Greatest Baseball Team Ever

[gonefishing]

[MrSandman]

1. Any year's Yankees...

:crazy:

[ClintonTyree]

2. I'm glad............

you weren't foolish enough to list anyone but Yankees! ;)

[SmileyBoy]

3. Boy, you sure do like the Yankees!!!

I'd actually watch baseball if it was... um, you know... entertaining.

[Norbert]

4. The 1976 Cincinnati Reds.

:bounce:

[winga222]

5. Big Red Machine 1975-1976

Abso-frickin-lutely. Harder in a city that has to watch payroll $$$.

[Blue-Jay]

9. BIG RED MACHINE!

Those men were Gods.

[Redleg]

15. Ditto -I posted below before I saw you had already named them.

EOM

[GumboYaYa]

28. How many hall of famers were on that team?

It has to be a sick number. Off the top of my head without thinking it through I say there were at least six.

[sir_captain]

6. 39 Yanks

by a nose over the 98 Yanks

70s Orioles teams are up there as well

[Arger68]

7. 1991 Twins

Okay, so they weren't, but still have to go with the home favorite!!!!

[Champ]

8. The 1997 Colorado Rockies

WOOHOO!!!

[curse10]

18. Walt Weiss rocks my world

most underrated short stop ever.

Oh. And FUCK the yankees!

[denverbill]

19. I'm voting 2004 Rockies.

I would've voted 1997 Rockies, but since they only finished 3rd in their division that year, some people foolishly don't buy that.

[NashVegas]

10. '86 Mets

'nuff said

[voter x]

29. Agreed

Miracle Mets of 86....I got to see them play against the Tides(farm Team) that year....DARRYL, DARRYL DARRYL....I can still hear the chants!

[Bertha Venation]

11. Yeah, right. Sorry, gonefishing -- not even close.

Try the 1984 Detroit Tigers.

BTW, snippiness not intended. The subject just came out that way.

[JVS]

12. When I used to play APBA baseball with my dad...

The 1927 Yankees were the best set of cards in 60 some years worth of teams

[mouse7]

13. 1984 Detroit Tigers!

1984 Detroit Tigers
104-58 (.642)
Manager: Sparky Anderson
Won division by 15 games over the Toronto Blue Jays.
ALCS: Swept the Kansas City Royals in three games.
World Series: Beat the San Diego Padres in five games.


When he was named manager of the struggling Detroit Tigers in 1979, Sparky Anderson promised that he'd build a contender within two years. It took twice as long as he'd expected, but Sparky's Tigers were worth the wait. After winning 92 games in 1983, the veteran club burst out of the gate in 1984 with 35 victories in their first 40 games -- a major-league record. They never looked back.

Although the Tigers fell back to earth after their season-opening streak, getting swept by the Mariners and playing .500 ball over the next 40 games, Anderson's resilient, tightly-knit team stormed back to finish with 104 victories, the highest total in the franchise's 83-year history. In doing so, they became only the third team ever to spend an entire season at the top of the standings.

Detroit began spring training with a well-constructed, well-balanced mix of veterans who knew how to win. They were extremely talented up the middle, with All-Stars behind the plate (Lance Parrish) and in center field (Chet Lemon) and the best keystone combination in baseball -- second baseman Lou Whitaker and shortstop Alan Trammell. They had a bona fide ace in Jack Morris and a solid second starter in Dan Petry. And they'd signed Darrell Evans -- their first free-agent acquisition ever -- to add some pop to their lineup.

But the final pieces of the puzzle arrived just before the season began. On March 24, the Tigers traded Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss to the Phillies for first baseman Dave Bergman and reliever Willie Hernandez. Bergman, a steady glove man, settled in as the Tigers' everyday first baseman, contributing an epic tenth-inning homer to beat division rivals Toronto in June.

Hernandez teamed with talented but aging closer Aurelio Lopez to give Anderson a pair of deadly late-inning options. Lopez went 10-1 and saved 14 games, while Hernandez won nine, converted 32 of 33 save opportunities, and posted an ERA of 1.92 -- earning him both MVP and Cy Young Award honors after the season. "If Toronto had them," Anderson said of the tandem, "we'd be trailing by as much, if not more, than the Jays."

Other keys emerged as the season progressed. Milt Wilcox won seventeen games as the club's third starter and right fielder Kirk Gibson finally realized his potential with a .291 average, 27 homers, 91 RBIs, and a team-leading 29 stolen bases. But Gibson's greatest contributions came in the postseason. Spectacular defensive play and key hits won him ALCS MVP honors, and he added two homers in Game Five of the World Series -- including a game-sealing, three-run blast off Goose Gossage in the eighth -- as the Tigers dispatched the Padres for their fourth championship.


LINEUP
2B Lou Whitaker .289, 13 HR, 56 RBI
SS Alan Trammell .314, 14 HR, 69 RBI, 19 SB
RF Kirk Gibson .282, 27 HR, 91 RBI, 29 SB
C Lance Parrish .237, 33 HR, 98 RBI
DH Darrell Evans .232, 16 HR, 63 RBI
LF Larry Herndon .280, 7 HR, 43 RBI
1B Dave Bergman .273, 7 HR, 44 RBI
CF Chet Lemon .287, 20 HR, 76 RBI
3B Howard Johnson .289, 9 HR, 45 RBI, 25 SB

ROTATION
P Jack Morris 19-11, 3.60 ERA, 148 K
P Dan Petry 18-8, 3.24 ERA, 144 K
P Milt Wilcox 17-8, 4.00 ERA, 119 K
P Juan Berenguer 11-10, 3.48 ERA, 118 K

BULLPEN
P Willie Hernandez 9-3, 1.92 ERA, 32 SV
P Aurelio Lopez 10-1, 2.94 ERA, 14 SV
P Doug Bair 5-3, 3.75 ERA, 4 SV

KEY RESERVES
IF Tom Brookens .246, 5 HR, 26 RBI
1B-DH Barbaro Garbey .287, 5 HR, 52 RBI
OF Ruppert Jones .284, 12 HR, 37 RBI
OF Johnny Grubb .267, 8 HR, 17 RBI

[Paragon]

22. Barbaro Garbey!

There's a name I haven't heard in a while...but I preferred Torey Lovullo.

:silly:

Yes, the 84 Tigers were the greatest -- and to think they almost played the Cubbies...

[mouse7]

30. I screwed up and left my fav. off... Marty Castillo

Castillo in the World Series half dive, half crawl scramble for 3rd after getting to that line drive screamer.

[Redleg]

14. The 1975 & 1976 Reds- the Big Red Machine

A great team- way better than any stinking Yankees team ;)

[Van Helsing]

16. The 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins!

F-the damn yankees. :grr:

[MrChupon]

23. Amen

Amen!

[Parrcrow]

17. '93 Blue Jays

[7 Lazy P]

20. Without a doubt

The 1950's Yankees. Won 6 of the 10 World Series played in the decade (and threw in 1949 for good measure) They also has the best won-lost record for the decade: 955-582 .621

They dominated the sport like no other team did before or after. The only comparison would be the Montreal Canadiens.

[bif]

21. '67-68 Tigers

[XNASA]

24. 1906 Chicago Cubs (116-36)

That's 80 games over 500. Still a record.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. But, They Lost The World Series

And, in a cross town series, to the Hitless Wonder White Sox. I still don't understand how!
The Professor

[Westegg]

25. 1903 Pirates...

Yeah, they lost the first World Series, to the Red Sox (chuckle...), but that was a weird fluke.

All Hail Honus Wagner, the Flying Dutchman!

PS---I just found, in my late grandfather's effects, an old Honus Wagner baseball card from some damn tobacco company. We're a smoke-free home here, and I have too much "stuff" as it is, so if anyone wants it, let me know. It's in almost perfect condition, though I don't know crap about baseball cards.

[bif]

27. Ya might as well toss it.

There's not much interest in that kind of stuff. Especially since everyone quit smoking.

[Westegg]

31. Exactly my thoughts!

In fact, I had to rescue the card out of the garbage pail last night where my wife tossed it. She's all, "We have to much goddamn clutter around here as it is." And she's right. So I was just gonna leave it, but at the last second I figured, well, it's, like, 100 years old and has probably has some historical value to a card collector, so maybe someone will want it.

I called a local sports nostalgia store to ask if they'd give me $50 for it, but they kept hanging up on me! The weirdos. Anyway, I'm now using it for a bookmark but again, anyone wants it, hell, I'll take $20 for it (plus postage).

[BOSSHOG]

32. NO CONTEST - THE 1929 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Its a fact, look it up