New ROM - All-Time States

[fightonusc]

I can't replace Fingers as the RP, that's for sure. And Jeff Shaw was one of the top closers in the game for about two to three years. McDowell and Tekulve weren't as dominant in their time.

One thing about batters - I generally tried to go for power guys over average/speed guys within reason. I tried to make sure I had at least one leadoff/fast/average player per line-up. I used SLG and OPS a lot to make tough decisions for me, as well as the basis for a lot of the power numbers.

Pat Tabler? C'mon, seriously. He was a .282 lifetime hitter with 464 career HRs. And he played more games at 1B than in the OF. George Sisler all locked up - even Chris Chambliss would have been ahead of Tabler.

Shannon Stewart doesn't have enough power to justify bumping any of the three starting OFs off the list. I might consider swapping him for Al Oliver, but it's kind of a wash for me.

Johnny Roseboro has a very good defensive catcher, but that doesn't translate to RBI. If this was a "Beaten On The Head With A Baseball Bat by Juan Marichal" team, he'd be first pick, though.

Ewing and Delahanty - again, I stayed away from pre-Ruth players if at all possible.

Plank falls into this same category (plus, at least there's a chance that someone other than a hardcore baseball fan will know hoe Rube Waddell is).

There is no way that Lance Parrish is going ahead of Mike Piazza, that's for sure. For bench players, who would I take out to put him in? Maybe Ripper Collins, but I just don't quite see it. Although I didn't use average as my first criteria, I can't ignore Parrish's lousy .252 lifetime average. Basically, after trying to eliminate the pre-Ruth players, I went with building the best line-up as the first priority. Only if it was close did I turn to if someone was an RBI player, etc.

Hank Sauer was probably No. 5 on my bench list. Looking at it now, I certainly might substitute him for Ripper Collins - again, I don't like the mediocre average, but the other numbers might be too much to ignore. Furrilo just didn't make the grade.

[fightonusc]

And to address the Spahn/Ford thing...I would hardly say "twice the pitcher" is accurate. Ford had a better lifetime winning percentage, ERA, Ks per 9 innings, and was perhaps the best playoff pitcher of his era.

[Dryden]

There is a solid case to be made that Tekulve was one of the top closers of the late 70's, but more importantly, cool sidearm pitchers always make life more interesting.

Gettsburg Eddie!  Lefthanded sidearmer!  300 wins! He was also known as the human rain-delay...  You've got to love someone like that.

I think we just disagree about some of what makes a player great, which is cool.  Doubt I'll look through any more states today, but hey, you never know.

If only Idaho had some pitchers and 11 more good hitters, Harmon Killebrew would be huge.

[Baines]

Tekulve would be a definite must if you could edit in the sunglasses and the old school Pirates hat that looked like a painters cap.  He looked like a fucking bumblebee.

[fightonusc]

That would be so tight. You're right. He looked like John Belushi as one of the Killer Bs from the old Saturday Night Live.

[Gantry]

I agree with Tekulve, not only does he reek of RBI, he's one of the all-time pitchers in terms of relief appearance...

Pat Tabler is the greatest hitter of all-time with the bases loaded, good for RBI but not worth a spot.  What is important is that whenever someone is batting with the bases loaded in a real game, you must immediately say "He's no Pat Tabler" - I do it everytime and usually get a laugh...

[punkska20]

gotta add Joe Sewell to that Bama lineup.

[Dryden]

gotta add Joe Sewell to that Bama lineup.

Because he's somehow better than Ozzie Smith?

[punkska20]

...actually joe's lifetime stats wouldn't make him very good in RBI.  But you gotta give it up to a dude that only struck out 3 times in 503 AB in '32.

[Flood]

What is important is that whenever someone is batting with the bases loaded in a real game, you must immediately say "He's no Pat Tabler" - I do it everytime and usually get a laugh...

Awesome...I love it

[punkska20]

gotta add Joe Sewell to that Bama lineup.

Because he's somehow better than Ozzie Smith?

Yup.  .262 vs .312,  1.5hr/y vs 3.5hr/year
But yeah, i'd have to take Ozzie just for his speed in RBI.

[JoeDirt]

Pat Tabler is the greatest hitter of all-time with the bases loaded, good for RBI but not worth a spot.  What is important is that whenever someone is batting with the bases loaded in a real game, you must immediately say "He's no Pat Tabler" - I do it everytime and usually get a laugh...

"Mr. Clutch," 1986 Donruss card...CLASSY!

[fightonusc]

Also, 'bama needs a catcher...  Luke Sewell.

Candelaria started 356 games in his career...  I think you have him mixed up with someone else.

Just to clarify something, Dryden, Candelaria also was a reliever for 244 games, so I felt that I had some leeway to use him as a middle reliever. Although, I am subbing him out for John Franco in the revised version of this.

[fightonusc]

OK, I went ahead and made some changes to the All-Time States ROM, based on your feedback (thanks especially to Dryden and Gantry)...Added Florida and Alabama teams, put in John Franco and Kent Tekulve.

Let me know your thoughts...

[fightonusc]

Here's the updated rosters...

[malnuboy]

that seems like a lot of work man, nicely done. Just out of curiosity you have Bonds as one of the faster players of the group,is that based on his earlier years?

[fightonusc]

Yeah, since I'm taking career stats and not single season, I kind of have to average out a player's stats throughout the course of his career. With speed, if the guy averaged 20 steals per season throughout his career, but had 30 steals for the first seven seasons and 10 for the last seven, I was going to rate him as higher than a 20 steal/year guy. It's subjective, and a little difficult at times.

[BeefMaster]

Johnny Roseboro has a very good defensive catcher, but that doesn't translate to RBI. If this was a "Beaten On The Head With A Baseball Bat by Juan Marichal" team, he'd be first pick, though.

That made me laugh.  An "All-Brawl" team would be pretty cool - first, though, you'd need to modify the graphics and put a little Robin Ventura under Nolan Ryan's arm, getting repeatedlly punched in the face.