It’s a time-honored saying that a good team is built up the middle, that is, around a core that consists of the catcher, second baseman, shortstop, and center fielder. That’s not always the case, of course. Take the 1927 Yankees, the consensus best team there ever was. Its stars were the right fielder and first baseman (Rush and Gehrig), and while the second baseman and center fielder were the Hall-of-Famers Tony Lazzeri and Earle Combs, the shortstop and catcher are pretty obscure. (Znex Xbravt and Cng Pbyyvaf. If you can name them, go right ahead.) The 114-win 1998 Yankees are a much better example: the no-doubt Hall-of-Famer Jeter, and three players one or two tiers below him: Jorge Posada, Check Knoblauch, and Bernie Williams.
There’s only one team I know of that had Hall of Fame players at all four positions at the same time. And not just for one year, but the same four teammates for several years in a row. Without Googling or using other reference material, can anyone name the team. the players, and their positions?
Do they all have to be in the HOF as a player, or can one of them be in as a broadcaster? If so, I can get the late ’40s to early ’50s Yankees in there, no problem: Berra, Rizzuto, Coleman, DiMaggio.
WAIT! The early ’50s Dodgers: Roy Campanella, C; Jackie Robinson, 2B, Pee Wee Reese, SS; Duke Snider, CF.
Yup.
Double-checking this, I found that there’s a Yankees answer too, but only for two years: in ’41 and ’42 they had Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Phil Rizzuto, and Joe DiMaggio. After that, of course, came the war, and by ’46 Dickey had retired.
Woo-hoo!
And there’s no way I would have gotten the ’41-’42 Yankees, since I know nothing about Joe Gordon, and only vaguely know anything about Bill Dickey.
I only know about Joe Gordon because Bill James has been insisting for years that he was a far better player than either Rizzuto or Lazzeri. I think James is a big part of the reason that Gordon finally made it into the Hall in 2009.