When you’ve been a baseball fan for a long enough time – and not particularly obsessed with a single team – you might start putting together “All-Time” teams. Not just players from one specific franchise, but perhaps an “all switch-hitters” team or a team where everyone is named “Joe” (or Jose, of course).

I consider myself to be of Polish ancestry, so naturally I thought of a “Polish All-Stars” team. If I am a fan of any one team, I would have to say it’s the Mets. So I’ve often tried to come up with an All-Time Mets team.

Then, with the two teams, might it not be fun to have them face each other in a best-of-seven series?

That’s where “Deadball” comes in.

W.M. Akers has created a baseball simulator game that he calls “Deadball”. It’s a dice-based game that allows you to create your own teams. It’s much simpler than Strat-O-Matic; you only need a handful of stats and “traits” for each player. You do need a set of the five polyhedral dice, though. Anyone who’s ever played a tabletop role playing game will have them. I got my copy of the game thanks to being a sponsor of an expansion “rule kit” on Kickstarter. For now, I’ll stick with the second edition. With those rules, it’s possible to take any player in any year, and convert them into Deadball format.

I managed to get a couple of versions of the rules, and a few supplements. For the most part, I’ll use the Second Edition rule set. As Akers says in the introduction, it’s more important to recreate the feel of an actual game. So I won’t take into account “handedness” – righty/righty etc. – adjustments in the batter / pitcher matchups, since I’m pretty sure I’ll forget it anyway.

Now, to come up with rosters.

For any extant franchise, it’s pretty easy. Fans have already created the All-Time teams for each of them. One has to remember that you want a full 25 (or 26) man roster, not just the starting nine. And a designated hitter. Four starting pitchers, too…. Please note that we can only consider their time with the Mets – no picking Willie Mays just because he spent the tail end of his career in Queens. And we’ll also have to pick what specific season we want to get them from.

Let’s meet the Mets!

Starting Lineup:

Jose Reyes ss (2006)
Carlos Beltran cf (2006)
Mike Piazza dh (2000)
Darryl Strawberry rf (1988)
Gary Carter c (1985)
David Wright 3b (2007)
Keith Hernandez 1b (1984)
Kevin McReynolds lf (1988)
Edgardo Alfonzo 2b (2000)

Bench:

Todd Hundley c (1996)
Dave Magadan 1b/3b (1990)
Hubie Brooks inf (1984)
Howard Johnson 3b/ss (1989)
Lee Mazzilli of/1b (1979)
Rusty Staub rf (1975)
Mookie Wilson cf (1984)

Starting Rotation:

Tom Seaver (1973)
Jerry Koosman (1968)
Dwight Gooden (1985)
Jacob deGrom (2018)

Bullpen:

John Franco (1990)
Tug McGraw (1972)
Roger McDowell (1985)
Jesse Orosco (1983)
Armando Benitez (1999)

And now, our Polish All Stars!

Starting lineup:

Alan Trammel ss (1987 Detroit Tigers)
Carl Yastrzemski lf (1967 Boston Red Sox)
Al Simmons cf (1930 Philadelphia Athletics)
Stan Musial rf (1948 St. Louis Cardinals)
Ted Kluszewski 1b (1954 Cincinnati Reds)
Greg Luzinski dh (1975 Philadelphia Phillies)
Whitey Kurowski 3b (1945 St. Louis Cardinals)
A J Pierzynski c (2003 Minnesota Twins)
Bill Mazeroski 2b (1963 Pittsburgh Pirates)

Bench:

Richie Zisk of (1977 Chicago White Sox)
Bill Skowron 1b (1960 New York Yankees)
Ryan Klesko lf/1b (2001 San Diego Padres)
Stan Lopata c/1b (1955 Philadelphia Phillies)
Carl Sawatski c (1962 St. Louis Cardinals)
Troy Tulowitzki ss (2010 Colorado Rockies)
Tony Kubek ss (1961 New York Yankees)

Starting Rotation:

Harry Coveleski (1916 Detroit Tigers)
Phil Niekro (1978 Atlanta Braves)
Joe Niekro (1979 Houston Astros)
Stan Coveleski (1925 Washington Senators)

Bullpen:

Jim Konstanty (1950 Philadelphia Phillies)
Ron Perranoski (1970 Minnesota Twins)
Moe Drabowsky (1967 Baltimore Orioles)
Bob Kuzava (1951 New York Yankees)
Ray Sadecki (1971 New York Mets)

(You can look them up yourselves.)

First, I’ve picked years when they won a major award (MVP, Cy Young) or were at least selected for the All Star Game. For bench players, I’ve tried to select ones that give plenty of coverage around the diamond – including at least one backup catcher. I’m using a four-man rotation; for the best-of-seven series I have planned, we won’t need any more. The rules give a penalty to relievers who appear on consecutive days – I’ll try to avoid doing that (the appearances, not the penalty).

Since I’m using designated hitters, there won’t be much call for pinch-hitters. I might swap a bench player into the starting lineup for games after the first one, just because.

I note that Ray Sadecki was a starter; I’ll use him for long relief here – and “penalize” him by dropping him two levels on his pitcher’s die for being unaccustomed to the role.

Interesting that the Polish All Stars have two pairs of brothers in the starting rotation!