The All-Time, All-Texas All-Star Team
Major League Baseball’s 86th All-Star Game will be played on Tuesday in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Naturally, over the course of those nine decades, dozens of Texans have played a part in baseball’s Midsummer Classic. So, we decided to take on the chore of selecting an all-Texas All-Star team.
This is not a task for the squeamish.
It’s exhausting and, in some cases, heart wrenching. There have been some great players, among them Jo-Jo Moore, the Gause Ghost, a six-time All-Star who was squeezed.
The trouble starts, of course, that as Texans, we love all Texans. This was much like trying to choose the favorite child among the litter. That’s difficult, but somebody had to do it.
The criteria: The player must have been born in Texas and made an All-Star team.
So we researched those players and then began wringing hands and making judgments, based mostly on statistical comparisons.
Roger Clemens? Raised but not born in Texas. As a result, he’s not eligible. Willie Upshaw of Blanco, Cliff Johnson of San Antonio, Tex Carleton of Comanche and TCU? Didn’t make an All-Star team.
We made three exceptions for Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby of Fort Worth’s North Side High School, Tris Speaker and Ross Youngs. Those three so stood out at their respective positions that not including them would have compromised the effort.
And all three surely would have made a team had there been an All-Star Game in their era.
The game didn’t begin until 1933.
The same can be said for Negro League stars Rube Foster, Smokey Joe Williams and Willie Wells. All three would have made a team if given the chance. We made of note of their accomplishments.
So, without further ado, your all Texas All-Star team.
1. Pitcher
Greg Maddux was an Air Force brat by birth, his family following his father’s assignment at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo. Today, he’s considered one of greatest pitchers — if not the greatest — of his era, a four-time Cy Young Award winner and last year a new member of baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Nolan Ryan, an eight-time All-Star, led his league in strikeouts 11 times, including twice late in his career with the Rangers. Big Tex recorded seven no-hitters and 5,714 strikeouts, most all time. Ryan, of course, is from Alvin.
Clayton Kershaw of Dallas and Highland Park has already made his mark, joining two of the best in the profession as a four-time All-Star with the Los Angeles Dodgers. And that’s because he is just sick. Three Cy Young Awards in the last four years, plus a runner-up finish in 2012.
Doug Drabek of Victoria won the NL Cy Young Award by going 22-6 for Pittsburgh’s division-winning team in 1990. Drabek had 155 victories over 13 years and struck out about six a game.
Josh Beckett of Spring edged John Lackey of Abilene and UT Arlington based on number of All-Star Games and performances in the postseason. Beckett was World Series MVP when the Marlins won the title in 2003 and the MVP of the American League Championship Series during Boston’s title run in 2007. Both Beckett and Lackey have winning percentages of .566.
Others receiving votes: Lackey, Abilene; Burt Hooton, Greenville (Corpus Christi King High); Scott Kazmir, Houston; Justin Thompson, San Antonio (Spring Klein Oak High); Greg Swindell, Fort Worth (Sharpstown High, UT).
Middle relief: Arthur Rhodes, Waco (La Vega High); Mike Stanton, Houston (Midland High, Alvin CC, Southwestern).
Closers: Joe Nathan, Houston; Huston Street, Austin (Westlake High, UT); Kerry Wood, Irving (Grand Prairie).
Probably should have been All-Stars: Negro League stars Rube Foster, born in Calvert, and Smokey Joe Williams of Seguin are both in Cooperstown. Foster, who played for the Fort Worth Yellow Jackets in 1897, once won 44 games in a row, according to the Hall of Fame. Williams? Well, he was a sure 30-game winner in the majors, Ty Cobb once said.
2. Catcher
Gus Mancuso of Galveston was a two-time All-Star in 1935 and 1937. A career .270 hitter, Mancuso, born in 1905, threw out a league-high 64 percent and 68 percent of attempted base stealers for the New York Giants and St Louis Cardinals in 1937 and ’41. He finished top 10 in MVP balloting in 1933 and ’36, although he led the league in passed balls in 1933-34.
Jerry Grote, a San Antonio native and product of Douglas MacArthur High and Trinity University, was a modest hitter (.252) but considered one of the best defensive catchers of his era in the NL. Grote is credited with chaperoning the 1969 Miracle Mets’ pitching staff to a World Series title and was a two-time All-Star, 1968 and ’74.
He would have been an All-Star: Frank Snyder of San Antonio was a key contributor to the Giants’ 1921-22 World Series champs managed by John McGraw and powered by High Pockets Kelly. Snyder hit .343 and .threw out a league-leading 66 percent of would-be base stealers in 1921.
Others receiving votes: Jeff Newman of Fort Worth (Paschal High, TCU), Dallas native Dave Duncan.
3. First base
Norm Cash was born in Justiceburg and raised south of Lubbock in Post. The four-time All-Star also put up big numbers for the better part of 15 seasons. Educated at Angelo State and Sul Ross, Cash hit more than 350 home runs and drove in more than 1,100 runs, including a career high of 41 homers in 1961, the same year he led the league in three offensive categories. Cash hit .385 in the Tigers’ World Series victory over St. Louis in 1968.
Cecil Cooper was Brenham born and raised and a five-time All-Star who led the AL in RBIs in 1980 and 1983. The former Prairie View A&M standout was one of baseball’s top hitters during the prime of his 17-year career.
Ferris Fain of San Antonio (raised in Oakland, Calif.) was selected to five straight All-Star Games from 1951-55 as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox and led the league in hitting in 1951-52.
Others receiving votes: Mike Hargrove of Perryton.
4. Second base
Rogers Hornsby never played in an All-Star Game, but had there been one in his prime the Hall of Famer from Fort Worth’s North Side High would have been a perennial choice. “Every time I step to the plate I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the pitcher,” said Hornsby, a two-time league MVP who was born in Winters in 1896.
Joe Morgan, a 10-time All-Star and twice NL MVP in the 1970s, was one of the best at his position in baseball history. Though he was raised in Oakland, Little Joe was born in Bonham.
Others receiving votes: Chuck Knoblauch, Houston (Bellaire High, Texas A&M).
5. Third base
Eddie Mathews, Texarkana born, was a nine-time All-Star with the Milwaukee Braves and Hall of Fame inductee after smacking 512 home runs and driving in more than 1,400 runs over a 17-year career. He led the NL in home runs in 1953 and ’56. The sabermetric community points to a 93.9 offensive WAR, 22nd best all-time.
Pinky Higgins, born with the first name of “Michael” in 1909 in Red Oak, was a three-time All-Star for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers in the 1930s and ’40s. He hit .292 with 1,075 RBIs and more than 1,900 hits over 14 seasons. Before all that he was a standout for Dallas Adamson and UT.
Others receiving votes: Kelly Gruber, Houston (Austin Westlake High); Matt Carpenter, Galveston (Missouri City High, TCU); Dave Chalk, Del Rio (Dallas Kimball High, UTA).
6. Shortstop
Ernie Banks actually played more games in his career at first base than shortstop, but to ignore his prowess at the 6 seemed unreasonable. A Dallas native, Mr. Cub, was the NL MVP in 1958-59. In ’58, he led the league in home runs (47), RBIs (129), slugging percentage (.614) and total bases (379). He made 11 appearances in the Midsummer Classic, including three times as a primary first baseman.
Garry Templeton might best be remembered as the guy whom the St. Louis Cardinals traded to San Diego for Ozzie Smith in December 1981. But before that, the Lockney-born Templeton was a two-time All-Star for St. Louis, three times leading the NL in triples and once, in hits. He also was selected an All-Star from San Diego in 1985.
Willie Wells of Austin is considered by many perhaps the best shortstop of all time, regardless of league. He hit for average and power, ran with speed and covered ground at shortstop with a great arm, starring for more than 20 years in the Negro Leagues, Canada, Cuba and Mexico, where he picked up the nickname “El Diablo.” The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1997.
Others receiving votes: Freddie Patek, Seguin; Craig Reynolds, Houston (Reagan High);
7. Left field
Lance Berkman, born in Waco, raised in New Braunfels with a baseball education earned at Rice never left his native Texas, except for 2 1/2 years in New York and St. Louis. The six-time All-Star is one of the state’s best sluggers ever, leading the NL in doubles twice and RBIs in 2002 while also helping lead the Astros to their only World Series appearance in 2005.
Carl Crawford of Houston, despite a dramatic slip in recent years, is the other left fielder, his speed the decisive factor over Ron Gant and Jo-Jo Moore. Crawford, a four-time All-Star and career .292 hitter, led the AL four times in triples and stolen bases.
Others receiving votes: Gant, Victoria; Moore, Gause; Don Buford, Linden; Steve Kemp, San Angelo; Scott Podsednik, West.
8. Center field
Tris Speaker is an exception because of his exceptionalism. There was no All-Star Game when the Hubbard-born and Texas Wesleyan alum Speaker wore out his competition over a 22-year career with Boston, Cleveland, Washington and the Philadelphia Athletics. Speaker, the 1912 MVP, is the game’s all-time leader in doubles with 792 and in 1916 led the AL in seven offensive categories. He hit .300, .294 and .320 in World Series triumphs in 1912, 1915 and 1920 and covered center as well as anybody in his era. For the metrics people, he’s ninth all time.
Curt Flood’s legacy changed baseball, but the Houston native was also a three-time All-Star for St. Louis and twice — 1964 and ’67 — a World Series champion. A career .293 hitter, Flood led the NL in hits in 1964.
9. Right field
Frank Robinson was a 12-time All-Star, two-time MVP — in 1961 and ’66 — and rookie of the year whose career numbers rate with baseball’s greatest. Robinson, twice a World Series champion, was raised in Oakland, Calif. But before all of that, he was swaddled in clothes as a newborn in Beaumont.
Ross Youngs, Shiner native, was a key piece in four consecutive pennants and two World Series titles with the New York Giants between 1921-24 . Hit .300 in seven of his eight seasons in the 1920s. The eventual Hall of Famer’s career was cut short at age 30 because of Bright’s disease, which cost him his life.
Others receiving votes: Cito Gaston, San Antonio; Ben Grieve, Arlington (Martin High); Hunter Pence, Fort Worth (Arlington High, UT Arlington); Joel Youngblood, Houston (Stephen F. Austin High).
Designated hitter
Don Baylor’s only All-Star appearance coincided with his best season, an AL MVP-winning season for the then California Angels in 1979. The Austinite had 36 home runs and a league-leading 139 RBIs for the AL West champions. A slugger who demanded his portion of the plate, Baylor also led the league in hit-by-pitches eight times.
Adam Dunn had more than 460 home runs and 1,100 RBIs over a 14-year career, though the only offensive statistic he dominated over that span was … strikeouts. He led the league in Ks four times, including 222 in 2012 with the White Sox. Still, he hit more than 40 home runs six times, and that’s what his hometown of Houston and his classmates at New Caney High School no doubt recall with pride.
This story was originally published July 11, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "The All-Time, All-Texas All-Star Team."