Sloopy45
Pimp Minister Sinister
6. 1975 Cincinnati Reds: I had to pick this team over the '76 Big Red Machine because they won more games: 108 to 102. The '76 Reds had a much more dominating playoff performance (sweeping the Phillies and the Yankees), but if you look at the whole picture, its gotta be '75. Even with the 3 losses in the World Series, the '75 team's overall win pct (115-57, .669) edges next year's version (109-60, .645).
The Reds had three Hall of Famers (four if you want to add Rose with an asterisk), and a HOF manager in Sparky Anderson. They were 1st in hitting, 1st in fielding, and 3rd in pitching. They finished an astounding 20 games ahead of L.A. in the N.L. West.
Joe Morgan won the 1st of 2 consecutive MVPs, and Bench, Rose, Perez, Foster, and Griffey Sr. all had banner years.
5. 1961 New York Yankees: Overall: 113-54 (.677). You can talk about how great this team was with Roger Maris hitting a record 61 dongs and The Mick adding 54, but the most telling stat is this: the Yankees had three catchers on the team: Elston Howard, Yogi Berra (who mostly played LF this season), and Johnny Blanchard. They totalled 21, 22, and 21 Homers, respectively. Their 3RD STRING CATCHER hit 21 dongs. Quite impressive.
Add onto that Whitey Ford's best season (and only Cy Young) at 25-4, 3.21, maybe the best defensive infield in baseball history, 3 Hall of Famers, and nine (yes, NINE) MVP awards in the everyday line-up, and you have one helluva team. This team was so good that the Mick (injured) only had 6 ABs in the World Series and they still pasted the Reds four games to one.
They were a little less dominating than the teams I listed ahead of them: they finished 8 games ahead of the Tigers, were 2nd in hitting (but set a record 240 Homers for the season, 40 ahead of the next team), 2nd in pitching, and 1st in fielding.
4. 1930 Philadelphia A's: Wow. This team gets no credit historically, but it was unbelievable. Their win pct in '29 was better: 108-47 (.697) compared with 106-54 (.663), but I'm picking this team ahead of the previous one (they won back to back titles in '29 and '30) because of the monster years on the squad. How bout these Hall of Famers? Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove, and Connie Mack (manager). You could easily argue three of those four as the best at their position all-time, and Simmons was a great, great player.
How bout these seasons? Cochrane hit .357 behind the plate, Double X hit 37 Homers, 156 RBI, & .335 at 1B, Al Simmons hit 36 Dongs, 165 RBI, & .381, and Grove was 28-5 with a 2.54 ERA. Wow.
The 1929 team finished 18 games ahead of a Yankee team that was coming off possibly the greatest run in baseball history in '27 & '28, and the '30 team was 8 games ahead of the 2nd place Washington Senators. You could easily argue the '29 squad ahead of this one, but the individual seasons on the team made me give the nod to this one.
3. 1939 New York Yankees: Very arguably the Yankees' best team, besides the obvious 1927 version. Total win pct: 110-45, .710. This was the last of the Yankees' four straight championships in the late 30's. What makes this so incredible is that this was the year that Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS and only played 8 games (his final season).
Four guys in the line-up topped 100 RBIs and five hit over .300. Six HOFs with DiMag, Dickey, Gehrig, Ruffing, Gomez, and manager Joe McCarthy. Finished 17 games ahead of the Red Sox, and was 1st in the A.L. in all three categories. Joe D won the MVP and the batting Title (.381).
2. 1998 New York Yankees: More time is needed to put this team into the perspective of the other teams, but for these two reasons, I'm ranking it second. # 1, they're closest to my heart, and # 2: 125-50, the 2nd greatest win pct of all time: .714.
1. 1927 Yankees: Gotta be this one. Ruth hit 60 dongs and didn't win the MVP. That would be his teammate, the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig. They went 110-44 (.714), and tack on a 4 game sweep of the Pirates in the World Series, and they were 114-44 (.722).
They were first in the league in hitting, first in pitching, and tied for first in fielding. They finished 19 games ahead of a Philadelphia A's team that was loaded with Hall of Famers. They had six Hall of Famers (4 in the line-up: Ruth, Gehrig, Combs, & Lazzeri, and 2 pitchers: Hoyt and Pennock) and a Hall of Fame manager in Miller Huggins.
And how bout these seasons?
Ruth: 158 R, 192 H, 29 2B, 8 3B, 60 Jacks, 164 RBI, 137 BB, .356 AVG, .486 OBP, & .772 SLG.
Gehrig: 149 R, 218 H, 52 2B, 18 3B, 47 Dongs, 175 RBI, 109 BB, .373 AVG, .474 OBP, & .765 SLG.
Word is that coming out of the small-ball era, the Pirates saw these guys in batting practice before Game 1 of the WS knocking balls off the warehouses and were mentally defeated before the Series ever began. And oh yeah, as a team they hit 158 Home Runs, which was 102 more than the next highest A.L. team, the A's. This one's a no-brainer.
Anyone have any squads they want to put up here?
The Reds had three Hall of Famers (four if you want to add Rose with an asterisk), and a HOF manager in Sparky Anderson. They were 1st in hitting, 1st in fielding, and 3rd in pitching. They finished an astounding 20 games ahead of L.A. in the N.L. West.
Joe Morgan won the 1st of 2 consecutive MVPs, and Bench, Rose, Perez, Foster, and Griffey Sr. all had banner years.
5. 1961 New York Yankees: Overall: 113-54 (.677). You can talk about how great this team was with Roger Maris hitting a record 61 dongs and The Mick adding 54, but the most telling stat is this: the Yankees had three catchers on the team: Elston Howard, Yogi Berra (who mostly played LF this season), and Johnny Blanchard. They totalled 21, 22, and 21 Homers, respectively. Their 3RD STRING CATCHER hit 21 dongs. Quite impressive.
Add onto that Whitey Ford's best season (and only Cy Young) at 25-4, 3.21, maybe the best defensive infield in baseball history, 3 Hall of Famers, and nine (yes, NINE) MVP awards in the everyday line-up, and you have one helluva team. This team was so good that the Mick (injured) only had 6 ABs in the World Series and they still pasted the Reds four games to one.
They were a little less dominating than the teams I listed ahead of them: they finished 8 games ahead of the Tigers, were 2nd in hitting (but set a record 240 Homers for the season, 40 ahead of the next team), 2nd in pitching, and 1st in fielding.
4. 1930 Philadelphia A's: Wow. This team gets no credit historically, but it was unbelievable. Their win pct in '29 was better: 108-47 (.697) compared with 106-54 (.663), but I'm picking this team ahead of the previous one (they won back to back titles in '29 and '30) because of the monster years on the squad. How bout these Hall of Famers? Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove, and Connie Mack (manager). You could easily argue three of those four as the best at their position all-time, and Simmons was a great, great player.
How bout these seasons? Cochrane hit .357 behind the plate, Double X hit 37 Homers, 156 RBI, & .335 at 1B, Al Simmons hit 36 Dongs, 165 RBI, & .381, and Grove was 28-5 with a 2.54 ERA. Wow.
The 1929 team finished 18 games ahead of a Yankee team that was coming off possibly the greatest run in baseball history in '27 & '28, and the '30 team was 8 games ahead of the 2nd place Washington Senators. You could easily argue the '29 squad ahead of this one, but the individual seasons on the team made me give the nod to this one.
3. 1939 New York Yankees: Very arguably the Yankees' best team, besides the obvious 1927 version. Total win pct: 110-45, .710. This was the last of the Yankees' four straight championships in the late 30's. What makes this so incredible is that this was the year that Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS and only played 8 games (his final season).
Four guys in the line-up topped 100 RBIs and five hit over .300. Six HOFs with DiMag, Dickey, Gehrig, Ruffing, Gomez, and manager Joe McCarthy. Finished 17 games ahead of the Red Sox, and was 1st in the A.L. in all three categories. Joe D won the MVP and the batting Title (.381).
2. 1998 New York Yankees: More time is needed to put this team into the perspective of the other teams, but for these two reasons, I'm ranking it second. # 1, they're closest to my heart, and # 2: 125-50, the 2nd greatest win pct of all time: .714.
1. 1927 Yankees: Gotta be this one. Ruth hit 60 dongs and didn't win the MVP. That would be his teammate, the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig. They went 110-44 (.714), and tack on a 4 game sweep of the Pirates in the World Series, and they were 114-44 (.722).
They were first in the league in hitting, first in pitching, and tied for first in fielding. They finished 19 games ahead of a Philadelphia A's team that was loaded with Hall of Famers. They had six Hall of Famers (4 in the line-up: Ruth, Gehrig, Combs, & Lazzeri, and 2 pitchers: Hoyt and Pennock) and a Hall of Fame manager in Miller Huggins.
And how bout these seasons?
Ruth: 158 R, 192 H, 29 2B, 8 3B, 60 Jacks, 164 RBI, 137 BB, .356 AVG, .486 OBP, & .772 SLG.
Gehrig: 149 R, 218 H, 52 2B, 18 3B, 47 Dongs, 175 RBI, 109 BB, .373 AVG, .474 OBP, & .765 SLG.
Word is that coming out of the small-ball era, the Pirates saw these guys in batting practice before Game 1 of the WS knocking balls off the warehouses and were mentally defeated before the Series ever began. And oh yeah, as a team they hit 158 Home Runs, which was 102 more than the next highest A.L. team, the A's. This one's a no-brainer.
Anyone have any squads they want to put up here?
