The Baseball Scholar

13 responses to “1970s All-Decade Team”

1. 

   Anonymous

   September 3, 2017 at 11:44 pm

   We didn’t say goodbye to Yaz in the 70’s. He actually played four years into the 80’s — and made two more All-Star appearances…

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2. 

   Garry Harris

   October 21, 2017 at 5:30 pm

   I grew up watching 1970s Baseball. The first half and the second half have different players so ts hard to create a best team of the 1970s.

   C Johnny Bench, Thurman Munson. then Gary Carter, Ted Simmons, Manny Sanguillen, Carton Fisk
   1B Tony Perez, Willie Stargell. then Lee May, George Scott, Steve Garvey .
   2B Joe Morgan, Rod Carew
   3B Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Ron Cey, Bill Madlock, Graig Nettles… The first half was Brooks Robinson and Sal Bando
   SS Dave Concepcion, Bert Campaneris
   LF Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski
   CF Cesar Cedeno, Amos Otis, Al Oliver
   RF Reggie Jackson, Bobby Bonds, Rusty Staub, Dave Parker, Dave Winfield

   DH Hal McRae

   Every team went at least three deep with quality starters.

   SP Steve Carlton
   SP Tom Seaver
   SP Jim Palmer
   SP Gaylord Perry
   SP Fergie Jenkins
   SP Vida Blue
   SP Nolan Ryan
   SP Don Sutton
   SP Bert Blyleven
   SP Phil Niekro
   SP Tommy John
   SP Catfish Hunter
   SP Luis Tiant
   SP Frank Tanana
   SP JR Richard
   SP Dennis Leonard

   RP Rollie Fingers
   RP Rich Gossage
   RP Tug McGraw
   RP Mike Marshall
   RP John Hiller
   RP Sparky Lyle
   RP Bill Campbell
   RP Kent Tekulve

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3. 

   Scott Perry

   March 15, 2018 at 12:20 pm

   It’s almost impossible to disagree with having Bench on top for catchers. One of the all time greats. However, as runner up I’d have to pick Thurman Munson, Carlton Fisk or even…. Jim Sundberg (based on his defense).

   By the way, love the site. Keep up the good work!

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   1. 

      Dave Franks

      March 15, 2018 at 12:28 pm

      Scott, I’m glad you enjoy the site. The 70s, unlike a majority of decades, produced several great options to backup Bench. I wouldn’t argue with any of your alternatives except Jim Sundberg. Because I never saw Sundberg play and nearly all of his value is defense I’d pass on him.

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4. 

   Anonymous

   April 4, 2020 at 6:07 am

   Steve Carlton? Not even an Honorable Mention?

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5. 

   Darl DeVault

   August 9, 2020 at 9:25 pm

   For the pitchers, are they in order of accomplishment? If so, they are out of order because wins are all that counted to the men who played the game. I have interviewed them.

   Difficult to understand your rankings.

   You might want to check out the man who led MLB in wins from 1967 to1980.

   Ferguson Jenkins had 251 wins in that period while throwing the only six straight 20 wins or more seasons since Warren Spahn. Warren Spahn would tell you wins are the only stat that counted, everything else was details.

   Jenkins is still the only Ranger with 25 wins. Guidry had one 25-win year and only three 20 wins or more seasons in his whole career. How could Guidry be mentioned in a best of the decade when he did not play the full decade?

   Have you ever interviewed any of these pitchers, or talked to anyone who ever batted against them?

   Difficult to fathom some of your choices except perhaps you enjoyed watching them in postseason play. That is called pro-postseason bias. Those stats do not count for their careers and yet your choices are heavy postseason play.

   And yet you left off Steve Carlton, that is strange.

   Again, during his major-league-best 14 seasons from 1967 to 1980, Jenkins’ 251 victories led Steve Carlton (four Cy Youngs, MLB’s second-most career strikeouts) with 246 wins and Tom Seaver (three Cy Youngs) with 245. Gaylord Perry (two Cy Youngs) won 244 games and Phil Niekro was fifth with 227. Jenkins had even greater margins over future Hall of Famers Jim Palmer (three Cy Young Awards) and Nolan Ryan (most MLB career strikeouts).

   Good Luck

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6. 

   Gunnar

   April 26, 2021 at 10:03 am

   I think I would put MCovey at first base and maybe Keith Hernandez. Sure he’s known for his defense but if you look back he had some quality seasons hitting, 1979 he tied Willie Stargell for MVP. Not that Dick Allen isn’t good. Anyway love the site keep it up.

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7. 

   Anonymous

   December 19, 2021 at 3:58 pm

   Rod Carew at 2B over Joe Morgan

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8. 

   Matthew

   July 29, 2022 at 8:29 pm

   All Time 70’s Team

   LF Lou Brock
   DH Rod Carew
   2B Joe Morgan
   3B George Brett
   CF ?????
   RF Reggie Jackson
   1B Willie Stargell
   C Johnny Bench
   SS Robin Yount

   P: Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer & Steve Carlton

   All of these are HoFers. Yount played six seasons in the 70’s even though he wasn’t an AS until the 80’s. It’s sort of like how we use Pete Rose in the 60’s at 2B. At CF I couldn’t find a HoFer, but there was Al Oliver, Cedeno and Geronimo who were great during this time. Everybody has Jackson, Morgan. and Bench on their list. I know Rose was player of the decade for the 70’s but I have him in the 60’s. He played LF for part of this decade, and 3B for part of this decade, then moved to 1B on the last year of this decade.

   Very tough team to beat with the pitching this decade. Other pitchers to input as you did, Jenkins, Perry and so on.

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9. 

   Bo Hiers

   May 7, 2023 at 7:36 pm

   I’ve just looked at the All-Decade teams from the 50s, 60s and 70s, and I’ve yet to see Hank Aaron mentioned. Is this some kind of a joke?

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10. 

    Anonymous

    July 4, 2024 at 3:22 pm

    Bobby Bonds was the only player in that decade to have 850 runs scored and 850 RBI’s.
    How you can leave him with no honorable mention is beyond me. He was top 10 in almost every offensive stat including home runs and stolen bases. He was also a very good defender.

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11. 

    Anonymous

    January 18, 2025 at 7:34 am

    Gene Tenace is bad enough but naming him as a catcher — when he didn’t even play 1000 games at catcher and effectively was a second-string to Ray Fosse on the Oakland teams of 1973-74 — is absurd. Or maybe it’s a typo and misspelled Thurman Munson.

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    1. 

       Dave Franks

       January 18, 2025 at 7:46 am

       Between 1970-1979 Tenace logged 5,200 innings at catcher and 4,200 innings at first base. The numbers are per Baseball-Reference https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tenacge01.shtml

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