Nebraska's Baseball All-Time Dream Team

Issue #166

This is the 46th article in a series where I am creating all-time dream teams for players born in each of the fifty US states. I’m publishing each write-up on the anniversary date that the particular state joined the union. So far I’ve covered Maryland, Louisiana, Minnesota, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Virginia, Idaho, Wyoming, New York, Colorado, Missouri, Hawaii, California, Nevada, North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Illinois, Delaware, Mississippi, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Alabama, New Jersey, Iowa, Texas, Georgia, Alaska, Utah, New Mexico, Connecticut, Michigan, Kansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, Arizona, and Ohio.

Next up is the second of two states that have their statehood anniversaries on March 1st. The first was Ohio, and the second is Nebraska, which became the 37th US State on March 1st, 1867 (according to Wikipedia.)

Important caveat to what follows: I’m creating these all-time dream teams based on the birthplace data available at baseball-reference.com. I realize this might mean some players will appear for a state’s all-time dream that seems odd, e.g., a player who was born in one state but lived there only briefly, while then spending most of his youth, or especially critical years playing baseball in high school in another state. So that is an important caveat to the below dream team roster—and I’ll discuss the players that I know went to high school in a state other than Nebraska towards the end of this article (and vice-versa, those born elsewhere but who went to high school in Nebraska.)

Here is the all-time dream team I came up with for players born in Nebraska:

According to 2020 numbers, Nebraska has a little under two million residents, and ranks as only the 38th most populous state. So expectations for their all-time dream team were tempered by that fact as I began the research.

That said, I found six Hall of Famers who were born in Nebraska. One is Billy Southworth, who was admittedly elected more as a manager than a player, even though he had a fine 13-year career in the majors as a RF/CF from 1913-1929, retiring with a .297/.359/.415 slash line and 111 OPS+. The more impressive Hall of Fame players were 3B Wade Boggs, CF Richie Ashburn, RF/CF/1B Sam Crawford, and all-time great starting pitchers Grover Alexander and Bob Gibson.

After those guys the drop-off in talent level is pretty steep, though recent LF Alex Gordon was a 3-time All-Star, with 190 career HR, and eight Gold Glove Awards. Johnny Hopp (1939-1952) was a career .296 hitter with a 113 OPS+ while playing a mix of 1B and all three OF positions. And former first-round draft pick Alec Bohm seems to be maturing into a star as he hit 20 HR with 97 RBI in his age-26 season in 2023.

Starting lineups for this all-time dream team could look like this:

Against RHP:

1. Richie Ashburn CF (L)

2. Wade Boggs 3B (L)

3. Sam Crawford RF (L)

4. Alex Gordon LF (L)

5. Bob Cerv DH (R)

6. Johnny Hopp 1B (L)

7. Ted Easterly C (L)

8. Ron Hansen SS (R)

9. Pug Bennett 2B (L)

Against LHP:

1. Richie Ashburn CF (L)

2. Wade Boggs 3B (L)

3. Sam Crawford RF (L)

4. Alec Bohm DH (R)

5. Darin Ruf 1B (R)

6. Alex Gordon LF (L)

7. Ron Hansen SS (R)

8. Todd Pratt / Les Nunamaker C (R)

9. Bob Johnson 2B (R)

These lineups are clearly strong at the top of the order, with Ashburn, Boggs, and Crawford as a solid 1-2-3, especially against RHP as they are all left-handed hitters. There were a few spots where platoons made sense, including 1B, C, and 2B. A platoon would also work well at DH, where Bob Cerv actually hit RHP better than LHP, and Alec Bohm has extreme splits with a .262/.311/.358 slash line against RHP, but more impressive .314/.362/.530 percentages against LHP.

As for the pitching staff, you could argue over who deserves the nod as ace between the two outstanding Hall of Famers:

• Grover Alexander (1911-1930) led his league in wins six times, strikeouts six times, and ERA five times, with a career 373-208 record, 2.56 ERA, and 135 ERA+.

• Bob Gibson (1959-1975) led his league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts once each, was a 9-time All-Star, won both the NL Cy Young Award and NL MVP Award in his epic 1968 season, and then took home the NL Cy Young Award again in 1970. He retired with a 251-174 record, 2.91 ERA, and 127 ERA+.

Mel Harder (1928-1947) isn’t in the same class as Alexander or Gibson, but he makes a solid #3 for this dream team’s rotation as he was a four-time All-Star over a 20-year career with the Indians, retiring with a 223-186 record, 3.80 ERA, and 113 ERA+. After Harder the talent dries up significantly, and you could debate how to rank the remaining starting pitchers I listed above.

The bullpen is headlined by Gregg Olson (1988-2001) who was AL Rookie of the Year for the Orioles in 1989 after locking down 27 saves with an impressive 1.69 ERA. Overall he had six seasons with 25+ saves, and retired with a 3.46 ERA and 123 ERA+.

Tim Burke (1985-1992) had a shorter career, but had four solid seasons as a closer for the Expos from 1987-1990 when he posted save totals of 18, 18, 28, and 20. He retired with an impressive 2.72 ERA and 136 ERA+.

What about players who went to High School in Nebraska?

As noted at the outset of this article, and as I’ve done for my other US State dream team write-ups, what if you change the criteria from players who were born in the state of Nebraska to players who grew up—which we’ll define as going to high school—in the state of Nebraska?

First off, there were several players on the above roster who were born in Nebraska but went to high school elsewhere:

• 3B Wade Boggs – Florida

• SS Ron Hansen – California

• C Todd Pratt – California

• SS/3B/2B/1B Bob Johnson – Minnesota

• SP Hollis Thurston – California

• SP Fred Beebe – Illinois

• SP George Johnson – Pennsylvania

• RP Jason Adam – Kansas

The biggest name here is Wade Boggs of course, but it also hurts to lose both SS Ron Hanson and utility player Bob Johnson, as that leaves the team without a shortstop (or any depth at 2B). Middle infield was definitely the weakest area for this dream team, so I’d have to dig deeper to find replacements.

On the other hand, I found three solid players who were born elsewhere but went to high school in the state of Nebraska:

• SP Dazzy Vance – Iowa

• SP Zane Smith – Wisconsin

• RP Brian Duensing – Kansas

Dazzy Vance is actually a Hall of Famer, who in his 30s starred for Brooklyn, leading the NL in strikeouts every year from 1922-1928, and also taking home three ERA titles and twice leading the league in wins. Using this alternate dream team criterion, he’d slot in very nicely as the #3 starter in a revised rotation, with Harder dropping down to the fourth spot. Zane Smith had a career 3.74 ERA and 105 ERA+, so like Vance would take one of the roster spots vacated by Hollis Thurston, Fred Beebe, and George Johnson. And Brian Duensing would likewise take Jason Adam’s open spot.

All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites. The state map, flag, flower, and bird images are from Wikipedia.

Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.