The Best Defense ... AL Central

OK, we're watching Baltimore-Kansas City, and here's Gil Meche on the mound. He just struck out Aubrey Huff with one heck of a curveball. We'll try to throw a few live comments out there through the night. But mostly, we're hoping to make it all the way through and name the all-time Gold Glove team for each team in the American League Central. That's five teams, so it will be a challenge.

Remember the three rules:

1. A player has had to play at least 750 games for that team (I originally had it at 1000, but it eliminated too many players).
2. We will try to break up the outfielders by position, but no promises.
3. We may or may not name a pitcher, depending on if one jumps out at us.

One correction from yesterday: Vernon Wells is a better outfielder than Joe Carter ... for some reason he did not show up on my computer program.

OK, here we go (updated throughout the night):

Cleveland Indians

First base: George Stovall. As a player, he's probably best known for a defensive play -- he made a brilliant scoop of a bad throw to preserve a perfect game by Addie Joss. He was also called "Firebrand," and he played with on of my favorite teams: The Kansas City Packers. I really think there should be another team called the Kansas City Packers.

Second base: Who else? Yeah, the Indians had Nap Lajoie, who was celebrated for being a brilliant defensive second baseman. They had Bobby Avila, a fabulous defender and one of the first great Latin players in the Majors. But anyone who knows the author of this blog knew that the only choice here is Duane Kuiper, my childhood hero, and the man who dove for more ground balls hit right at him than any player in baseball history.

Shortstop: Lou Boudreau. An astonishingly tough choice -- maybe the toughest so far. On the one hand, you have Boudreau, who was one of the great defensive shortstops ever. On the other hand, you have Omar Vizquel, who was one of the great defensive shortstops ever. I saw Vizquel, and loved watching him play, which in a weird way is a disadvantage for him. I grew up listening to how great Boudreau was -- so his greatness is lodged in my imagination.

In addition, Bill James thinks Vizquel was overrated defensively, and everyone knows how much I trust Bill.

Third base: Buddy Bell. He made all the plays, had a great arm -- is he the greatest player to never even come close to the playoffs? The worst defensive third baseman, by far, was Brook Jacoby, who was also a hero, though honestly I cannot remember why. All I really remember about him now was his very famous 32 homer, 69 RBI season.

Fewest RBIs with 30-plus homers:
1. Rob Deer, 1992: 32 homers, 64 RBIs.
2. Felix Mantilla, 1964: 30 homers, 64 RBIs.
3. Brad Wilkerson, 2004: 32 homers, 67 RBIs.
4. Brook Jacoby, 1987: 32 homers, 69 RBIs.
5. Jose Valentin, 2004: 30 homers, 70 RBIs.

Outfield: Earl Averill, Tris Speaker and Kenny Lofton. I wanted to find a place for Rick Manning, another personal hero, but he really wasn't as good as Lofton. And I couldn't find a spot for Rocky Colavito either, though one of my most powerful memories as a child was watching Colavito -- by then a coach -- stand at home plate and throw the ball over the center field fence.

Colavito, apparently, was the worst batting practice pitcher in the history of baseball. Everybody complained about it. He had an incredible arm, but he could not throw the ball over the plate at all. So every BP session before games sounded like this, "Damn it, Rock, throw it over the plate .. DAMN .. Rock, are you even trying, THROW THE BALL OVER THE DAMN PLATE ... DAMN IT ROCK .. Rock, if you ever throw it over the plate I'm going to hit a line drive off your head ... Get out out of there Rock. Get out!"

As for the three who did make the team, Averill was a legendary outfielder. Speaker was also picked for the Red Sox Gold Glove team. And Lofton ran down everything.

Catcher: Jim Hegan. He has a reputation as one of the best defensive catchers ever. He's another one I grew up hearing about in Cleveland.

Pitcher: Mike Garcia. I don't really know if he's the best fielding pitcher in team history, but he does have the best quote. In 1956, (according to this wonderful SABR bio) he changed his pitching style so he could finish in a better fielding position. He finished 11-12 that year and said, "I became a great fielder and a lousy pitcher."

Just as a tease, I just got Bill James' all-time Royals Gold Glove team via email ... so stick around through the night. And by the way, have you bought a book yet?

Detroit Tigers

First base: Norm Cash. From what I can tell, Cash, Rudy York and Hank Greenberg were all good defensive first baseman and picking one is tough. But we mention Cash because he had a game at first base in 1963 when he did not touch the ball once. No putouts. No assists. No nothing. And it wasn't even a big strikeout game -- only six. The third baseman caught four pop-ups/line drives, the second baseman caught three, the catcher caught one, the right fielder (Kaline) caught six, the center fielder caught four .. and that's all 24 outs.

Second base: Lou Whitaker. Sweet Lou really got jobbed by the Hall of Fame voters. I'm not sure he's a Hall of Famer, but 15 votes his one year on the ballot? He deserved more consideration.

Shortstop: Alan Trammell. You pick Whitaker, you have to pick Trammell, right? Billy Rogell, a great defensive shortstop in the 1930s, might have been better, but I'm keeping the double-play combo intact.

Third base: Aurelio Rodriguez. I just remember that guy had a bazooka. Doesn't it seem like third basemen used to have better arms? I'm sure that's just memory, but I recall Buddy Bell, Aurelio Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Doug Decinces, Graig Nettles, George Brett -- all of them having amazing arms. Then, I remember numerous quarterbacks of the 1970s and 1980s (Dan Pastorini, Bert Jones, Steve Bartkowski, Vince Ferragamo) having stronger arms than anyone today. So either arms have weakened or my memory has.

(Incidentally, while watching the Royals game tonight, I've noticed: Alex Gordon seems to have a pop-gun arm. I know the scouts say he has a strong arm ... and maybe he's just aiming the ball now because of his early struggles. But so far anyway that arm looks pretty wimpy).

Outfield: Al Kaline, Mickey Stanley and Chet Lemon. You know, all the stories I've heard and read about Ty Cobb, I've never really gotten a good picture of how he played defensively. You would have to think with his speed and his intensity, he was an outstanding outfielder. But here's an interesting question: Cobb did make 254 errors in his career with the Tigers. Who the heck were the scorekeepers then? I've seen scorekeepers in Kansas City get yelled at by Tony Graffanino ... and back down. You would have to think those guys had some serious guts, giving Cobb that many errors.

Kaline won 10 gold gloves, Stanley won four, and Chet Lemon stole almost as many hits from the Indians as Nettles.

Catcher: Bill Freehan. Very close with Lance Parrish.

Pitcher: No idea. How about Mickey Lolich. Pizzas had no defense.

Chicago White Sox

First base: Joe Kuhel. He was known for being a terrific defensive first baseman in the 1930s ... and a terrible manager in the 1940s. Lost 97 and 104 games his two years as skipper for the Senators. So it goes. I have a special affinity for Kuhel. He was born in Cleveland, and he died in Kansas City. Not that I'm feeling sick or anything.

Second base: Nellie Fox. He just barely edges Eddie Collins. Not that this means anything, but Nellie Fox was caught stealing more times than he was successful (80-76). I just thought that was weird.

Shortstop: Luis Aparicio. The White Sox actually have a great history of terrific defensive shortstops, going back to Buck Weaver (started as a shortstop and apparently was a good once despite his back-to-back 71 and 70 error seasons) and Chico Carrasquel (once went 53 straight games without an error) and even Ozzie Guillen (once went off on me after I went off on him for picking Mark Redman for the All-Star Game). But I'll go with Aparacio, both for his reputation and because he was another favorite of my Dad.

Third base: Willie Kamm. Robin Ventura was good too, but Kamm according to his Baseball Library entry was adept at the hidden ball trick. That's a tiebreaker.

Outfield: Fielder Jones, Jim Landis, Ken Berry. Wow, the White Sox have really had some great outfielders through the years. Johnny Mostil was an amazing outfielder and so was Mike Kreevich. I've already said how much I admired Chet Lemon. Jim Rivera was a good outfielder too. I would say no team has had more good defensive outfielders than the White Sox.
So how choose? You have to take a guy named Fielder - and he was the first outfielder to ever pull of the unassisted double play. Jim Landis was the centerfielder for the Go Go Sox -- he could Go Go. In fact, you had to wake him up before you'd Go Go (Hey, it's getting late, and I still have two more teams to do. And the Royals just went into extra innings). Ken Berry is one of those guys that ever old Sox fan can remember making some sort of ridiculous catch.

Catcher: Ray Schalk. He's in the Hall of Fame and couldn't hit a lick, so I'm assuming he was a special defensive catcher. I saw Ron Karkovice: He could really throw.

Minnesota Twins

First base: Kent Hrbek. It's not an overwhelming group of defenders (though when you go back to the Senators, you have the ever-present Joe Kuhel available), and I think Hrbek was underrated defensively.

Second base: Bucky Harris. Not a lot to choose from here. I think Chuck Knoblauch actually was a good second baseman, I think, until his Yankees days. But Harris was a star defender for the Senators in the 1920s.

Shortstop: Greg Gagne. Joe Cronin was a good fielder (despite his 62 error season). We'll give it Gagne With A Spoon. He also hit two inside-the-park homers in the same game once.

Sorry for the interruption: But the Royals just lost 2-1 in extra innings. They brought Jason Standridge to start the 10th because, I suppose, Buddy Bell had to get home. The Royals are now 3-7, and though the seem to be better, the truth is there is no real evidence to back that up at the moment. Gil Meche pitched well, at least. OK, back to the regularly scheduled blog.

Third base: Gary Gaetti. He looked awkward but he pretty much made every play. I would have something more to say about Gaetti, but the game is over and it's time to get through this thing.

Outfield: Kirby Puckett, Sammy West and Torii Hunter. I would say that the Torii Hunter of 2003 or so was just about the best defensive center fielder I have seen since becoming a sports columnist. There simply wasn't a ball he couldn't run down. Puckett was, of course, brilliant. And Sammy West was a great outfielder for the Washington Senators ... he apparently learned his defense from Tris Speaker.

Catcher: Muddy Ruel. I think in the long run Joe Mauer will be here.

Pitcher: Jim Kaat. Finally, an obvious choice. You know, Kaat cannot get much support for the Hall of Fame, even though he won 283 games. The feeling seems to be he was never a great pitcher. But I'm wondering ... how much should it matter that he might be the greatest fielding pitcher of all time? The guy won 16 Gold Gloves -- as many as Brooks Robinson. How much should Hall of Fame voters think about that?

OK, it's on to the Royals.

Kansas City Royals

We are now joined by guest blogger Bill James!

First base
Bill: Wally Joyner. Despite sentimental support for John Mayberry.

Joe: John Mayberry. Not only am I sentimental about Big John, but Joyner doesn't have the necessary 750 games.

Second base
Bill: Frank.

Joe: Of course Frank White. And I have to share a story, one where I'll keep the names secret to protect the guilty. Apparently there was a young reporter who had just met Frank White. A couple of hours later, he was in a car with other reporters, and he was going on and on about what a nice guy Frank is (and he is a very nice guy).

Finally the young reporter says: "What position to Frank play?"

A gasp echoed through the car. But hey, he was young, new to town, you give those kids a break. So someone said, "Second base," at which point the young reporter did the unforgivable. He said two words: "You sure?"

You sure? That's what he said. Frank White is one of the greatest defensive second basemen in the history of baseball. Because he played on turf, he virtually had to reinvent how you play second base. And he said: You sure?

It was quiet in the car for a while after that. And then one grizzled reporter offered up a two word quote for the ages. He said in an exhausted voice: "Pretty sure."

Shortstop
Bill: Greg Gagne ... Gagne was unbelievable. . ..great field awareness. Extraordinarily quick and smooth. And reliable.

Joe: Fred Patek. Actually, he's the only Royals shortstop who qualifies under the 750 game rule. Plus, we gave Greg Gagne some love already. ... I know he doesn't qualify. But for pure hands and arm accuracy, I've never seen a better shortstop than Rey Sanchez. He didn't get to much (he wasn't exactly known for exerting himself), but he caught everything and he never made bad throws. Ever.

Third base
Bill: Joe Randa.

Joe: OK, Joe Randa. Really good when he was young, solid when he was old. But I will say that George Brett was better than his reputation, especially in 1985. He earned that Gold Glove.

Outfield
Bill: Willie Wilson, Amos Otis and Carlos Beltran. With apologies to Brian McRae, who was very good, and Johnny Damon, who was very fast, and Bo Jackson, who was faster than Damon and could throw harder than Barfield, but not always on target.

Joe: Yep, Wilson, Otis, Beltran. I will tell my kids I saw Carlos Beltran when he was young and untamed and still threw with abandon. Of course, my daughters seem to show no interest in baseball, so they won't care. Maybe my grandkids.

Catcher
Bill: Jim Sundberg (duh. Boone may have been just as good, but Sundberg caught more games for the Royals, and was closer to his prime when he did it).

Joe: Mike MacFarlane. Only Royals catcher who qualifies. Sundberg was obviously a lot better and so was Boone. Mac was solid, though.

Pitcher
Bill: Tom Burgmeier.

Joe: Bret Saberhagen.

OK, that's it. I'm done. I'll fix all the mistakes in the morning. Thanks for hanging in there.