We’re coming close to the halfway point and, perhaps fittingly, we’re crossing the Mississippi for the first time.
Thanks largely to St. Louis, considered by many to be the Best Baseball City in America™, Missouri is up near the top in baseball population. It ranks eighth among states in MLB players produced.
There are five Hall of Famers from Missouri, not a lot considering the size of the group. The five are Jake Beckley, Yogi Berra, Pud Galvin, Carl Hubbell and Zack Wheat. Two others, Clark Griffith and Casey Stengel, are in the Hall for their non-playing contributions, though both are on this roster for their fine playing careers. Others like Ken Boyer and George Van Haltren are close but probably will remain outside the Hall.
I gotta go with Yogi. For one thing, aside from perhaps Puerto Rico, Missouri has produced the most quality catchers. You have Yogi, Elston Howard and Darrell Porter on the squad here, and Walker Cooper just missing (brother Mort, the pitcher, made it). Also there was Negro leaguer Frank Duncan, and you might remember Yogi’s boyhood pal, Joe Garagiola, who has mentioned his friend from “The Hill” in St. Louis a time or two.
But this isn’t about the quotes and the sayings. Yogi, who was there at D-Day, was a great ballplayer. Stengel managed the Yankees for 12 years, and he liked to say that he “never played a big game without my man,” meaning Berra. He won three MVP awards and no one in baseball has won more rings than Yogi, who was a part of 10 world championship teams from 1947 to 1962. He also managed a team in each league to Game 7 of the World Series before falling short.
Stengel isn’t going to manage here, so he can play. Earl Weaver will run the show, although he might be a bit frustrated because aside from Yogi and Ryan Howard, the power may be hard to come by sometimes. The mound staff is solid with Galvin, Carl Hubbell, David Cone and recent perfect game hurler Mark Buehrle. Tom Henke is a very reliable closer.
So for Earl, it’s pitching yes, three-run homers maybe. But Missouri has nice balance and should rank right up there when all is said and done.
MISSOURI TIGERS
OF Bob Allison
1B Jake Beckley
CA Yogi Berra
3B Ken Boyer
LH Mark Buehrle
RH David Cone
RH Mort Cooper
2B Lonny Frey
RH Pud Galvin
RH Clark Griffith
RH Tom Henke
SS Charlie Hollocher
CA Elston Howard
1B Ryan Howard
LH Carl Hubbell
2B Ron Hunt
3B Bill Joyce
LH Leroy Matlock
OF Bake McBride
CA Darrell Porter
RH Steve Rogers
OF Roy Sievers
OF Casey Stengel
OF George Van Haltren
OF Zack Wheat
2B Jimmy Williams
RH Joe Wood
SS Glenn Wright
Next: Arkansas.
Base instincts 