The Empire Strikes Back

Tonight's game 5 of the baseball World Series pits two Arkansas natives against each other, A.J. Burnett of the Yankees and Cliff Lee of the Phillies. I just thought I'd put together my all-time favorite Arkansas baseball team in honor of this event.

My 3-man pitching rotation would consist of Johnny Sain plus the Dean brothers Dizzy and his brother Paul. Gerald V. Hern wrote a poem about Johnny Sain and Warren Spahn back in 1948 to explain the Boston Braves pitching woes:

First we'll use Spahn

then we'll use Sain

Then an off day

followed by rain

Back will come Spahn

followed by Sain

And followed

we hope

by two days of rain.

Dizzy Dean was quite a character and many memorable stories still exist from his playing and announcing days. One of my favorite stories was from back in 1934 when Ol' Diz predicted that he and Paul would win 45 games between them. In reality at the end of the year, Dizzy won 30 and Paul won 19 for a grand total of 49. On the day that they reached the predicted 45 wins, Diz pitched a 3-hitter in the first game of a double header against Brooklyn and Paul pitched a no-hitter in the nightcap. After the game Diz told his brother, "Gee Paul, if I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-thrown one too."

In the World Series that year, Dizzy tried to break up a double play at second base and was hit in the forehead with the relay to first. The force of the blow knocked Dizzy unconscious and he was carried from the field. The headlines in the paper the next day read, "X-Ray of Dean's Head Shows Nothing." Dizzy came back and won games 5 and 7 to win the Series for the Cardinals. Brother Paul won the other two games.

My relief pitcher, not that I'd a-needed one with this group, is the current St. Louis Cardinal closer, Ryan Franklin. If you didn't notice this year, Ryan has grown an excellent birds' nest on his chin.

My catcher is a former Yankee, Hall of Famer Bill Dickey. Bill appeared in 8 World Series with the Yanks and won 7 of them.

At first base I've got Tommy Lee McCraw. Tommy's claim to fame was that he was once traded for that great 5-time All Star, Leo Cardenas. Leo led the National League in Intentional Walks in 1965 and 1966 and yet he never hit more than 20 homeruns or ever batted .300 for a full season in his entire career. I think the pitchers must have mistaken him for someone else.

At second base (Arkansas didn't produce a lot of great second basemen) I chose Skeeter Kell. Skeeter wasn't a great Major League ballplayer; but he did play 68 games in 1952 for the Philadelphia Athletics. Skeeter's brother George however, was a Hall of Fame third basemen who lead the American League in hitting back in 1949. Since I didn't pick George as my starting third baseman, I chose his little brother to make him feel better.

George Kell lost out at third base to my all time favorite, "The Human Vacuum Cleaner", Brooks Robinson. Sparky Anderson once said, "I'm beginning to see Brooks in my sleep. If I dropped a paper plate, he'd pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first." I've always had a deep admiration for Brooks Robinson, not just as a player and he was a great one, but as a person, as well. It was always interesting to listen to interviews with Brooks and to hear him talk about other players. I've never been fond of people who need to brag on their accomplishments or continually talk about themselves. That is what I liked so much about Brooks; he didn't need to talk about Brooks. There's a great quote from Joe Falls of the Detroit News that I think really sums up Brooks Robinson as a person, "How many interviews, how many questions - how many times you approached him and got only courtesy and decency in return. A true gentleman who never took himself seriously. I always had the idea he didn't know he was Brooks Robinson."

My shortstop from Arkansas is another Hall of Famer, the great Arky Vaughan. Arky wore the number 21 at Pittsburgh that would later grace the back of Roberto Clemente. In 1935, playing alongside fellow future Hall Of Famers, Pie Traynor and Lloyd and Paul Waner, Arky led the National League in batting with a .385 average. Plus, he led the league in walks, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, but he lost out on the MVP award to Gabby Hartnett of the Chicago Cubs, who just happened to win the Pennant that year (of course they folded in the Series).

My Arkansas outfield is made up of Torii (there's no I in team but there's two II's in Torii) Hunter, Lou Brock and the Milton Bradley of the 1970's, Alex Johnson.

In 1969, Alex Johnson was asked by a reporter about his new found power numbers. "Last year, you hit two homers and this year you have seventeen. What's the difference?" "Fifteen," Johnson replied. I always like to have one ballplayer on my team that I can hate. I think Alex fills the bill.

When I ran into Lou Brock in the Spokane Airport several years ago, I asked him about the story that I had heard about his Dad and he said it was true. He said that when he was a kid, he used to imagine all kinds of animals running under his bed, so his Dad solved the problem by cutting the legs off the bed. Sweet.

As a defensive replacement I've selected a guy who made one of the greatest defensive plays ever on a baseball field, Rick Monday. Check it out:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

I also had to select Otis "Scat" Davis as my pinch runner. Scat, and I'm sure he got that name for his blazing speed, surely has some juice left in those legs since his only Major league appearance was as a pinch runner in one game for the Dodgers back in 1946.

Finally, I have selected as my designated hitter the one and only, Aaron Elton Pointer. He not only played for a few years with the Colt 45's, he later became an NFL referee. But that's not why I selected him, I did it because he is the brother to Ruth, Anita and June, the Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited".

Of course I'm excited about this game tonight and I'll have my little buddy Aden with me, the newest Yankee fan, and a special fan of the homerun to help me cheer them on tonight. He turned 4 years old last week and it will be great for him to see his first Yankees World Series Championship at such an early age. I'm sure he will see many more. It is special because I do know some people who are in their 50s and 60s and have never seen their teams win a World Series Championship. Now that is sad...but cheer up, there's always next year.