Players Born in Alabama – Baseball-Reference.com

Just playing around on an off-day. I count only players who played in the majors but Negro league performance can be considered. *Hall of Famer. Starters:

*3B Joe Sewell
*SS Ozzie Smith
*CF Willie Mays
*RF Hank Aaron
*1B Willie McCovey
*LF Billy Williams
C Spud Davis
2B Frank Bolling

Sewell, of course, was mostly a shortstop in the majors but played about 600 games at third base. He was a terrific player but Ozzie obviously was Ozzie and anyone gets shifted to second or third for him. The best “pure” third baseman was probably Jim Tabor or another Jim, Davenport, but they were far inferior hitters to Sewell, even considering the era difference.

I don’t think any state can beat the 3-6 group; maybe some can match. The 7-8 pair is pretty weak, though Spud Davis was a good hitter, comparable to Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi (and a better defensive player) through age 31. He just didn’t play regularly that much and had only two years of more than 400 AB. If you were to cheat, Hank Aaron played about 40 games at second base; you could slide Monte Irvin or George Foster into right. Speaking of:

Bench

C Luke Sewell
*OF Monte Irvin
OF George Foster
OF Heinie Manush
1B Lee May
IF Jim Davenport
IF Jim Tabor

Sewell was actually a more highly regarded player than Davis, and played 20 seasons in the bigs, but he was a .259 hitter in a big-hitting era; I’d much rather have Davis.

Heinie Manush probably “should” be in the Hall of Fame, in that everybody else like him is in. (Of his top ten Sim Score comps, nine are Hall of Famers.) He wasn’t really the type of player we think of as a Hall of Famer, but he had over 2500 hits and won a batting title, and finished as high as second in the MVP voting. You could argue that as a lefthanded hitter he’d be more valuable to this team than Williams.

If you actually had this collection of talents, you’d probably move Sewell to second and play Monte Irvin, who played short in the Negro leagues, at third, especially considering the defensive talents of Smith and Mays would make up for a lot elsewhere. Irvin’s in the Hall mostly for what he did in segregated ball, many of whose players thought Irvin, not Jackie Robinson, should have been the first black player in the majors.

Alabama probably should ditch the other nicknames and go with “cradle of centerfielders”. In addition to the unparalleled Willie, look at some of the guys who didn’t make the team:

Amos Otis
Willie Wilson
Terry Moore
Tommie Agee

All of these guys were considered the best defensive CF in baseball at one point, and Otis probably should be on the team if you’d be willing to go with one backup infielder.

Starting Pitchers

*Satchel Paige
*Don Sutton
*Early Wynn
Jimmy Key
Doyle Alexander

Satchel was, in my opinion, the best pitcher ever. Basically, you had Nolan Ryan’s fastball mixed with Greg Maddux’s control and pitching knowledge, all in the body of an NBA small forward and with unmatched durability. Paige was good enough to make two All-Star teams in his mid forties and get out AAA hitters into his fifties.

Sutton and Wynn are basically the same guy, 300-game winners who spent a couple of decades as broadcasters saying that nobody would ever win 300 games again because today’s pitchers are pussies. That doesn’t change the fact that they were great pitchers.

Key wasn’t in that class, but he was pretty darned good all the same. Alexander is most famous now for being traded for Smoltz, but he too was a good pitcher if a miserable human being. Other candidates: Rip Sewell, Virgil Trucks.

RELIEF PITCHERS

The weak spot of the team.

CL Jeff Brantley
RP Dave Veres
RP Clay Carroll
RP Al Worthington

These are the only Alabamians who spent much time as a relief ace; I went with the Human Mullet as the closer because 172 are the most. You can fill out the last spot with one of the starters who didn’t make it.