Thursday, May 21, 2009

Best All-Time Sox Batting Lineup?

List them off, please -- a proper nine-man batting lineup drawn from across the entire history of the Red Sox franchise. Please put them in your preferred batting order, with position or DH noted.

23 comments:

Aaron_Strout said...

1973 Tommy Harper OF
1941 Ted Williams OF
1987 Wade Boggs 3B
1921 Babe Ruth P
2007 Manny Ramirez DH
2004 David Ortiz 1B
1978 Jim Rice OF
1977 Carlton Fisk C
2008 Dustin Pedroia 2B
1999 Nomar Garciaparra SS

Derek Peplau said...

Is this just for offense, or do we factor in defensive prowess as well?

Aaron_Strout said...

I think given the title, Tim was focusing on just offense (but obviously they have to play unique positions). An interesting follow up would be the flavor that you're suggesting.

Jim Storer said...

good question derek... i was thinking the same thing.

Warren said...

I like Aaron's team, especially the inclusion of Tommy Harper who had a great year and was really underrated. Also, playing Ortiz at 1B to make room for Manny was ingenius. But in the spirit of things:

1987 Boggs 3B
1967 Yaz OF
1941 Williams OF
1939 Foxx 1B
1921 Ruth P
1978 Rice OF
2004 Ortiz DH
1969 Petrocelli SS
1977 Fisk C
2008 Pedroia 2b

and 1978 Fred Lynn off the bench

Doug Haslam said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Doug Haslam said...

OK, here's mine

1 - 1946 Dom Dimaggio CF (Better than his brother Joe...)

2 - 1987 Wade Boggs 3B (Fuck you Boggs you're batting 2nd)

3 - 1947 Ted Williams LF (There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived)

4 - 2004 Manny Ramirez RF (got a better idea? 1999 Pedro is pitching so no balls will go there and he played RF in Cleveland)

5 - 1978 Jim Rice DH (Most feared slugger of the 1970s-80s)

6 - 1977 Carlton Fisk C (best hitting catcher, Johnny Bench can bite me)

7 - 1970 Carl Yastrzemski 1b (You guys are assholes for leaving him off so far)

8 - 1999 Nomar Garciapparra SS (He was better than Jeter when he had it going)

9 - 1978 Jerry Remy 2B (Petey ain't proved shit yet, and Remy will steal 35 bases with a butt hanging out of his mouth)

Defensive Replacement- Dwight Evans, RF (Yes, you thought of that too when I put Manny in right)

Doug Haslam said...

OK, Warren is not an asshole & I can't read. I get points for spelling Yastzemski (the man we call Yaz- we love him)

Anonymous said...

OF - 1941 Ted Williams
OF - 1979 Fred Lynn
OF - 1967 Carl Yastremski
1B - 1939 Jimmy Foxx
2B - 1950 Bobby Doerr
3B - 1985 Wade Boggs
SS - 1999 Nomar Garciapara
C - 1977 Carlton Fisk
P - 1999 Pedro Martnez
R - 1964 Dick Radatz
Pinch Runner - 2004 Dave Roberts

Tim said...

Loving the Foxx shouts - and the 10-man lineups. ;)

Jim Storer said...

ok - just checking back in after doing my research and seeing some new posts picked some of my guys. Here we go:

1999 Nomar Garciaparra (SS)- This was before he swung at the first pitch and popped everything up.

1987 Wade Boggs (3B) - I just want to see his GF(s) rooting for him in the stands. And if Nomar pops up, Wade is sure to get on base for...

1941 Ted Williams (OF) - ...this is where it starts to get scary for opposing pitchers.

2004 Manny Ramirez (OF) - he's a hitting savant. Remember, this is best all time BATTING line-up... we can debate best line-up in another post.

1919 Babe Ruth (P) - I'm gonna let him pitch just so we can see him hit (and I can't believe he's in the 5-spot). How do you leave him off? And I'm calling foul on Aaron picking one of his seasons in pinstripes... are you kidding me?!?!

1967 Carl Yastrzemski (OF) - I'm with Doug here... who are you guys? This is Yaz. Look it up.

1977 Carlton Fisk (C) - 'nuf said.

1938 Jimmie Foxx (1B) - 50 HRs, 175 RBI and a .462 OBP... sorry Papi.

1949 Bobby Doerr (2B) - Monster year for the original little man.

Honorable Mention: 1979 Fred Lynn (OF) - I thought about playing Manny at 2nd just squeeze Fred in... Manny would have no idea he was out of position.

Jim Storer said...

...that's in batting order and Yastrzemski is spelled correctly (for the first time in the comments, btw).

Warren said...

Great choices, everyone. Ok, Doug, you get spelling points for Yaz. If we agree that it is just hitting, then you got to have Ruth on the mound. Of course, we cheat and add a DH, too. So maybe it is softball with a 10 man line-up. I'm going to fill my team with sentimental subs, but still good players:

Jerry Remy
Johnny Pesky
George Scott
Dwight Evans
Mike Greenwell
Tony C - ok Doug, Conigliaro
Bill Buckner - much maligned (and to tell you the truth, I was a Met fan at the time).

Aaron_Strout said...

-Tim, I actually had Yaz and Tris Speaker in until my final cut but realized I couldn't have an all outfield/DH team. Plus, as good as Speaker was offensively, he was a better defensive player -- we've discussed this ad nauseum.

-Dad, brilliant addition of 2004 Roberts as pinch runner.

-Jim, so I took a little poetic license w/ the Babe. Would you have let him pitch/hit for the Sox in 1921 even if he was on the Yanks? I would have. ;)

Doug Haslam said...

Not sure why I picked Remy over Doerr. I like Rem-Dawg's speed tho.

Though about Foxx (end of career tho he did hit 50 dongs one year) and Tris Speaker (too crowded in OF)

Tim said...

Love it, guys.

One note, Jim: Foxx should hit ahead of Fisk -- and maybe others.

Jim Storer said...

Doug - For some reason Remy wasn't even on my radar. It was Doerr, Pedroia or Denny Doyle (jk) for me. IMHO, speed's overrated when you team hits 298 home runs.

Aaron - In that case, we should take Manny's monster 1999 season with the Indians. :-)

Redfish said...

OF - 1941 Ted Williams
OF - 1979 Fred Lynn
OF - 1967 Carl Yastremski
1B - 1939 Jimmy Foxx
2B - 1950 Bobby Doerr
3B - 1985 Wade Boggs
SS - 1999 Nomar Garciapara
C - 1977 Carlton Fisk
DH- 1978 Jim Rice

Yes, Rice wasnt a DH, but hey, someone has to hit for the pitcher. And Manny lost his spot in the line-up to guys who didnt juice up. Great choices, all, but Aaron...I like mixing things up a bit, but how the heck can you choose Tommy Harper over a guy who hit for the Triple Crown for gosh sakes? Just wondering?

Derek Peplau said...

I've spent half an hour trying to figure out how to work the pitcher in while still keeping everyone who deserves to be in this offensive juggernaut (which in classic Red Sox fashion is slow and plodding on the basepaths for the most part), but ultimately I decided: F- Ruth. We don't need him!

2B 1950 Bobby Doerr – If Pedroia keeps up this torrid pace, I’d put him in here, but sample is too…ermm…small.

3B 1987 Wade Boggs -- I never knew this, but he’s 6’2”! “Fried chicken for all my men!”

1B 2004 David Ortiz – Perhaps not his best statistical year in some categories, but as clutch as it gets. Papi’s not about padding his stats…he’s about when it counts and in 2004, it never counted more.
RF 2004 Manny Ramirez -- have to keep telling myself “this list is about offense…this list is about offense”. No sense breaking up the greatest 3 – 4 combo I’m ever likely to see in my lifetime.

LF 1941 Ted Williams – In case one of those Manny drives hits off the wall and he’s standing on first like a dope, here comes the greatest hitter who ever lived.

CF 1967 Carl Yastrzemski – How quickly we forget. Unless this is a list of All Time Red Sox Players Who Did NOT List Their Post-Baseball Career Aspirations in the 1981 Yearbook As: “Continue to work with Consolidated Foods”, Yaz needs to be on here.

DH 1978 Jim Rice – For 10 years, few were his equal as a feared hitter.

C 1977 Carlton Fisk – Easy choice

SS 1999 Nomar Garciaparra – When we really thought the guy was going to be legendary.

We should definitely do some other variants of this list in future. Thanks, Tim for starting this!

adamcohen said...

After an hour this morning sorting through stats, I tried seriously to come up with a batting order without looking at what everyone else put in here (well, not too much). I focused on a combo of batting average, OPS (love that stat) and total bases - not to mention batting lefty/righty. I more or less ignored whether they would be "comfortable" in the slot. Real tough call, but math says this team is dangerous. I am no GM and am happy to admit I played with www.baseball-reference.com to come up with this. I started drooling when I was finished, which figured was an indicator it was good enough to toss out there...

Tim, this is a great way to start of your contributions to BP.com!

BO Pos Bat Player Year BA OPS TB Notes
1 1B R Jimmy Foxx 1938 0.349 1.116 398 AL MVP
2 OF L Carl Yastrzemski 1967 0.326 1.040 360
3 DH R Manny Ramirez 2004 0.308 1.009 438
4 OF L Ted Williams 1941 0.406 1.287 335
5 OF R Jim Rice 1978 0.315 0.970 406 AL MVP
6 SS R Nomar Garciaparra 2000 0.372 1.033 317
7 3B L Wade Boggs 1987 0.363 1.049 324
8 2B R Bobby Doerr 1944 0.325 0.927 247
9 C R Carlton Fisk 1977 0.315 0.922 279

Bench
OF L Fred Lynn 1979 0.333 1.059 338
DH L David Ortiz 2004 0.301 0.983 351

Tim Walker said...

Great lineup, Adam -- love the stats.

My tweak (hey, I'm an editor at heart) would be to bat Nomar first, put Foxx fifth, and slide Rice down to 6th.

Doug Haslam said...

omar 1st? You're asking to lose. Boggs is the OBP guy

Tim Walker said...

Doug -- You're very right and very wrong in the span of 11 words. :)

Right: it was an oversight on my part not to put Boggs first -- his 1987 OBP was .461, while the league's was .337. Dominatin', is what I call it.

Wrong: it is ridiculous -- as you no doubt know! :) -- to say "You're asking to lose" by putting Nomar's .434 OBP (against the league's .355) in the leadoff spot.