All-Time Teams #8: Cleveland Indians

This is part of an ongoing series where I'm naming an all-time team for each of the current 30 MLB franchises, and using this as a vehicle to discuss their greatest eligible player who is not in the Hall of Fame.

The Indians presented some interesting dilemmas. There wasn't much to choose from at catcher, but that was more than made up for by a plethora of outfield choices, including three Hall of Fame center fielders and one who deserves much more consideration than he'll likely get. Even choosing this team's manager was a tough decision.

Dan Day of The Ball Caps Blog, being a native Ohioan, gave me some input on the team he followed as a youth. I'm honestly not sure where his allegiances currently reside, as he's moved around the country pretty frequently since. I know he spent at least a brief period rooting for the Brewers while attending college at Marquette, and he fairly recently celebrated the Giants' 2010 World Series victory. But, since he's now a central Jersey resident, will he become a Phillies fan? Mets fan? Yankees fan?!?

By asking these questions I'm really just procrastinating my admission that I left his boyhood hero off the team. So, to justify my decision I'm going to explain how I came to a determination as to what outfielders would make the cut.

There were nine outfielders I considered, and only one of them was an absolute no-brainer to make it as a starter. Probably the second and third best outfielders in the team's history primarily played the same position (center field) as that guy, adding to the difficulty of assembling this team.

I decided to compare these players based on who ranked in the Indians' top ten all-time in these statistical categories: WAR, runs, hits, HR, RBI, SB, OPS+ (with a little extra consideration given to being the team's all-time leader in a category). In doing so, a tenth guy was added to the list, but three of the ten were quickly eliminated.

Those three and their top ten categories would be Charlie Jamieson (runs, hits), Elmer Flick (SB, OPS+) and Rocky Colavito (HR, OPS+). The most difficult decision was Colavito, but his closest comparisons among the seven who made the first cut—Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez—were both in the top ten in HR, RBI and OPS+, and superior to him in WAR.

From there, I really needed to drop one more guy, because I could justify six outfielders, but seven would've meant only two reserve infielders, and that seemed like a stretch. That choice came down to Belle or Ramirez, who both played eight years in Cleveland and had very similar statistics:

Belle: 3925 PA, 1014 H, 592 R, 242 HR, 751 RBI, 150 OPS+, 25.5 WAR

Ramirez: 4095 PA, 1086 H, 665 R, 236 HR, 804 RBI, 152 OPS+, 28.0 WAR

Not much daylight there, but there is enough to give a slight edge to Ramirez. Plus, Ramirez had the better overall career, so Belle had to go.

Franchise History
Cleveland Indians (1915- )
Cleveland Naps (1903-1914)
Cleveland Bronchos (1902)
Cleveland Blues (1901)

An asterisk (*) denotes a Hall of Famer.

Starters
C - Victor Martinez (2002-2009)
1B - Jim Thome (1991-2002, 2011)
2B - Nap Lajoie* (1902-1914)
SS - Lou Boudreau* (1938-1950)
3B - Al Rosen (1947-1956)
LF - Joe Jackson (1910-1915)
CF - Tris Speaker* (1916-1926)
RF - Larry Doby* (1947-1955, 1958)

Rotation
Bob Feller* (1936-1941, 1945-1956)
Addie Joss* (1902-1910)
Stan Coveleski* (1916-1924)
Sam McDowell (1961-1971)
Bob Lemon* (1946-1958)

Closer
Doug Jones (1986-1991, 1998)

Reserves
C - John Romano (1960-1964)
1B - Hal Trosky (1933-1941)
IF - Joe Sewell* (1920-1930)
3B - Ken Keltner (1937-1944, 1946-1949)
OF - Kenny Lofton (1992-1996, 1998-2001, 2007)
OF - Earl Averill* (1929-1939)
OF - Manny Ramirez (1993-2000)

Bullpen
Wes Ferrell (1927-1933)
Early Wynn* (1949-1957, 1963)
Gaylord Perry* (1972-1975)
Mel Harder (1928-1947)

Manager
Lou Boudreau* (1942-1950)

Joe Jackson becomes the first non-Hall of Famer to appear on two different all-time teams. He won't be the last, and since he likely would be in the Hall if not for a lifetime ban from baseball, we'll see if an actual Hall-eligible candidate falls into this category.


Greatest Eligible non-Hall of Famer

After Kenny Lofton is virtually ignored by the Hall of Fame voters when he becomes eligible next year, he'll instantly become the Indians' greatest eligible non-Hall of Famer. But, since he's not eligible yet, this distinction goes to Wes Ferrell, with an honorable mention to Albert Belle, who was the choice in my original post on the subject.

Similar to Belle, Ferrell may have had a Hall of Fame case if his career—or at least his ability to perform at a reasonably high level—had lasted longer.

The point is often made Ferrell is more deserving of the honor than his Hall of Fame brother, Rick. It's also often suggested that, despite being a pitcher, he was better with the bat than his brother, who was a catcher but is enshrined based primarily on his defensive abilities. In fact, Wes hit more home runs than Rick (38 to 28) in over 5700 fewer plate appearances and out-OPS+'d him 100 to 95.

Ferrell (Wes, that is) enjoyed six 20-win seasons, all prior to his 29th birthday. That's pretty incredible. There are only a few guys who can top that, and their names are the likes of Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill after that. Through his age 28 season (1927-1936), Ferrell was 161-96 with a 128 ERA+ and 46.3 WAR. From that point on (1937-1941), 32-32 with an 83 ERA+ and -1.2 WAR.

In my opinion, that's not quite enough longevity to make a strong Hall of Fame case (and his peak wasn't exactly Koufaxian). But, that certainly qualifies him for my distinction of being the greatest eligible Cleveland Indian not in the Hall of Fame.

Next Up: Colorado Rockies