All-Star Plate Discipline Team

Purely on a whim, I spent a few minutes earlier today constructing an all-time All Star Plate Discipline Team. It is defined thusly: taking, at each position (with a DH spot for wiggle room), the best player from the Integration Era (1947 onwards) with more unintentional walks than strikeouts. The time limitation is chosen quasi-arbitrarily to exclude the period when strikeouts just weren't a big deal, and therefore just about all the good players would qualify. Here's the team, arranged in a rough lineup order:

     Rickey Henderson, DH
     Wade Boggs, 3B
     Joe Morgan, 2B
     Barry Bonds, LF
     Yogi Berra, C
     Al Kaline, RF
     Keith Hernandez, 1B
     Richie Ashburn, CF
     Ozzie Smith, SS

Note that, if intentional walks were included, the likes of Albert Pujols at first base, Hank Aaron in right field, and Mickey Mantle in center field would be included, and third base would be a very close three-way contest between Boggs, George Brett, and Chipper Jones. Rickey's the DH not because he's a bad defensive player, but because he's not as great a fielder as Bonds, who was pretty good at playing baseball.

Also, just for fun, the All Star Hackers Team, composed of the best players of all time with at least twice as many strikeouts as unintentional walks. (The time restriction is irrelevant, because no one from the pre-integration era comes close to qualifying.) Here it is:

     Lou Brock, LF
     Roberto Clemente, RF
     Reggie Jackson, DH
     Willie Stargell, 1B
     Ivan Rodriguez, C
     Jeff Kent, 2B
     Adrian Beltre, 3B
     Andruw Jones, CF
     Miguel Tejada, SS

Not surprisingly, the hackers are not as good as the guys with great discipline. The one that surprised me on this list was Clemente, given his reputation as a pure hitter, but apparently he wasn't really interested in drawing walks. Ichiro Suzuki also qualified, though he's got a lower career WAR than Clemente. Note that I've engaged in a bit of a positional shuffle, making Stargell the first baseman (which pushed Tony Perez off the team) to get Brock on, giving the team a genuine leadoff hitter. I suppose I could alternately replace Clemente with Ichiro, make him the leadoff hitter, put Stargell back in LF, and keep Perez on the team. Whatever. You get the point.