Call to the pen
Fansided

MLB best starting nine for each generation of fans

By Bobby Mueller

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 02: Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully is congratulated on the last game of his 67-year career by hall of famer Willie Mays and San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer during the fourth inning at AT
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 02: Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully is congratulated on the last game of his 67-year career by hall of famer Willie Mays and San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer during the fourth inning at AT /
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MLB Baby Boomer fanbase (born 1946 to 1964)

~MLB Players active between 1954 and 1972~

 

 

Biggest Snub(s): CF Mickey Mantle (99.3 fWAR), RF Al Kaline (87.5 fWAR), RF Roberto Clemente (80.6 fWAR), 3B Brooks Robinson (70.5 fWAR), 1B Harmon Killebrew (65.7 fWAR)

As a Generation Xer, I’ve always thought the Baby Boomers are an interesting bunch. Take a hypothetical Baby Boomer who is born in 1953, right near the middle of the period for Baby Boomer births. This person could be a screaming female fan of the Beatles as an 11-year-old in 1964 or a hippie enjoying psychedelic drugs and free love at Woodstock at 16. Or perhaps both?

In the 70s, a Baby Boomer could be a hard rock fan (Led Zeppelin) or a disco fan (Bee Gees) or a David Bowie fan. In the 80s, did the free love hippies turn into the materialistic yuppies? The 90s gave us early Baby Boomer Bill Clinton (born in 1946) as president. He was followed by early Baby Boomer George W. Bush (1946), then late Baby Boomer Barack Obama (1961) and back to early Baby Boomer Donald Trump (1946). I think we’ve seen enough Baby Boomer presidents. it’s about time a Generation Xer gets a chance.

Anyway, back to baseball. This generation of fans got to see many great African-American players in the big leagues for the first time. In the starting lineup above, you have Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Bob Gibson. Had these guys been born 30 years earlier, they would have been among the Negro League snubs of the previous generation.

One of the toughest spots on this team was first base, where Harmon Killebrew would be a worthy choice, except that Carl Yastrzemski was pushed out of left field by Frank Robinson and needed to be in the starting lineup. Robi bumps Yaz from left to first, and Yaz bumps Killebrew to the bench. Sorry, Harmon. Mickey Mantle is right there next to Killebrew because Willie Mays has to be in center field.

Right field is loaded with talent, starting with Hank Aaron and including Al Kaline and Roberto Clemente. Actually, Frank Robinson would be right behind Aaron, but I moved him over to left, where he played more than 800 games. In the infield, Pete Rose got the nod over Nellie Fox and Joe Morgan at second base. Both Rose and Morgan had careers that extended well into the next period and Morgan’s name will come up again.

If this team needed to win just one game, it would be a very tough choice between Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax. If the game were in Dodgers Stadium in 1964, it would have to be Koufax. He had a 0.85 ERA in 127.7 innings at home that year. Then again, in 1968, Bob Gibson had a 0.81 ERA in 144.7 innings on the road.

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