Great baseball lineups, Part Two

In this post, I identified five great baseball lineups from the period before 1961. Now, I want to recognize some of the great lineups from 1961 until the present.

In 1972 [correction, 1973], the American League brought the “designated hitter” into being. The National League still hasn’t, a good decision in my view.

With the designated hitter, American League lineups naturally became more productive, as a rule, than their National League counterparts. Thus, AL teams dominate the top of the charts in terms of runs scored. In identifying great lineups, I have tried to allow for this difference.

I’ll start with a lineup that I’m pretty sure would make nearly every list of best all time:

The 1976 Cincinnati Reds:

Pete Rose 3B
Ken Griffey rf
Joe Morgan 2B
Johnny Bench c
Tony Perez 1B
George Foster lf
Cesar Geronimo cf
Dave Concepcion ss

This is the best lineup I’ve ever seen in person, and maybe the best I’ve ever seen, period. The Big Red Machine featured four Hall of Fame quality players — Rose, Morgan, Bench, and Perez. Bench is generally considered the best catcher of all time. Morgan is in the top three all time at his position, and some put him at number one. Rose would make the top ten at any of the several positions he played during his record-breaking career.

Foster drove in a league leading 121 runs in 1976. Geronimo, batting seventh, hit .307. Concepcion, batting eighth, hit .281.

The 1976 Reds went 102-60. They swept a fine New York Yankees team in the World Series.

They scored 857 runs. The next closest team, Philadelphia, scored 770. The National League average total was 645. In the American League, even with the designated hitter, no team scored more than 743 runs in 1976.

1977 Philadelphia Phillies:

Bake McBride rf
Larry Bowa ss
Mike Schmidt 3B
Greg Luzinski lf
Richie Hebner 1B
Garry Maddox cf
Bob Boone c
Ted Sizemore 2B

This team scored 847 runs, just ten fewer than the Big Red Machine scored the year before. The 1997 Phillies went 101-61, but fell to the Dodgers in the NLCS.

Mike Schmidt, for my money the best third baseman ever, smashed 38 home runs and knocked in 101 runs. He walked 104 times and scored 114 runs. Greg Luzinski, as feared as any hitter in the National League at the time, hit .309 with 39 homers and 130 RBIs.

Bake McBride played less than Jay Johstone, but the lineup was at its best with the speedy McBride in there and leading off. McBride batted .339 with 55 runs scored, 41 batted in, and 11 home runs in 280 at-bats. He stole 27 bases in 31 attempts. Combined, Johnstone and McBride had 643 at-bats with 119 runs scored, 100 batted in, and 26 home runs.

Schmidt had the lowest batting average of any regular at .274. However, with all of those walks, his on-base percentage was .393.

The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers

Paul Molitor 3B
Robin Yount ss
Cecil Cooper 1B
Ted Simmons c
Ben Oglivie lf
Gorman Thomas cf
Roy Howell/Don Money DH
Charlie Moore rf
Jim Gantner 2B

With the recent election of Ted Simmons to the Hall of Fame, this lineup featured future Hall of Famers in three of the first four spots. The non-Hall of Famer, Cecil Cooper in the third position, didn’t walk as much as one would have liked, but hit .313 in 1982 — his sixth consecutive season of better than .300 (he would enjoy one more the following year).

Gorman Thomas was as prolific a home run hitter as there was in the American League in the early 1980s. In 1982, he tied with Reggie Jackson for the league lead with 39.

The Brewers order was a bit top heavy. However, there were no easy outs. Jim Gantner, batting ninth, hit .295. Don Money belted 16 home runs in 275 at-bats.

The 1982 Brewers scored 891 runs. Their record was 95-67. They went to the World Series where they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

1998 New York Yankees:

Chuck Knoblauch 2B
Derek Jeter ss
Paul O’Neill rf
Bernie Williams cf
Tino Martinez 1B
Daryl Strawberry/Tim Raines DH
Jorge Posada c
Chad Curtis lf
Scott Brosius 3B

There are any number of Yankee teams from the 70s, 90s, and 00s that I might have selected (but not the famous 1961 Yankees who were outscored that year by Detroit). The 1998 team was at the high end in terms of runs scored (965) and stood out with a record of 114-48.

It dominated the post-season, sweeping Texas, defeating Cleveland in six games in the ALCS, and sweeping San Diego in the World Series. This is truly one of baseball’s all-time best teams.

The lineup had four .300 hitters — Jeter, O’Neill, Brosius, and Williams, who led the league with a .339 mark. All eight regulars were in double figures in home runs, and Stawberry, who platooned at DH, added 24 round trippers in 295 at-bats.

Raines is in the Hall of Fame. Jeter is scheduled for induction this year. Posada, Martinez, Knoblauch, Brosius, Williams, and O’Neill made multiple all-star teams during this era, and Strawberry had been a perennial all star earlier his career.

The 1999 Cleveland Indians:

Kenny Lofton cf
Omar Vizquel ss
Robbie Alomar 2B
Manny Ramirez lf
David Justice rf
Jim Thome 1B
Richie Sexton DH
Travis Fryman 3B
Einar Diaz c

I suspect that many Indians fans would opt for the 1995 lineups that, in addition to Ramirez, Vizquel, Lofton, and Thome, included Albert Belle and Eddie Murray. The 1995 team posted a 100-44 record and went to the World Series, falling to the Atlanta Braves in six games.

The 1999 team went 97-65 and didn’t make it out of the first playoff round. However, it scored 1009 runs, averaging 6.23 per game — about a third of a run per game better than the 1995 version of the Tribe.

Alomar and Thome are in the Hall of Fame. Ramirez would be but for PED issues. There’s a case that Vizquel should be in the Hall, but that case doesn’t rest on his batting.

Ramirez was the standout hitter on the 1999 Indians, with 44 home runs, a league leading 165 RBIs, and a .333 batting average. Thome had 33 home runs, 108 RBIs, and 127 walks. Alomar, with 24 home runs, 120 RBIs and a .323 average, had a historically great offensive season for a second baseman.

2003 Boston Red Sox:

Johnny Damon cf
Todd Walker 2B
Nomar Garciaparra ss
Manny Ramirez lf
David Ortiz DH
Kevin Millar 1B
Trot Nixon rf
Bill Mueller 3B
Jason Varitek c

It’s basically a toss-up between the 2003 and 2004 Red Sox. The 2003 version fell to the Yankees in the ALCS on Aaron Boone’s walk off home run in Game 7. The 2004 version broke the supposed “curse” and won the World Series.

However, the 2003 team scored more runs — 966 of them — and would have scored even more if manager Grady Little hadn’t batted his least productive hitters first and second in the lineup. What made me prefer the 2003 Sox, however, was the presence for the full year of Garciaparra, who batted .301 with 28 homers and a team leading 105 RBIs. (Garciaparra played just 38 times in 2004 before being traded to the Cubs.)

Damon, the leadoff hitter, was the only member of this lineup to drive in fewer than 80 runs. He compensated by scoring 103 runs.

Manny didn’t match his 1999 Cleveland numbers, but hit .325 with 37 home runs and 104 driven in. Ortiz chipped in with marks of .301, 31, and 101.

There are more than a few other lineups worthy of consideration. Feel free to tout them in the comments section.