommy Leach (Bobby Bonilla, Bill Madlock, Bob Elliott, Richie Hebner)
- Reds: Tony Perez, Heinie Groh (Arlie Latham, Chris Sabo, Todd Frazier)
- Red Sox: Wade Boggs, Jimmy Collins (Larry Gardner, Frank Malzone)
- Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, George Kell (Travis Fryman, Ray Boone)
- Twins: Harmon Killebrew, Gary Gaetti (Ossie Bluege, Buddy Lewis, Eddie Yost)
- White Sox: Robin Ventura, Willie Kamm (Bill Melton, Pete Ward, Lee Tannehill)
- Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, Graig Nettles (Red Rolfe, Frank Baker)
Plenty of Hall of Famers and other star names here, including Santo, Frisch, Robinson, Traynor, Boggs, Cabrera, Killebrew, A-Rod, and others. Some of these guys played more time at 1B or 2B — Gilliam, Frisch, Perez, Cabrera, Killebrew — but were included on their team’s dream team roster at 3B because it was a weaker position.
The Best of the 14 Expansion Era Franchises
Royals: George Brett, Kevin Seitzer (Mike Moustakas, Joe Randa, Paul Schaal)
Brett is of course one of the all-time greats at 3B. So with Seitzer and Moustakas as capable backups, I consider this to be one of the stronger cohorts amongst these teams.
Rangers: Adrian Beltre, Buddy Bell (Ken McMullen, Hank Blalock, Dean Palmer)
Very nice combination of offense and defense in both Beltre and Bell. And some good HR pop from the rest of this group too.
Rockies: Nolan Arenado, Vinny Castilla
Arenado is a superstar both offensively and defensively, becoming one of the greatest 3B of all time. And Castilla had 30+ HR six times for the Rockies, making for a strong duo for a team with such a short history.
The Other Expansion Era Franchises (alphabetical order)
- Angels: Troy Glaus, Chone Figgins (Doug DeCinces)
- Astros: Alex Bregman, Doug Rader (Ken Caminiti, Morgan Ensberg)
- Blue Jays: Josh Donaldson, Kelly Gruber (Rance Mulliniks, Brett Lawrie)
- Brewers: Paul Molitor, Don Money (Jeff Cirillo, Kevin Seitzer)
- Diamondbacks: Matt Williams, Jake Lamb (Mark Reynolds)
- Mariners: Edgar Martinez, Adrian Beltre (Kyle Seager, Jim Presley)
- Marlins: Miguel Cabrera, Mike Lowell
- Mets: David Wright, Howard Johnson (Robin Ventura, Bobby Bonilla, Wayne Garrett)
- Padres: Chase Headley, Ken Caminiti (Phil Nevin)
- Rays: Evan Longoria, Aubrey Huff
- Nationals: Tim Wallach, Bob Bailey (Larry Parrish)
Some good names here, including Hall of Famer Paul Molitor and Edgar Martinez, though both, especially Martinez, spent a lot of time as a DH. I’ve updated the Astros grouping from what was in the book to now include Bregman, as after his outstanding 2019 season he is clearly deserving. And the Nationals/Expos franchise has also had Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon at the hot corner, but they were included in this analysis at their other positions of 1B and 2B, respectively.