All Post-War Teams
 

Who are your all-time post-war teams for each league? Here are mine. What do you think, yay or nay? I included a DH for the AL, and a utility position for the NL to make it fair (plus, Rose played just about every position at one time or another). But feel free to make yours however you wish, just keep it post-war.

AL

1B - Harmon Killebrew
2B - Rod Carew
SS - Cal Ripken Jr.
3B - Brooks Robinson
OF - Mickey Mantle
OF - Ted Williams
OF - Al Kaline
C - Carlton Fisk
P - Nolan Ryan
DH - Carl Yastrzemski


NL

1B - Stan Musial
2B - Jackie Robinson
SS - Ernie Banks
3B - Mike Schmidt
OF - Willie Mays
OF - Hank Aaron
OF - Roberto Clemente
C - Johnny Bench
P - Sandy Koufax
Utility - Pete Rose

AL
1b Frank Thomas
2b Rod Carew
3b George Brett
SS Cal Ripken Jr
OF Rickey Henderson
OF Ken Griffey Jr
OF Al Kaline
C Yogi Berra
P Randy Johnson
DH Mickey Mantle

I am good with your NL team.

Good team. I might pitch Clemens instead. And I might take Reggie over Kaline for power.

Now, if I were making an actual team to take the field in a game, I'd probably use Rickey Henderson as my lead off. His overall numbers aren't quite as gaudy as these fellas, but with his speed and intangibles, he's probably the greatest lead off man to ever play.

I've been told that Frank Thomas and Miguel Cabrera are both better choices for 1B. And honestly, that's probably true, but I love Harmon Killebrew, dang it!

I felt great about my 3 OFs in the NL, but the AL is much more difficult. I feel like Mantle and Williams are locks, but there are a handful of guys fighting for the 3rd spot. Perhaps Williams would be better at DH, however, as he wasn't particularly heralded for his glove. I tried to include the entire position when thinking about these guys, not just the bat, which is why I took Kaline over Frank Robinson. With these numbers, you can see how difficult the process was. It really comes down to what you value the most.

Al Kaline
22 seasons, .297, 3007 hits, 399 hr, 1583 rbi, 18x All Star, 10x Golden Glove, 1955 AL batting champ, 1 ws

Frank Robinson
21 seasons, .294, 2943 hits, 586 hr, 1812 rbi, 14x all star, 1 golden glove, 2x MVP, 1966 triple crown, 2 ws

Ken Griffey Jr.
21 seasons, .284, 2781 hits, 630 hr, 1836 rbi, 13x all star, 10x golden glove, 1 mvp

Carl Yastrzemski
23 seasons, .285, 3419 hits, 452 hr, 1844 rbi, 18x all star, 7 golden glove, 1967 triple crown, 1 mvp, 3x batting champ