All-Time Florida Baseball Team
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by user Chachi
As I did with Ohio, I tried to put together the best possible team of players born in Florida. Suprisingly (to me at least) this team was a little tougher to put together than the All-Ohio Baseball Team. After browsing around, I did notice that you could basically make an entire team out of players born in Tampa alone. What is it about Tampa that makes it a baseball hot bed? Anyway, on to the team.
| POS | NAME | YRS | BORN |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | Mike Stanley | 1986-2000 | Fort Lauderdale |
| 1B | Fred McGriff | 1986-2004 | Tampa |
| 2B | Davey Johnson | 1965-1978 | Orlando |
| 3B | Howard Johnson | 1982-1995 | Clearwater |
| SS | Jay Bell | 1986-2003 | Eglin A.F.B |
| OF | Andre Dawson | 1976-1996 | Miami |
| OF | Gary Sheffield | 1988-present | Tampa |
| RF | Luis Gonzalez | 1990-present | Tampa |
| DH | Chipper Jones | 1993-present | DeLand |
| SP | Steve Carlton | 1965-1988 | Miami |
| SP | Dwight Gooden | 1984-2000 | Tampa |
| SP | Tim Wakefield | 1992-present | Melbourne |
| CP | Bobby Thigpen | 1986-1994 | Tallahassee |
MANAGER
Tony LaRussa, (Tampa) - Really killed me having to leave Lou Piniella off, but LaRussa is the obvious choice here.
I don't think this team is nearly as strong as the Ohio team, but it certainly has it's bright spots. With over 1,000 homeruns in the outfield alone, they could definitely put up some runs. You could also have Dante Bichette and Vince Coleman on the bench. At 2B and SS they are admittedly weak, but the good news is that in a few years you can throw Rickie Weeks (Daytona Beach) in for Davey Johnson to beef up second and even David Eckstein in at SS.
This team would also have a nice bullpen to lean on with both Scot Shields and Tom Gordon hailing from The Sunshine State. As far as the starters go, Carlton is solid and Gooden was at times unstoppable. I threw Wakefield in there because everybody loves a knuckleballer.
Some may say the catcher is suspect, and I agree, but the next best option would be Charles Johnson. Either way they're not going to be overly happy so I went with the one who hails from my hometown. The biggest thing that pained me was having to leave my man Tino Martinez off the team. He's a classy guy, even if he's somewhat painful to watch on television.
Date
Wed 06/28/06, 10:46 am EST
