This subject has caused many good-natured discussions between family and friends as well as some not so good-natured arguments. The question “what are the best baseball teams in history?” has plagued baseball fans for close to a century and a half. Different eras, fan loyalties, baseball lore, and long held beliefs combine to make this question very difficult to answer. How do the best baseball teams 2008 rank and are the players currently on the best high school baseball teams going to bring a new team to the forefront in the future? Here are what we consider to be the top 10 best baseball teams…we’ll leave it up to you to decide the #1 spot.
We’ll go back to the 1902 season, a year before the introduction of the World Series. The Pittsburgh Pirates racked up a 103 – 36 record during the regular season and went on to win the National League Pennant. Ginger Beaumont and Honus Wagner led the way at the plate slugging their way to a team .741 winning percentage…the 2nd highest in history.
The New York Yankees have fielded a few of the best baseball teams in history and the 1923 team featuring Babe Ruth was one of them. While their 98 – 54 won/lost record isn’t the highest ever, parity in the league produced greater competition. Every team in the American League played at least .400 ball with quality pitching and defense keeping “The Babe” to 41 home runs.
In 1927, the powerhouse Yankees lit up the scoreboard with sluggers Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig hitting 60 and 47 home runs respectively. Earl Combs, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri all carried batting averages over .300 as the Yankees finished with a 110 – 44 record and a World Series sweep over the Pirates.
In keeping with Yankee teams, the 1941 version with Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio leading the way with a .357 batting average and a World Series win ranks right up there.
The Cincinnati Reds “Big Red Machine” got the monkey off its back by capturing the 1975 World Series over the Boston Red Sox. After years of post-season disappointment, manager Sparky Anderson led future Hall of Famers Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, and, at the time, Pete Rose to a 108 win season and the championship.
Another Sparky Anderson led team that has to be considered as one of the best baseball teams is the 1984 Detroit Tigers. They began the year at 35 – 5 and went on to 104 – 58 record and the World Series.
New York Mets fans would never forgive me if I didn’t include the 1986 team that steamrolled through the season acquiring a 108 – 54 record and capturing the championship. Led by Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, and Dwight “Doc” Gooden they racked up 55 wins at home and an astonishing 53 wins on the road.
The 1995 season holds the honor of having two of the best baseball teams in history, the Atlanta Braves with a 90-54 record and the Cleveland Indians at 100-44. As it should be, these two teams met in the World Series with the Braves prevailing.
The 1998 Yankees were a star-studded team that Joe Torre led to a 114-48 record and a world championship. This may have been the deepest roster in the history of the game.
So how do the best baseball teams 2008 stack up? The Philadelphia Phillies went 92-70 for the season on their way to a World Series win over the Tampa Bay Rays at 97-65. I’ll leave it to you to discuss their place in baseball history.
And what of the best high school baseball teams… watch the players at Bellaire (Texas) HS who have jumped out to a 13-0 record. Jesuit HS, Tampa ranks 2nd with a 16-0 record.
As a scoreboards manufacturer with a long history Electro-Mech is proud to provide retrospective on baseball leagues’ most terrific teams to ever play the game.