Great baseball lineups, Part One

For my amusement, I’ve been trying to identify great all-time baseball lineups. I thought some readers might be interested in my findings.

I’m going to begin with five great lineups from what I call the first half of modern baseball — the period from the formation of the American League at the beginning of the last century until the 1961 expansion.

Only readers in the their mid-70s or older might remember any of these lineups, so this post may not be of broad interest. However, I want to recognize these lineups.

I did not include any lineups from the dead-ball era. It’s not easy to compare such lineups to the vastly more productive ones of the live-ball era. I might take another look at the dead-ball era later.

Let’s start with the most famous lineup from the distant past.

The 1927 New York Yankees:

Earle Combs cf
Mark Koenig ss
Babe Ruth rf
Lou Gehrig 1B
Bob Meusel lf
Tony Lazzeri 2B
Joe Dugan 3B
Pat Collins c

“Murderers Row” produced 975 runs. The lineup contained the best hitter of all time (Ruth) and the best first baseman of all time (Gehrig). In 1927, Ruth set the record for home runs in a single season that stood until 1961 (a longer season). Combs and Lazzeri are also in the Hall of Fame.

The 1927 Yankees won the pennant by 19 games over second place Philadelphia, whose lineup included Ty Cobb, Al Simmons, and Mickey Cochrane, with a young Jimmy Foxx appearing in 61 games. New York’s record was 110-44. The Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.

Mark Koenig batted second for the 1927 Yankees even though his on-base percentage was the lowest of the regulars, with only Joe Dugan close. Put Tony Lazerri or Bob Meusel in the second slot, and the Yankees surely would have scored yet more runs.

Manager Miller Huggins followed the conventional wisdom of the day (and for many years thereafter) by having a guy who could advance runners bat second, in preference to a guy with a high on-base percentage. With Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig batting third and fourth, advancing runners shouldn’t have been a priority in picking a number two hitter; getting on base should have been.

The 1931 Philadelphia Athletics:

Max Bishop 2B
Mule Haas cf
Mickey Cochrane c
Al Simmons lf
Jimmie Foxx 1B
Bing Miller rf
Jimmie Dykes 3B
Dib Williams ss

At the very end of the 1920s, Connie Mack’s Athletics surpassed the Yankees. They won three straight pennants, 1929-31. They won the World Series in ’29 and ’30, but fell to the Cardinals in seven games in 1931.

Yet, the 1931 version of the Athletics was probably the best team of the three and certainly had the most productive lineup. That team went 107-45 and scored 951 runs.

Cochrane, Simmons, and Foxx are in the Hall of Fame. Wouldn’t it have been awesome to see the Yankees play the Athletics during the period 1926-1931?

The 1936 New York Yankees:

Frank Crosetti ss
Red Rolfe 3B
Joe DiMaggio cf
Lou Gehrig 1B
Bill Dickey c
George Selkirk rf
Jake Powell if
Tony Lazzeri 2B

Some baseball historians consider the ’36 Yanks, not the ’27 version, to be the best team of the era. Their win total was less impressive (102), but they scored more runs (1,055). They defeated the New York Giants in the World Series, four games to two, scoring 48 runs in the six games.

Ruth and Combs were gone from the 1927 team, but two future Hall of Famers had been added — DiMaggio and Dickey. Both are widely considered to be among the best five ever to play their position.

The 1950 Boston Red Sox:

Dom DiMaggio cf
Johnny Pesky 2B
Ted Williams lf
Vern Stephens ss
Walt Dropo 1B
Bobby Doerr 2B
Al Zarilla rf
Birdie Tebbetts c

This team won only 94 games and finished third, 4 games behind the Yankees. However, they scored 1,027 runs.

Okay, they scored 625 of them at Fenway Park, which probably means this lineup doesn’t belong in a top five list from the first half of baseball’s modern era. But this is my list and I love the lineup.

Williams is baseball’s second best hitter of all time, in my estimation (however, he didn’t play the full 1950 season due to an injury). Doerr is in the Hall of Fame. At least one of our readers thinks Dom DiMaggio should be, as well. He made six all-star teams, including in 1950, and would almost surely have made more, but for his service in World War II.

Pesky was a .300 hitter who drew around 100 walks per year. His on-base percentage in 1950 was .437.

Stephens was the best power hitting shortstop in baseball in the years that followed the war. He hit 30 home runs in 1950 (17 at Fenway) and tied for the league lead in RBIs with 144. Dropo was the man he tied.

Billy Goodman isn’t in the lineup above, but he played 110 games. Goodman led the league in batting average at .354.

The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers:

Jim Gilliam 2B
Pee Wee Reese ss
Duke Snider cf
Jackie Robinson lf
Gil Hodges 1B
Roy Campanella c
Carl Furillo rf
Billy Cox 3B

The Dodgers won the NL pennant in 1947, 1949, 1953, and 1955. In each of those seasons, they lost the World Series to the New York Yankees. They finally beat the Yankees in 1955, but lost to them again in 1956.

Many fans know about this record of futility, but may not realize how competitive these battles were. In each year except 1949, there were reversals of fortune, both in terms of number of games won and within many of the games themselves.

The 1953 Dodgers had the most productive offense of these six pennant winners. They scored 955 runs on the way to a 105-49 record.

In the World Series, they fought back from down 2 games to 0, to even the Series. They lost a wild one in Game 5, 11-7. They lost Game 6, 4-3 on a walk-off single by Billy Martin, who terrorized the Dodgers in that World Series (12 hits, two triples, two homers, 12 RBIs).

As for the Brooklyn lineup, it featured four future Hall of Famers — Reese, Snider, Robinson, and Campanella. Furillo, who typically batted seventh, led the league in batting average at .344. Hodges hit .302 with 31 homers and 122 RBIs. Campanella won the MVP with a .312 average, 41 homers, and a league-leading 142 RBIs.

Next up, great lineups from the second half of the modern baseball era.