Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame George Steinbrenner for Hiring Billy Martin 5 Times

July 24, 1978: Billy Martin resigns as manager of the New York Yankees.

Over the course of the 1977 season, Billy said that team owner George Steinbrenner had fired him 5 times, and he'd "fired himself 3 times." The Yankees won the World Series anyway.

But in '78, injuries mounted, and so did tension between Billy and George, and between Billy and Reggie Jackson. On July 17, Billy suspended Reggie for disobeying a sign. On July 23, when Reggie returned, Billy was getting on a plane for the team's roadtrip to Kansas City, and a sportswriter asked him what George thought about all of it. Referring to comments Jackson had made and team owner George Steinbrenner's 1972 violation of campaign-finance laws: "They're made for each other. One's a born liar, the other's convicted."

That was it: Billy had to go. George flew out to Kansas City, too, and Billy knew the game was up. He announced his resignation, but who was kidding who. He was replaced by Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon, who had previously managed the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox.

July 29, 1978: Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium. A big question was whether Billy would be invited -- and, if so, whether he would accept. He did, and public address announcer Bob Sheppard read an announcement that Lemon would remain the manager through the end of the 1979 season, and then become the general manager. At which point, the field manager would, again, be Billy Martin.

Billy ran out onto the field in his Number 1 uniform, and got the greatest ovation of his career. And, under Lemon, the Yankees rebounded, got healthy, and won another World Series.

Billy's first tenure as manager was his most awkward -- but also, by far, his most successful. Although he returned in mid-1979, for the 1983 season, for most of 1985, and for the start of 1988, he only managed another 470 games for the Yankees -- almost exactly as many games as he managed in his first tenure (471).

And while he came very close to getting the Yankees into the postseason in 1985, by 1988 he was a neurotic relic. He died in a car crash on Christmas Day 1989, and there are those who believe that George was thinking of hiring him for Billy VI.

Why did Billy keep accepting George's offers? Because managing the Yankees meant everything to him. Too much.

Why did George keep bringing Billy back?

Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame George Steinbrenner for Hiring Billy Martin 5 Times

5. The Death of Jerry Lemon. On October 27, 1978, just 10 days after Bob Lemon managed the Yankees to win the World Series, his son Jerry was killed in a car accident. Bob was not emotionally prepared to manage the Yankees in 1979, and, in mid-season, George moved him to a scouting position, and brought Billy back.

Had Jerry not been killed, the plan would have been kept in place: In 1979, Bob manages; in 1980 and onward, Billy manages and Bob is GM. Would Billy have survived the contretemps over Mike Ferraro in the 1980 American League Championship Series? Maybe: I can imagine Billy sacrificing a coach to keep his job. Then, Billy could have won the 1981 World Series. And then, who knows?

4. Dick Howser. Once Billy's 3rd base coach, he got the Yankees to the AL Eastern Division title in 1980, but they lost the ALCS to the Kansas City Royals. George and Dick got into a huge argument, and Dick said the heck with this, I'm out.

He never returned to the Yankees. Ironically, despite having won the Royals their 1st Pennant, Jim Frey was fired as manager the next year, and replaced with Howser. He got the Royals to the AL Western Division title in 1984, and then took them all the way in 1985. But he developed cancer, and died in 1987.

Had George and Dick worked things out, Dick might have won it all in 1981. After all, a returned Lemon got them to within 2 games of a title. Things might not have fallen apart under Dick in 1982, the way they did under Lemon and then Gene Michael.

Dick might have managed the Yankees all the way until the 1986 All-Star Game -- which was the last game he ever managed, before leaving the Royals to focus on his health, unsuccessfully as it turned out.

Dick can hardly be blamed for not sticking with George. But if Dick I had not ended, there might still have been a Billy III later, but there probably wouldn't have been a Billy IV or a Billy V.

3. George Was a Sucker. He loved a hard-luck story. Yes, putting one over on the Mets was why he acquired Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and David Cone, and it might also have had something to do with why he hired Joe Torre. But Darryl and Doc, especially, had fallen on hard times, and George thought that, if someone showed faith in them, they could rebound and help the Yankees. He was right.

And nobody in baseball was a rebound guy as much as Billy Martin. George always thought Billy could be redeemed. And, competitively, this seemed to be true. It was off the field where Billy ruined himself.

2. Billy's Loyalty. Here's a list of men other than Billy Martin who managed for George twice from Billy's "resignation" in 1978 until George's ban in 1990: Bob Lemon, Gene Michael, Lou Piniella. Once in that stretch? Dick Howser, Clyde King, Yogi Berra, Bucky Dent, Stump Merrill.

George liked to say that he never fired anybody, he just moved them around in the organization. In the case of Lemon, Michael, Piniella, King and Merrill, that was true. But Howser, Berra and Dent all said, "Forget it," and didn't come back. They quit on George. I can't blame them.

Billy never quit on George. Even the 1st time, when, officially, it was a resignation, it wasn't, "I've had enough of this guy." It was, "I blew it, and I have to go, and I know it." But he came back when George apologized.

This makes it sound like Billy was a battered wife, always returning to the domestic abuse. Well, Billy abused George a bit as well.

1. Winning. The 5th time: The Yankees were doing okay, until an injury crisis hit. On June 22, 1988, the Yankees lost for the 4th straight time in Detroit, the last 3 in walkoff fashion, but they were still only 2 1/2 games out of 1st place. It was off-the-field stuff that led George to fire Billy. They were 40-28. After that, with Piniella in charge? 45-48. They ended up 3 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox.

The 4th time: They were 6-10 when George fired Yogi on April 29, 1985, and Billy led them to 91-54 the rest of the way. They finished 2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays. On June 11 and 12, the Yankees lost to the Jays, at home, in extra innings. Had they won either of those games, the AL East race would have ended tied.

Given the injuries the Yankees had, it might have been Billy's best managing job ever. Again, it was off-the-field stuff that led George to fire Billy.

The 3rd time: In 1983, the Yankees went 91-71, 7 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. There was little wrong with Billy's managing that year. Certainly, a 12-game improvement can't be considered a failure. And, given that the Yankees were in a bit of a transition, this was a good job. There was no off-the-field incident that time, either -- at least, not one that had been made public. 

The Detroit Tigers ran away with the Division in 1984, but if Billy had been kept on, to build with that team, the 1985 race might have had a very different ending. This time, it's not clear why George fired Billy. 

The 2nd time: As I said, Lemon lost his son to a car crash right after the 1978 World Series, and his heart wasn't in managing. Replacing him on June 18, 1979, with the Yankees at 34-31 and in yet another injury crisis, was the right thing to do.

Was replacing him with Billy, so soon, the right thing to do? From that point onward, they went 55-40 under Billy -- including 31-23 after Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash on August 2. So, contrary to legend, they didn't "fall apart after Thurman died." Billy got them back on the right track, although the Orioles ran away with the Division. So why didn't George keep Billy for 1980? Again, there was an off-the-field incident.

So Billy did well as Yankee manager in runs 2 through 5, but not quite well enough to make the Playoffs.

But the 1st time? He won. Let's face it: If the Yankees hadn't won the Pennant in 1976, George probably would have fired Billy outright in 1977, instead of giving him several "one last chance"s, and he might not have won the Pennant in 1977, either. And he might never have won a Pennant, under any manager.

And then, George would have gone down in history as the blowhard who wasted all that money on the Yankees and got nothing out of it.

Billy needed George. But George needed Billy, too.

VERDICT: Not Guilty.

Top 10 Most Consequential Sports Deaths

Note: This is not Buddy Holly's plane.

It's the one from the Munich Air Disaster, a year earlier.

February 3, 1959: A small airplane, a 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza 35, crashed near Mason City, Iowa. All 4 people on board are killed:

* Roger Peterson, of Alton, Iowa, the pilot, age 22.

* Charles Hardin Holley, a.k.a. Buddy Holly, of Lubbock, Texas, age 22, one of the leading figures in the early years of rock and roll music, who, with his band the Crickets, had recorded the enormous hits "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue," and a number of other songs which, with their lyrics, harmonies and arrangements, would inspire many later performers, including the Beatles.

* Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes, a.k.a. Richard Valenzuela, a.k.a. Ritchie Valens, of Pacoima, California, age just 17, a Mexican-American guitar whiz who was only beginning to show what he could do, led by his one true hit record, a double-sided hit containing the slow love song "Donna" and a raved-up version of the Mexican folk song "La Bamba."

* Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., a.k.a. J.P. Richardson, a.k.a. Jape Richardson, a.k.a. The Big Bopper, of Beaumont, Texas, age 28, a disc jockey who, like so many deejays before him (such as Jim Lowe, "The Green Door") and after him (such as Rick Dees, "Disco Duck"), had so much fun playing the music that he decided to record some of it himself, including the 1958 hit "Chantilly Lace."

In 1971, folksinger Don McLean wrote "American Pie," in which he called the event "The Day the Music Died."

I disagree with this assessment: The reaction showed, rather, that this was the day the music grew up, that those who opposed it saw that rock and roll could generate the same kind of devotion from its fans that previous forms had, that it was not going to go away.

In the next few years, the music would mature. Elvis Presley would return from serving in the U.S. Army with "grownup" hits like "It's Now Or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight," and proving that, given a break, he would have been a music star even if rock and roll had never happened.

Roy Orbison, already 24 when he had his 1st national hit, would be a rocker that even grownups could love. (My grandmother, who was 36 when "Only the Lonely" hit in 1960, was crazy about him.) The folk music movement had already kicked into gear by the time the Beechcraft went down, and would grow to the point where Bob Dylan and Joan Baez would make it a huge phenomenon.

Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller with the Drifters, Berry Gordy with his Motown acts, and Phil Spector with lots of groups backed by his "Wall of Sound," were creating recordings far more sophisticated that some of the early rock records, some of which sounded like they were recorded in closets and stairwells -- and some literally were.

And, as I said, Holly inspired the Beatles, and much of Holly's work also filtered into that of the Beach Boys. Think of how many acts those 2 groups inspired.

*

But this blog is about sports. How many people in sports died too soon, with results we can easily imagine?

Let me deal with one myth right off the bat, if you don't mind me mixing my sports metaphors. Vince Lombardi turned the Green Bay Packers around quickly, taking them from 1-10-1 to 7-5 in his 1st season as their head coach, getting them to the NFL Championship Game in his second, and winning it in his third, ultimately winning 5 World Championships, including the 1st 2 Super Bowls.

He left the Packers, and then in 1969 became the head coach and general manager of the Washington Redskins. At first, the pattern held: In his 1st season, he took the 'Skins from 5-9 to 7-5-2. But then he developed colon cancer -- among the most easily treatable of cancers today, but not 40 years ago. (In 1956, it killed possibly the greatest of all female athletes, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias.) Lombardi died on the eve of the 1970 season. He was only 57 years old. If he could have been cured, he could have coached another 10 to 15 years -- into the 1980s.

After an interim season under Bill Austin, in 1971 the 'Skins hired Los Angeles Rams coach George Allen. In 1972, the 'Skins won the NFC Championship. Under the coaching of Allen and the ownership of Edward Bennett Williams, and later under the ownership of Jack Kent Cooke and the coaching of Joe Gibbs, the Redskins became one of the NFL's most successful teams, both on the field and in the public imagination.

Would a living Vince Lombardi have done better than George Allen? I doubt it: From 1969 to 1978, either the Minnesota Vikings or the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC every season except the 'Skins in 1972. And they were tougher, deeper teams than the ones Lombardi battled for NFL supremacy in the Sixties, the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears, the Baltimore Colts, and an earlier version of the Cowboys.

And even if he'd gotten into 5 Super Bowls with Washington, he would have smacked into Don Shula's Miami Dolphins, Chuck Noll's Pittsburgh Steelers, and John Madden's (later Tom Flores') Oakland Raiders. Between them, those teams won every AFC Championship between 1971 and 1980. Even Vince Lombardi would have found it tough to win against that buzzsaw.

Besides, the Redskins did rise to prominence. Lombardi's death probably delayed that, but it didn't stop it.

These deaths were considerably more consequential. They are listed in chronological order.

1. Adrian "Addie" Joss, born April 12, 1880, died April 14, 1911, age 31. He was a sensational pitcher for the Cleveland Naps, named for 2nd baseman and manager Napoleon Lajoie, the team that would later be called the Indians, pitching a perfect game in 1908 and another no-hitter in 1910, both against the Chicago White Sox. (He is the only pitcher ever to no-hit the same team more than once.)

He had the lowest WHIP (walks and hits, divided by innings pitched) in baseball history, 0.968, and the 2nd-lowest ERA, 1.89. Granted, this was the Dead Ball Era, but his ERA+ (earned-run average in comparison to the rest of the league) was 142, meaning it was 42 percent lower than the league ERA in his time. His career record was 160-97, a winning percentage of .623.

Just after his 31st birthday, on the eve of a new season -- and almost exactly 100 years ago -- he died of meningitis. On July 24, 1911, the Naps hosted a benefit game at Cleveland's League Park, playing a team of American League all-stars, including Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Walter Johnson. Playing for the Indians were Lajoie, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and, soon to retire, Cy Young. The All-Stars won, 5-3, and nearly $13,000 (about $300,000 in 2011 money) was raised for the Joss family.

Major League Baseball does not recognize this as "the first All-Star Game." Nor does the National Hockey League recognize the benefit games for Ace Bailey (career-ending injury, 1934), Howie Morenz (died in a hospital, though perhaps not due to his career-ending injury, 1937) and Babe Siebert (drowned while still an active player, 1939) as official All-Star Games.

While the deaths of Morenz and Siebert, and the early end to Bailey's career, may not have affected their teams' performances much, Joss was just 31, still at his peak, and could have made the Indians a winning team much sooner than 1920 when they finally won a Pennant and a World Series.

In 1978, the Baseball Hall of Fame righted an old wrong, recognizing that it wasn't Joss' fault that he died just before the start of his 10th major league season, which, had he thrown but one official pitch in it, would have qualified him for the Hall. An exception was made for him, he was put on the Veterans' Committee ballot, and he was easily elected.

2. John "Jock" Sutherland, born March 11, 1889, died April 11, 1948, age 59. A native of Scotland (Scots are called "Jocks," an accent-oriented variation of "Jack," so it has nothing to do with sports), Sutherland decided, unlike Casey Stengel, that he would be both a dentist and an athlete, hence he was usually called "Doctor Jock Sutherland." Along with Wild West gunfighter John Henry "Doc" Holliday (but not Stengel, who never actually qualified for the profession), he might be the most famous dentist in American history.

He played on the undefeated 1917 team at the University of Pittsburgh, played briefly with the professional Massillon Tigers, coached at Lehigh University, and went back to Pitt, leading them to National Championships in 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936 and 1937 -- going undefeated in the last of these seasons, led by two-way back Marshall "Biggie" Goldberg, later to star with the NFL's Chicago Cardinals.

Sutherland moved on to the pros, leading the Brooklyn Dodgers to a 2nd-place finish in the NFL's Eastern Division in 1941. Like the baseball team for which they were named, the football Dodgers played at Ebbets Field, and their players and fans took great joy in beating their sport's New York Giants. Although the Giants won the NFL East in 1941, the Dodgers won both games between them that season -- including the one played at the Polo Grounds on December 7, 1941, which was interrupted by several announcements in the second half of military personnel being told by the public-address announcer to report to their bases, where they would soon find out that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

Sutherland did not serve in World War I, even though he was draft-eligible. But he volunteered for World War II, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. When the war ended, he returned to Pittsburgh as head coach of the Steelers. In 1947, he led them to a tie for the title of the NFL East, and thus the franchise's 1st Playoff berth (though the NFL does not officially recognize the game that followed as a "playoff game").

The Steelers lost to the cross-State Philadelphia Eagles, and would not play in the postseason again until 1972. A major reason why is that this was the last football game that Dr. Jock Sutherland ever saw. He died of a brain tumor 4 months later.

We'll never know if Sutherland would have turned the Steelers into an NFL power, but over the next 10 years, they would have the following quarterbacks in their training camps: Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson and Jack Kemp. I find it hard to believe that Sutherland, assuming he lived and Art Rooney kept him (I don't see why not, Art was a man renowned for his loyalty), wouldn't have kept at least one of those future legends, changing the history of football in untold ways.

3. Bill Barilko, born March 25, 1927, died August 26, 1951, age 24. Barilko was a defenseman for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951. In the 1951 Finals against the Montreal Canadiens, he was tripped, but still managed to shovel a goal past Montreal goalie Gerry McNeil, to win Game 5 in overtime and clinch the Cup. It was, in a way, a foreshadowing of Bobby Thomson's heroics in baseball a few months later.

But a few months later, he went on a fishing trip to northern Ontario by plane, and the plane disappeared. It's hard to see how the loss of Barilko, a "defensive defenseman" whose Cup-winner was only the 31st goal of his career, regular-season and Playoffs combined, could affect the Leafs so deeply. But, somehow, it did. From 1942 to 1951, the Leafs won 6 Cups in 10 years. They didn't win another until 1962 -- and, in the days of the "Original Six," 11 years between Cups seemed like a long time.

A few months after they won the 1962 Cup, the plane was finally found. Along with the aforementioned Ace Bailey, Barilko is the only Leaf to have his number retired. Along with Barilko's 5 and Bailey's 6, the Leafs also have "Honoured Numbers," which they hang on banners from the rafters of the Air Canada Centre, but the numbers remain in circulation.

UPDATE: The Leafs changed this policy in 2016, and retired all of their Honoured Numbers.

4. Munich Air Disaster, February 6, 1958. It may be hard to imagine a time when the English soccer team Manchester United was worthy of delight and sympathy, rather than disgust and loathing. But Manager Matt Busby had built a team that had won the English Football League in 1956 and 1957, despite an average age of 21 and 22, hence the nickname "the Busby Babes." By the standards of the time, they were producing not only great results, but "beautiful football."

Matt Busby, after the 1968 European Cup win

One year to the week after the Buddy Holly crash, they were returning from a European Cup Quarterfinal match against Red Star Belgrade, a team from the capital of Yugoslavia, and were refueling in Munich, in what was then called West Germany. The plane tried to take off in a snowstorm, and crashed.

There were 23 people killed, but, amazingly, 21 survived. Among the dead were Man United players Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Liam "Billy" Whelan, all killed instantly. An 8th player, Duncan Edwards, already the most-lauded of the Busby Babes, died in a hospital 15 days later.

Duncan Edwards

Two other players, Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry, survived, but were hurt so badly that they never played again. Busby himself was badly injured. Goalkeeper Harry Gregg, despite his own injuries, managed to rescue some passengers before the plane exploded.

An American newsreel covered the crash, suggesting that it was, for England, as if the Milwaukee Braves, who had won the World Series 4 months earlier, had crashed.

In spite of the crash, United managed to advance to the 1958 FA Cup Final, losing to Bolton Wanderers. Busby returned to managing duties for the 1958-59 season, and built a new group of Babes, which won the 1963 FA Cup and the League Championship in 1965 and 1967.

The only United players to survive the crash and to play for the '65 and '67 champions were Bill Foulkes, and the far better-remembered Bobby Charlton, who also went on to be a key member (along with his brother Jack, who played for Leeds United) of England's World Cup win in 1966. 

Bobby Charlton, suited up for the England national team

Along with Sir Bobby and Foulkes, that United team is remembered for the Scottish star Denis Law and the Northern Ireland superstar George Best. Charlton, Law and Best are remembered as "United's Holy Trinity," and a statue of them stands outside their stadium, Old Trafford.

Still, with several good players killed, the course of English football was changed: Without it, the subsequent return to glory of Wolverhampton Wanderers, a.k.a. Wolves, the team United dethroned as the defining team in England, might not have happened. Nor might the rise of Tottenham Hotspur (captained by Jackie's brother Danny Blanchflower), and the 2 Liverpool-based teams, Liverpool and Everton. And it might not have taken until United's win in 1968 for an English team to win the European Cup. (Glasgow, Scotland-based Celtic became the 1st British team to win it, in 1967.)

Today, there are United fans, and English people in general, who are convinced that, had the crash not happened, and those United players (Whelan was from Ireland, and Blanchflower and Gregg from Northern Ireland, but the rest were English) had been available to play, England would have won the 1958 and 1962 World Cups. No, they wouldn't have: They still wouldn't have been better than the Brazil of Garrincha and the young Pelé.

The Munich Air Disaster is commemorated at Old Trafford, with the Munich Tunnel, which the players walk through to get to the field; and the Munich Clock, with the date of the crash inscribed on it and the time permanently set to the time of the crash, 3:04 PM.

United fans, naturally, get sensitive when opposing fans talk or sing about airplanes, or call the team "the Munichs." But that's no excuse for United's fans, not exactly known for having class, to call Liverpool fans "murderers" because of the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters of the 1980s, neither of which were murders, or the fault of Liverpool fans.

Other plane crashes to wipe out nearly entire soccer teams include the Superga crash of 1949, which ended a decade of dominance of Italy's Torino FC (among those killed was Valentino Mazzola, a big star of the time, whose son Sandro Mazzola would be a legend with Internazionale Milano in the 1960s); a 1987 crash that killed the entire roster of Alianza Lima of Peru; a 1989 crash that killed 11 players from Suriname; and a 1993 crash in Gabon that killed several members of the national team of Zambia.

Crashes also wiped out, or nearly wiped out, the California Polytechnic State University football team in 1960, the football teams of both Wichita State and Marshall University in 1970 (the latter crash inspiring the recent film We Are Marshall), the 1977 crash that killed the University of Evansville basketball team; and, 50 years ago this month, on February 15, 1961, a crash in Belgium that killed 73, including the entire U.S. figure skating team, men and women alike. U.S. figure skating would not even begin to recover from that until 1968, when Peggy Fleming won her Olympic Gold Medal.

5. Willie Galimore, born March 30, 1935, died July 27, 1964, age 29. He came out of Florida A&M University, where he was coached by Jake Gaither, a man who said of football players, "I like 'em agile, mobile and hostile." (Pronounced, "Aj-igh-el, moh-bigh-el and hos-tigh-el.")

A&M is in Tallahassee, not far from Florida State. A lot of the "historically black colleges" that produced great football players were in the same cities as schools that wouldn't let black students, let alone athletes, in: Grambling State is near Louisiana Tech, Southern University is near Louisiana State, and so on. After he retired, well after integration, Gaither would admit that, in that time, if a player was agile, mobile and hostile, he wouldn't have a chance to recruit him, because Bobby Bowden would have snapped him up for Florida State.

Galimore played 7 seasons with the Chicago Bears, his last being 1963, when he helped them win the NFL Championship. He returned to his hometown of St. Augustine, Florida, and participated in civil rights demonstrations. But the next Summer, during Bears' training camp in Rensselaer, Indiana, he and teammate Bo Farrington were killed in a car accident.

At the time of his death, Galimore was the Bears' all-time leading rusher. His Number 28 was retired. Because he wasn't there, in 1965, the Bears drafted Gale Sayers. Sadly, despite drafting both Sayers and Dick Butkus (those two alone made it one hell of a draft), the Bears went downhill, and didn't reach the Playoffs again until 1977, when the next great Bear running back, Walter Payton, came into his own.

If Galimore had lived, maybe the Bears wouldn't have gone downhill, and maybe they would have challenged for another title. Or, perhaps, Sayers would have been drafted by someone else, and become the final piece of that team's puzzle.

And we'll never know how far Galimore would have taken his civil rights activism. Maybe he would have become the 1st black Governor of Florida. (There still hasn't been one. Then again, there hasn't been one in most States, including my own, New Jersey.) In 2000, he would have been 65 years old -- and if he, rather than Jeb Bush, had been Governor... Who knows, maybe, we would have had a President William Galimore, who would have Attorney General Barack Obama in his Cabinet.

I'm not including Brian Piccolo, the Bear running back who died of cancer in 1970, because the Bears were nowhere near contention at the time, and even if he'd become as great as Sayers (he was good, but few running backs ever were that good), it wouldn't have helped much. Nor am I including Bob Kalsu, the Buffalo Bills lineman who was killed in combat in Vietnam.

6. Chuck Hughes, born March 2, 1943, died October 24, 1971, age 28. He was a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, and was a member of their 1970 NFC Central Division Champions.

In the middle of the next season, he suffered a fatal heart attack during the final minutes of a game versus the Bears at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Some thought he was faking an injury to stop the clock, but Butkus, playing for the Bears, saw that something was very wrong, and gestured toward the sideline to get medical help. Unknown to the public, and even to his teammates, Hughes suffered from hardening of the arteries, and his family had a history of heart problems.

The Lions retired Hughes' Number 85, and annually give the Chuck Hughes Award to their most improved player. It's hard to say that this death changed football history. On the other hand, for the preceding 20 years, the Lions had usually been contenders, and were the defending champions of their division. In the 40 years since, they've made the Playoffs 8 times. After Hughes' death in 1971, they didn't make it again until 1982 (strike year, but made it again the next year). Hughes remains the last of the 5 NFL or AFL players to die as a result of game action, and the only one to die during a game.

It's also worth noting that, shortly before the 1974 season, Lions coach Don McCafferty, who had led the Baltimore Colts to win Super Bowl V, died of a heart attack while mowing his lawn. He was only 53. Maybe if he'd survived, he could have halted the Lions' decline.

7. Roberto Clemente, born August 18, 1934, died December 31, 1972, age 38. The story is well-known: Two days before Christmas, Nicaragua was struck by an earthquake, devastating the capital city of Managua. On New Year's Eve, Clemente loaded up a plane with relief supplies. It took off from San Juan, Puerto Rico, contact was lost, and the plane, its supplies, and its passengers, were never found. Roberto Clemente lies somewhere at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea.

In 1972, Roberto was 38, and, though he missed a good chunk of the season due to injury, he still batted .312, had an OPS+ of 137, hit 10 homers and had 60 RBIs. He was named to the National League All-Star team, and it was no gift: The man could still bring it. There is little evidence that Clemente was already in decline, and there's no reason to believe that, like his contemporaries Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, he could not still have been All-Star material at age 40, and still playing at 42.

In 1973, the Pirates finished just 2 1/2 games behind the Mets for the NL Eastern Division title. (They would be moved to the newly-created NL Central in 1994.) Show of hands: Presuming that Clemente, at 39, would have been nearly as good as he was at 38, does anybody think the Pirates wouldn't have taken the Division? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Didn't think so.

Could they have beaten Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and the rest of the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Championship Series? Why not: The Mets did. Could they have beaten Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers and the rest of the Oakland Athletics in the World Series? Maybe: The Mets pushed the A's to 7 games, and the Bucs did have the experience of winning the Series just 2 years earlier against a very tough Baltimore Oriole team led by Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer.

In 1974, the Pirates won the NL East. If Clemente were still a solid player at 40, could they, as they did not in real life, have beaten the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS? Maybe. Could they have beaten the A's in the World Series? Maybe, especially if they already had in '73.

In '75, the Pirates lost the NLCS to the Reds, and at 41, this may now have been the point at which Clemente would no longer be a major contributor; they were in transition from the team of Clemente and Bill Mazeroski (who retired after '72) to the "Family" of Willie Stargell and Dave Parker. (Stargell had been there since '62, and was very much a star when they won it all in '71, but Clemente was still the leader of the team.)

Would an additional World Championship have helped Clemente's reputation? Hard to say, since he was already a tremendous star, especially among Hispanic Americans. Although, Clemente's last career hit was Number 3,000. If he had played 4 more years, he could have had over 3,500. If he had gotten to 3,516, one more than the aforementioned Tris Speaker, he would have been 4th (now 5th) on the all-time list.

But, if he were alive today, he'd be 76, and could still be involved in baseball in some way. Maybe he would have been in the Pirates' front office in 1992, and convinced them to re-sign Barry Bonds. Maybe the Pirates wouldn't have fallen apart. Maybe Bonds would have become a Pittsburgh hero, approaching the levels of Clemente, Stargell, and the long-ago Honus Wagner. And maybe he wouldn't have been driven to take steroids. Maybe now, the Pirates would be a team of "pride and tradition" on the level of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

There's another 1972 death worth mentioning, this one at the beginning of the season: Met manager, and former Brooklyn Dodger All-Star first baseman, Gil Hodges. His heart attack at the end of spring training killed him just short of his 48th birthday.

True, Yogi Berra was then named manager, and led the Mets to the 1973 Pennant. Would Hodges have done any better? Maybe. But let's not buy into the idea that Hodges would have prevented the breakup of the 1969-73 Mets, because, with team owner Joan Payson dying, team president M. Donald Grant had pretty much a free reign, and he likely would have fired Hodges if Hodges had spoken up and said to stop that. So, as sad as Hodges' death was, I can't include it on this list.

8. Lyman Bostock, born November 22, 1950, died September 23, 1978, age 27. The son of a Negro Leaguer (also named Lyman Bostock), he was a sensational hitter for the Minnesota Twins, finishing 2nd in the 1977 American League batting race to his teammate, Rod Carew. Carew batted .388 (the highest in baseball in 19 years), while Bostock batted .336. Unfortunately, the Twins' owner, Calvin Griffith, engaged in 2 of his favorite pastimes, racism and cheapness, and refused to re-sign the free-agent Bostock. A year later, he would let Carew go as well.

Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy who owned the Angels, didn't have a bigoted bone in his body, and didn't mind paying big bucks so long as it got results. He signed Bostock for the 1978 season (and Carew for '79), and Bostock donated $10,000 to a church in his native Birmingham, Alabama.

He got off to a slow start in 1978, and offered to donate all the money he'd made in April, saying he hadn't earned it. After dozens of requests, he found a charity he thought worthy of being sent the money. His hitting stroke returned. At the time of his death, he had a "lifetime" batting average of .311. He was shot and killed in Gary, Indiana, visiting relatives during an Angels' roadtrip to play the White Sox.

The Angels won the American League Western Division in 1979, 1982 and 1986, but lost the AL Championship Series every time. Bostock would have been just short of 36 in 1986, and could very well have still been a star. The Angels also had a couple of close 2nd-place finishes in that stretch. Chances are, Bostock's death cost the Angels at least 1 Pennant, possibly more, and in spite of having such legends as Carew, Nolan Ryan, Reggie Jackson and Bert Blyleven, the Angels did not win a Pennant until 2002.

9. Dick Howser, born May 14, 1936, died June 17, 1987, age 51. Another "good-field-no-hit middle infielder," he made his mark as a coach, with the Yankees' 1976-78 Pennant winners. In 1980, he managed the Yanks to the AL East title, winning 103 games, before they were defeated by the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS. George Steinbrenner blamed the loss on a mistake by 3rd base coach Mike Ferraro, and told Howser to fire him. Howser refused, and George fired him.

In 1981, Howser was hired to manage the Royals. He was popular in Kansas City, having played there with the Athletics before their 1968 move to Oakland. He got the Royals to an AL West title in 1984 and (so far) their only World Championship in 1985. In 1986, he managed the AL to victory in the All-Star Game in Houston.

But that was his last game: He soon checked into a hospital, and was discovered to have a brain tumor. Within a year, he was dead. The Royals have never reached the postseason again, after having done so 7 times in 10 seasons from 1976 to 1985. (UPDATE: They won the Pennant in 2014 and the World Series in 2015.)

Could he have kept it going if he'd lived? The A's didn't start their mini-dynasty until 1988, the Angels weren't exactly world-beaters in 1986, and in 1987, the Twins won the West, and eventually the World Series, despite winning just 85 regular-season games.

I mentioned the '86 Angels. What about Donnie Moore? He had already been traded to the Royals after the 1988 season, and had been released by them shortly before he committed suicide. So its effect on the Angels was nil, and, with the Royals already in decline and having cut him anyway, it didn't affect them, either.

What about Thurman Munson, whose plane crash death on August 2, 1979 was one of the most devastating moments of my childhood, and my life as a Yankee Fan? Contrary to popular belief, the Yankees had a better record that season after Thurman's death than before. And they did win the Division in 1980 and the Pennant in 1981.

If this were a Top 20, I'd include him. But a Top 10? I can't. Still, who would you rather have had behind the plate in 1980 and '81: A Thurman Munson who, at age 33 and 34, would have only been able to catch maybe half the time, DHing and playing 1st base more often until Don Mattingly came in and all but forced his retirement; or... Rick Cerone?

10. Steve Olin, born October 4, 1965, died March 22, 1993, age 27. The Cleveland Indians reliever was killed in a spring training boat crash on Little Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. The crash also killed reliever Tim Crews and badly injured starter Bob Ojeda, a former Met hero.

I began this list with a Cleveland pitcher, and I'm ending it with one. The Indians won the Pennant in 1995, their 1st in 41 years. Would Olin, a submarining righthander with a 169 career ERA+, and 29 saves for a 76-win team in his final season, have made the difference in the '95 World Series against the Atlanta Braves? Maybe not.

But he could have made a huge difference in the 1997 Series against the Florida Marlins. Who would you rather have had on the mound in the bottom of the 9th: A more mature (he would have been 32) version of the Steve Olin you saw in 1992, or the man who was actually on the mound for the Indians in that fateful inning, Jose Mesa? Olin could have made the difference between the Indians still not having won the World Series since 1948, and having a 1997 banner flying over Jacobs (Progressive) Field.

*

You may ask, what about Ray Chapman? Or George Gipp? Or Ernie Davis? Or Sal Aunese? Or Jerome Brown? Those players' teams managed to win, or to continue to win, without them.

What about Ed Delahanty? Harry Agganis? Joe Delaney? Reggie Lewis? It's hard to say that these deaths, while tragic, would, if reversed, have helped the players' teams much.

The same can be said for that of Ken Hubbs. The Chicago Cub 2nd baseman was National League Rookie of the Year and a Gold Glove winner in 1962, just 20 years old. But a plane crash killed him on the eve of his 3rd full big-league season, 1964.

In 1993, Sports Illustrated did a "what-if" article, imagining several baseball scenarios (if Fidel Castro had stuck with baseball instead of politics, if "the original Cleveland Indian" Louis Sockalexis hadn't gotten hurt, if the aforementioned Casey Stengel had stayed in dental school), and asked what would have happened if Hubbs had lived. They suggested that the Cubs might not have traded Lou Brock, and would not have had their "September Swoon" in 1969, and might have become, rather than the Cincinnati Reds, the 1970s' "Big Blue Machine."

I find that hard to believe: Hubbs may have been an excellent fielder, but his "lifetime" batting average was .247, and his OPS+ was 70. He was the very model of the "good-field-no-hit" middle infielder. Besides, Brock was a left fielder, couldn't play any other position, and the Cubs already had Billy Williams. And the Cubs' 2nd baseman in that era, Glenn Beckert, was also a very good fielder, and, at least for average, a better hitter than Hubbs. Still, considering how bad the Cubs have been in the last 65 years, it's a nice idea.

What about Len Bias? The Boston Celtics drafted him right after winning their 16th NBA Championship, and they didn't win a 17th for another 22 years. True, but they did return to the NBA Finals in 1987, and remained a serious contender for the rest of Larry Bird's career, ending in 1992. (Lewis was still there, for another year, until his own death.)

But Bias was a forward. Would he have started ahead of Bird? Ahead of Kevin McHale? He was 6-foot-8, and while Bill Russell was a legendary Celtic center at 6-foot-9, times had changed, and Bias would not have been moved to center in place of Robert Parish. And it's hard to imagine him as a guard.

Face it: Unless Celtic president Red Auerbach was planning to use Bias as trade bait, or to take the place of McHale (hard to imagine Red trading McHale), I don't see how Bias would have been a starter until 1992, when he would have been 28. Even if he'd lived, he might've been a bad pick -- for the Celtics, that is. If he'd lived, he would've been much better suited to another team.

What about Drazen Petrovic, the great Croatian basketball star killed in a car crash in Germany in 1993? Remember, he played for the New Jersey Nets. They would have found a way to screw it all up anyway. Besides, they did make the Playoffs again in 1994.

Miami's All-Time Baseball Team

Tonight, the Mets start a 3-game series against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.

Considering how much talent is in Florida from Tampa and St. Petersburg on north, it's a little surprising that South Florida isn't nearly as loaded. In fact, it's particularly weak in pitching, aside from an ace who is still the best lefthanded pitcher I've ever seen -- and another who could have been, if only.

Which reminds me of another really good lefty, Mike Cuellar, which reminds me that, no, if a player grew up in Cuba and then lived in or around Miami after Castro took over, you can’t count him for this team. Not Cuellar, not Luis Tiant, not Pedro Ramos. They have to have grown up, or at least played high-school ball, south of Lake Okeechobee.

Which would qualify Jose Canseco, born in Havana but grew up in Miami and attended the city's Coral Park High School. But for admitting his steroid use, frankly, I don't care what he achieved, he ain't gettin' on this list.

It would also qualify Rafael Palmeiro, born in Havana but grew up in Miami and attended the city's Andrew Jackson High School. Not that Palmeiro is going to make this team: For using steroids, and then so forcefully lying about it, he can take his 132 career OPS+, his 3,020 hits, his 569 home runs, and his 1,835 RBIs, and stick it where he stuck his needle.

I'll start this team with a 1st baseman who, unlike Palmeiro, was naturally big, and didn't need steroids to hit home runs for the Baltimore Orioles. Or the bandbox that is Oriole Park at Camden Yards, either.

Miami’s All-Time Baseball Team

1B John "Boog" Powell of Key West. He may not be as easily associated with the southernmost point in the Lower 48 States as Ernest Hemingway and Jimmy Buffett, but his hitting was as intense as the former's writing, and his personal style is as relaxing as the latter's songs.

The 4-time All-Star was very nearly voted the Most Valuable Player of the American League in 1966 and '69 before winning it in '70. The Baltimore Orioles won Pennants all of those years, and in '71, and also had a near-miss in '64 and AL Eastern Division titles in '73 and '74. He hit 339 home runs and had 3 100-RBI seasons and a career OPS+ of 134. Despite his size, he held his own among the great fielders on that Baltimore squad.

Since the opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, he has run Boog's Barbecue on the Eutaw Street promenade between the right-field stands and the B&O Warehouse, starting a trend of ex-stars hosting barbecue stands at new ballparks that now includes Greg Luzinski, Gorman Thomas, Manny Sanguillen and Randy Jones (plus Luis Tiant at the not-at-all-new Fenway Park). If he could hit 303 home runs while playing his home games at Memorial Stadium (he hit 36 after leaving the O’s), what could he have done in that bandbox on the Inner Harbor?

2B Robby Thompson of West Palm Beach. He finished 2nd in the National League's 1986 Rookie of the Year balloting to Todd Worrell, was an All-Star twice and a Gold Glove winner once, and hit 238 doubles despite playing the equivalent of just 9 full seasons. He led the NL in triples in 1989, helping the San Francisco Giants win their 1st Pennant in 27 years.

SS Bucky Dent of Hialeah. Okay, he'll never be considered a heavy hitter. But he got hits when they mattered, particularly between October 2 and 17, 1978, when he saved the Yankees' bacon in the AL East Playoff with the Red Sox, and was the MVP of the World Series against the Dodgers. And he was a really good fielder, forming a fantastic double-play triad with Willie Randolph and Chris Chambliss. Whatever they call him in New England, the man born Russell Earl O'Dey will always be Bucky Blessed Dent to me.

3B Alex Rodriguez of Westminster Christian High School in Miami. The debate I had in my head (a rough place, I know) was both whether to put A-Rod on any list (because of steroids) and where. What city? Born in New York, but grew up (for want of a better choice of words) in Miami. What position? Since he is now more identified with the Yankees than with any other team, and will likely have played more games at 3rd than at shortstop by the time he's retired (currently 1,272 at short and 970 at 3rd), this is where he goes.

As of right now, at age 34, he has a .303 lifetime batting average, an OPS+ of 146, 2,644 hits, 472 doubles, 604 home runs, and 1,803 RBIs. He is 3 RBIs away from his 14th 100-RBI season, his 13th in a row. He has led the American League in home runs 5 times, RBIs twice, runs scored 5 times, and batting, hits and doubles once each.

He is a 13-time All-Star, and has won 3 MVP awards, finishing 2nd 2 other times. Believe it or not, his postseason batting average is .302, his postseason OPS .977, with 13 homers and 35 RBIs. He has reached the postseason 8 times (this season will almost certainly make it 9), including 3 times with the Seattle Mariners. He's only played on 1 Pennant winner, but the Yankees would not have won the 2009 World Series without his postseason contributions. He has answered all the questions.

Some people will never forgive him for using steroids for the 3 years that he's admitted, 2001-03, while he was with the Texas Rangers. Many of these same people are willing to overlook the proven steroid use of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, and the suspected steroid use of such Yankee nemeses as Curt Schilling, Luis Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Piazza.

Because he came clean, unlike Barry Bonds and some others, A-Rod will almost certainly reach the Hall of Fame, and his Number 13 will be retired by the Yankees, and he will have a Plaque in Monument Park. You don’t have to like it. He'll never be one of my 100 favorite Yankees. But he has done what he came to New York to do: Win a championship.

LF Mike Greenwell of Fort Myers. Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Mike Greenwell, Manny Ramirez... As they used to sing on Sesame Street, "One of these things just doesn't belong here." Yeah, and it's Manny, who couldn't field, looked ridiculous, and used steroids.

While Greeny may have been only the 5th-best left fielder in Red Sox history (if anyone is old enough to remember Duffy Lewis and wants to bump him ahead of Greenwell, be my guest), but he was a 2-time All-Star who came up as a late-season callup in the 1986 Pennant season, and helped them reach the postseason in 1988, '90 and '95. He batted .303 lifetime with a 120 OPS+, before injuries cut his career short at age 32.

In 1988, when the Red Sox won the American League East, he batted .325, hit 22 homers and had 119 RBIs, and finished 2nd in the AL Most Valuable Player voting to Canseco. When Canseco admitted his steroid use, Greenwell demanded that Canseco forfeit the MVP. So far, Canseco has refused. Greenwell is right, and for me to stick up for a Red Sock says a lot.

Honorable Mention to Warren Cromartie of Andrew Jackson High School in Miami. When he got good, starting in 1977 at age 23, the Montreal Expos got good. His hitting and fielding kept them in the NL East race every year through 1983, including the 1981 Division title, the only one the Expos/Nationals franchise has ever been officially awarded.

But, in a precursor to the economic conditions – or, perhaps, to the attitude toward them – that would led the Expos to leave Montreal, they didn't offer him a new contract, and at age 30 he went to Japan and signed with that country's most successful team, the Tokyo-based Yomiyuri Giants. In 1989, he was named MVP of Japan’s Central League. He had a brief U.S. comeback with the Kansas City Royals in 1991, batting .313 as a 37-year-old pinch-hitter. A lifetime .281 hitter in the North American major leagues, he deserved better.

CF John Milton "Mickey" Rivers of Miami. Roger Kahn, one of the most literary-minded of all sportswriters, once noted the name of the author of the 17th Century British epic Paradise Lost, and wrote that Mick the Quick "may be the only man named John Milton who has never heard of Paradise Lost."

But he stole 75 bases for the California Angels in 1975, and was obtained by the Yankees to be their new center fielder and leadoff hitter. In 3 full seasons in Pinstripes, he won 3 Pennants and 2 World Series. His .326 batting average led the 1977 World Champions, and he got all kinds of big hits for the Yankees, particularly against the Red Sox in the regular season and the Royals and Dodgers in the postseason. And that speed made him one of the finest defensive outfielders of his time.

Like Casey Stengel and Yogi Berra, he said a lot of things that suggested a fine line between genius and madness, but ain't no sense worryin' about that.

Somewhat Honorable Mention to Deion Sanders of Fort Myers. We'll never know what "Prime Time" could have done if he'd stuck with baseball, although he was certainly better off trying to play both that and football than Bo Jackson turned out to be. It's hard to believe, but he started out as a Yankee. (I wonder what George Steinbrenner thought of his off-the-field dress.)

He played for the Atlanta Braves in their 1991 and '92 Pennant-winning seasons and in the 1992 World Series, alternating with the Falcons, Atlanta's NFL team, which he also helped to reach the Playoffs. That 1992 season was his best in baseball, batting .304 with 8 homers, 28 RBIs and 26 steals, and leading the NL with 14 triples in only 97 games.

On January 29, 1995, he played for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX, topping Jackie Jensen and Chuck Essegian (who had played in the World Series and the Rose Bowl) by became the 1st (and still only) man to play in both the World Series and the Super Bowl (but only winning the latter). But after 1995, he would play in only 2 more major-league seasons. He'll never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he becomes eligible for the Pro Football version this winter.

RF Andre Dawson of Southwest High School in Miami. He finally got elected to the Hall of Fame on his 9th try, and that was at least 6 too many. It hurt him -- in more ways than one -- to play his 1st 10 full seasons in Montreal, a city where baseball is the 3rd sport behind hockey and Canadian-style football, with a flying saucer they call the Olympic Stadium, with its rock-hard astroturf that wrecked his knees. Then came 8 seasons in real ballparks in actual "baseball cities," 6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago and 2 at Fenway Park in Boston, where he burnished his legend (I know, that sounds dirty), before closing his career with 2 seasons with his hometown Marlins.

"The Hawk" was NL Rookie of the Year in 1977, and MVP in 1987, leading the League with 49 homers, most in the NL between 1977 and 1998 (remember, at Wrigley, the wind blows out half the time and in the other half), and 137 RBIs. He was an All-Star and a Gold Glove winner 8 times each, and finished his career with a 119 OPS+, 2,774 hits, 503 doubles, 438 homers, and 314 stolen bases. The only players with at least as many stolen bases as Dawson who had more homers than he did are Willie Mays and, uh, Barry Bonds.

How could anyone say this guy didn't belong in the Hall? If he'd spent his entire career in Chicago, or at least the time he spent with the Expos and Cubs combined all with the Cubs, he would've been in sooner. Unfortunately, while he played in 2 NLCS, in with the 1981 Expos and the 1989 Cubs, he never reached the World Series.

Honorable Mention to Dante Bichette of West Palm Beach. It's true that 201 of his 274 career home runs came while playing home games at altitude for the Colorado Rockies, but he also had seasons of at least 15 homers for the Angels, Brewers and Reds, none of whom played in hitters' parks. And he did have a .299 lifetime batting average, leading the NL in hits twice, 1995 and 1998.

Honorable Mention to Danny Tartabull of Carol City. Born in Puerto Rico as the son of Cuban-born right fielder Jose Tartabull (best known for a throw he made that sealed a win in the Red Sox' 1967 "Impossible Dream" season), he grew up in the Miami area, and had a 133 career OPS+ with 5 100-RBI seasons, and 262 homers despite playing the bulk of his career at Royals Stadium in Kansas City (now Kauffman Stadium and always a pitchers' park) and Yankee Stadium (great for lefty hitters but terrible for righthanders like Danny).

He was a member of the 1994 Yankees that had the best record in the AL when the strike hit, but was traded a year later for Ruben Sierra, who was traded a year after that for Cecil Fielder. Unlike his father, Danny never played in the postseason. However, he did appear on Seinfeld, as did fellow Yankees Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill and manager Buck Showalter (and, in a scene that never made it to air, George Steinbrenner), and ex-Met Keith Hernandez.

UT Lenny Harris of Andrew Jackson High School in Miami. A classic utility player, only once was he a regular starter (at 3rd base with the 1991 Dodgers who nearly won the NL West). But over his 18-year career, he played every position except catcher: 485 games at 3B, 300 at 2B, 161 in RF, 157 in LF, 87 at 1B, 52 at SS, 3 in CF, and even pitched a scoreless inning for the Reds in 1993.

He reached the postseason with 4 different teams, the 1995 NL Central Champion Reds, the 1999 NL West Champion Diamondbacks, the 2000 NL Champion Mets and the 2003 World Champion Marlins (his only ring). Despite being a utility player (and despite being somewhat chunky), he stole 131 bases. He is the all-time leader in pinch hits with 212, and is now the roving minor-league hitting instructor for the Dodgers.

C Charles Johnson of Fort Pierce. Not a lot to choose from here, the next-best being former Yankee Mike Stanley of Fort Lauderdale. Johnson's here for his defense, winning 4 Gold Gloves. His best season with the bat was 2000, .304, 31 homers, 91 RBIs. He helped his hometown Marlins win the 1997 World Series, but was done at age 33. Injuries? Yes. Steroid-induced? Almost certainly not.

SP Steve Carlton of North Miami. In 1967, he helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series. In 1968, he helped them win another Pennant. In 1971, he went 20-9. In 1972, Cards owner Gussie Busch offered him a contract for the season worth $50,000. Carlton wanted $60,000. Busch, a billionaire through his beer company, blew his stack over being asked to fork over an extra $10,000, and traded Carlton to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rick Wise.

Now, Wise was a good pitcher, but the Cards got rid of him too soon as well. That's why this was a bad trade: They didn't get what they could have out of the guy they got, and it was their fault, not his, and lost one of the greatest lefthanded pitchers ever, all over $10,000 -- even then, not an enormous amount.

In that 1972 season, Carlton went 27-10. The rest of the Phils' staff went just 32-87. Carlton also had a 1.97 ERA, and won the 1st of 4 Cy Young Awards (he was the first to win that many). When Carlton pitched, he told the Phils, "It's Win Day." He had 329 win days in his career, more than any lefthander ever except Warren Spahn, and an ERA+ of 115.

In 1983, he and Nolan Ryan vied to become the all-time strikeout leader. Ryan beat Carlton to Walter Johnson's longtime record of 3,508, but for a while, Carlton had the lead, until Ryan pulled away. Still, Carlton was the 2nd man to get to 4,000 strikeouts, finishing with 4,672. He reached the postseason 8 times, and helped the Phillies win the 1980 World Series (winning Game 2 and the clinching Game 6) and the 1983 Pennant.

He didn't like to talk to reporters. In 1981, a joke went around that the 2 best pitchers in baseball didn't speak English: Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Carlton. But his pitching spoke volumes. He is in the Hall of Fame, and the Phillies have retired his Number 32, elected him to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame, and erected a statue of him outside Citizens Bank Park.

SP Ken Johnson of West Palm Beach. Not an especially good pitcher, but South Florida hasn't produced very many good ones, and he was, in my opinion, the 5th-best starter. (Remember, I list the starting pitchers in chronological order.) He went 91-106 with a 102 ERA+ over a 13-year career, peaking in 1965 when he went 16-10 for the Houston Astros and Milwaukee Braves.

On April 23, 1964, pitching for the Astros (then still the Houston Colt .45's), he pitched a complete-game, 9-inning no-hitter... and lost. The game's only run scored, by Pete Rose, on 2 errors, the 1st one made by Johnson himself. He got into 1 postseason game, with the 1961 Cincinnati Reds, and seemed headed for more with the 1969 Chicago Cubs, but...

SP Fred Norman of Andrew Jackson High School in Miami. His career record was just 104-103, but he went 24-11 over the Cincinnati Reds' 1975 and 1976 World Championship seasons.

SP Charlie Hough of Hialeah. Actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and if I were doing an All-Hawaii team, I might have trouble filling it out – only 36 people born there have reached the majors – but it would have a heck of a good pitching staff, with Hough joined by 1986 Mets Ron Darling and Sid Fernandez (who did both grow up there), and also former Detroit Tiger starter Milt Wilcox (who grew up in Oklahoma).

Hialeah High School, alma mater to Hough and Bucky Dent, also produced Alan Wiggins, the ill-fated 2nd baseman for the Pennant-winning 1984 Padres, Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Ted Hendricks, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, and singers Jon Secada and Harry Wayne Casey (leader of KC & the Sunshine Band).

Hough's career record is dead-even at 216-216, but he still won 216 games more than most people ever will. He helped the Dodgers win Pennants in 1974, '77 and '78, although he never won a ring, and in '77 he gave up Reggie Jackson's monstrous 3rd homer in Game 6 of the World Series. He spent a few years with good-but-not-great teams with the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox, and then came home to South Florida in the 1993 expansion draft.

Like a lot of knuckleballers, he wore Number 49 to honor Hoyt Wilhelm. Also like a lot of knuckleballers, he lasted a long time, throwing his final pitch at age 46. On April 5, 1993, at Joe Robbie Stadium, he pitched for the Marlins and beat his former team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the 1st major league game ever played in Florida.

SP Rick Rhoden of Delray Beach. A teammate of Hough's on the Pennant-winning Dodgers of 1974, '77 and '78, he did play for a World Champion -- sort of, being hurt most of the 1979 season and pitching just 1 game, 5 innings, for the eventual World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1987, he went 16-10 for the Yankees, and on June 11, 1988, Billy Martin, in his 5th term and last month as Yankee manager, desperate to plug injury-caused holes, batted Rhoden -- a .238 lifetime hitter with 9 career home runs -- 7th as the designated hitter in a game I saw in person. The gamble paid off, as he hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a run, the last of his 75 career RBIs, and the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-6.

He is the only pitcher ever to appear in a game as a DH but not as a pitcher. (His former Pirate teammate John Candelaria started and won that game. Jay Buhner hit a grand slam, but was soon traded for Ken Phelps. But enough about that.) That sac fly was pretty much the last highlight for Rhoden, and the next year was his last in the majors. Still, his 151-125 record was better than Norman's and Hough's.

Honorable Mention to Herb Score of Lake Worth. Born in Queens but grew up in Palm Beach County, in 1955 he set a rookie record for strikeouts that still stands for the AL. In 1956, he was even better. Prior to the start of the 1957 season, he was 36-19 with 508 strikeouts for the Cleveland Indians, and had just turned 24 years old. The Boston Red Sox offered the Indians $1 million cash for him. They turned it down. His future seemed limitless.

On May 7, 1957, his future was limited, when he was hit in the face by a line drive from the Yankees' Gil McDougald. Several bones were broken, and his vision was permanently impaired. Although he insisted that it was a sore arm the following spring that doomed his playing career, we'll forever wonder. He was 19-27 the rest of the way. He won 55 games -- about 250 less than he should have. He could have been the AL's version of Sandy Koufax, a lefty strikeout machine. He went on to become an Indians broadcaster, staying until their Pennants of 1995 and 1997. He was Northern Ohio's version of Phil Rizzuto, Richie Ashburn, Ron Santo and Joe Nuxhall -- except he was probably better as a player than any of them, but had the least chance to prove it. He is in the Indians' team Hall of Fame.

RP Scot Shields of Fort Lauderdale. Basically a setup man for the Angels these last 10 seasons, but he's helped them reach the postseason in 2002 (World Champions), 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009. He has a career ERA+ of 140 and a WHIP of 1.246.

In Game 3 of the 2005 ALDS, when Randy Johnson spit the very expensive bit for the Yankees, Shields was the winning pitcher in relief of Paul Byrd. He has been terrible this season, though (0-3 with a 5.62 ERA), and at 34 he could be nearing the end of the line.

MGR Dick Howser of West Palm Beach. An All-American shortstop at Florida State University, he became the prototypical good-field-no-hit infielder in the 1960s with the Kansas City Athletics and then the Yankees. An All-Star as a rookie in 1961, he batted .280 and stole 37 bases, but that was pretty much his peak as a player.

He became a Yankee coach, and got a pair of World Series rings that way. He managed the Yankees to the AL East title in 1980, but resigned in disgust when George Steinbrenner insisted he fire some coaches following an embarrassing ALCS loss to the Royals.

But when the Royals fired manager Jim Frey the next season, Howser went back to Kansas City, and got them into the postseason in 1981 (the 2nd-half AL West title in that split season), 1984 (AL West) and 1985 (the only major-league World Championship ever won by a Kansas City baseball team). He managed the AL to victory in the 1986 All-Star Game, but sadly that was his last game.

He resigned as Royals manager due to cancer, and died less than a year later. They made his Number 10 the 1st number they ever retired. Florida State named their baseball stadium for him, and both they and the Royals dedicated statues of him outside their ballparks. The baseball equivalent of the Heisman Trophy is the Dick Howser Trophy.

Honorable Mention to J. Stanley "Skip" Bertman of Miami Beach, who played at the University of Miami, and was an assistant coach there before becoming the head coach of 5 National Championship teams at Louisiana State University: 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000.

Finally, an Honorable Mention to all those Cuban-born players who still can't go home, and have taken up residence in Miami, especially the following: Bert Campaneris, Jose Cardenal, Leo Cardenas, Paul Casanova, Tito Fuentes, Tony Gonzalez, the brothers Livan and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Tony Perez, Pedro Ramos, Cookie Rojas, Diego Segui, Jose Tartabull, Tony Taylor, Luis Tiant. And to those who died before they could return: Sandy Amoros, Mike Cuellar and Zoilo Versalles.