Central casting

Unlike the previous two groups, there is no obvious winner, nor is there necessarily a sixth-place team that jumps out at you. The Central may be the most competitive group, along with the South, and therefore could be the most fun. Expect a lot of tight games featuring some of the greatest pitchers to ever toe the slab.

If you were going by baseball “population,” Missouri would be far and away No. 1. And they should at least advance to the tournament round. But it will not be easy, because as you can see, there are no days off in this group.

My guess:

1. Oklahoma. Not by size, but by peak talent. The Mick, Stargell, Bench and Joe Rogan will lead the way. Rogan’s pitching, and ability to play second base when he’s not on the mound, will be the difference.

2. Missouri. They don’t have the big bats of some of the others, including Oklahoma, but their consistent pitching led by Carl Hubbell and reasonably productive offense (Yogi, Ken Boyer) will keep them in the medal play hunt.

3. Nebraska. With Bob Gibson and Pete Alexander starting about half the games, and enough offense with Boggs, Ashburn and Crawford, I really can’t see them failing too often.

4. Kansas. Now it gets tough. Any of the other three could go here, and certainly one could knock out one of the top trio. I will pick the Kansans because of Walter Johnson.

5. Iowa. Hard to picture Bob Feller not making it to the medal round, and it certainly could work out that the Hawkeyes make it, but I don’t know if they will score enough to support their talented twirlers.

6. Arkansas. Would be a contender in most groups, and they will be a tough team here. But there’s no Gibby, King Carl or Rapid Robert on the squad.

Next: International.

Oklahoma!

Just six more to go, and here is the last of our smaller-state gems.

Oklahoma, a state for barely a century, has a fantastic sports legacy. There are so many candidates to be the featured player. There’s Johnny Bench, Mickey Mantle, Willie Stargell, the Waner brothers, Allie Reynolds and quite a few others.

If not for the strict rules about being born in the state, they could add Warren Spahn and Carl Hubbell, who lived most of their lives in the Sooner State. And there was a pretty good athlete who played some major league ball named Jim Thorpe who was born in Prague.

But I want to talk about Bullet Joe Rogan for a bit. Wilber Rogan played in the ’20s and ’30s and, on top of being one of the very best pitchers in the Negro leagues, was also good enough to bat cleanup when he wasn’t pitching.

As a pitcher, he was compared to Satchel Paige. Casey Stengel, who played against him in Army games, said the hard-throwing Rogan was one of the best pitchers who ever lived – if not the best. As a hitter, Buck O’Neil compared Rogan to Ernie Banks. He could run, too. He later managed and even umpired for a while. It took many years before he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame, in 1998.

When he’s not pitching, of course, he goes into the lineup. The outfield is pretty well spoken for with Mantle, Stargell, the Waners and several others, though we could move Pops or Big Poison (or Rogan for that matter) to first base. Rogan also played some second base, kind of a waste of that great arm, but putting him there would provide maximum offense for the Oilers – not that they need it.

Two managers born in Oklahoma have won a World Series. Al Dark made it to the Series with the Giants in 1962 and a dozen years later completed the A’s three-peat. But Al is the regular shortstop here. And besides, Bobby Cox is the runaway choice.

Cox will be a Hall of Famer as soon as the veterans’ committee meets after his retirement next year. His playing career was short, lasting just from 1968-69 with the Yankees. He was a teammate of Mantle’s in ’68 and roomed for a while with another player on this team, Bobby Murcer.

People mostly talk about Cox regarding his ejections record – he’s just short of an entire season’s worth – and the performance of his teams in the playoffs. But he did win 100 games six times, tied with Joe McCarthy for the most ever. He’s going to retire as the fourth-winningest manager of all time.

This is going to be a contender for the whole thing. With Rogan, they have an ace pitcher to go with Allie Reynolds. The lineup is well balanced. When they get to the tournament, they’ll be mighty tough.

OKLAHOMA OILERS

CA Johnny Bench
RH Jesse Barnes
RH Cy Blanton
LH Harry Brecheen
OF Johnny Callison
OF Joe Carter
3B Harlond Clift
SS Al Dark
RH Joe Dobson
OF Matt Holliday
OF Bob Johnson
OF Mickey Mantle
UT Pepper Martin
RH Lindy McDaniel
OF Bobby Murcer
RH Brad Penny
LH Jesse Petty
2B Johnny Ray
RH Allie Reynolds
RH Joe Rogan
1B Willie Stargell
CA Kelly Stinnett
RH Ralph Terry
CA Mickey Tettleton
RH Ralph Terry
OF Lloyd Waner
OF Paul Waner
SS U.L. Washington

Next: Arizona.