Negro League Baseball Discussion Forum: General Discussion About The Negro Leagues: All-time team?
By Jkurt (Jkurt) on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 – 03:34 pm:
in recent years, "all-time" lists of baseball teams/players, athletes, movies, songs, books, etc., have become the vogue. while recently re-reading robert peterson's landmark book of negro leagues baseball history (only the ball was white), i looked a bit closer at the 'all-time' negro league teams in the book's appendix, some chosen by managers, players and even fans. this got me thinking–what would the ultimate 'all-time' negro league team look like?
would bruce petway, biz mackey or josh gibson be the catcher? buck leonard or mule suttles at first? how would one choose a mere 3 outfielders with cool papa bell, wild bill wright, oscar charleston, rap dixon, henry kimbro, turkey stearnes, christobel torriente, jimmy lyons, pete hill, jelly gardner, and willard brown to choose from? willie wells or john lloyd at shortstop? would martin dihigo go in as a pitcher, a third baseman or an outfielder? if one had to choose a starting rotation of 5 pitchers with 2 relievers, who would you choose? cannonball dick, satchel, bullet joe, smokey joe, leon, hilton, nip, slim, big florida, wickware, donaldson, mendez, partlow…yikes! where would one start?
maybe fans would be willing to post their favorite teams….