Greates Defensive Infield of All Time

[sturg1dj]

which team had the greatest defensive infield of all time? I ask this because I found a pretty amazing one:

2003 Florida Marlins

1B - Derrick Lee - 3 Gold Gloves
2B - Luis Castilla - 3 Gold gloves
3B - Mike Lowell - 1 Gold Glove
SS - Alex Gonzalez


and the catcher was Pudge Rodriguez

[dgarza]

1976 Reds
1904, 1906, 1907 Cubs - I haven't found one better than the 1906 Cubs yet
1895 Orioles
1909 or 1914 Tigers
1979, 1982, 1985 Cardinals
1969, 1973, 1975 Orioles
1908 Pirates - who is Ed Abbaticchio?
1912 Pirates
1889, 1910, 1913 A's
1906 (Terry Turner?), 1908 Indians
1982 Tigers
1976 Yankees

[The Splendid Splinter]

Last year Rockies deserve a mention....

[hellborn]

The Cards have had a few nice IFs...
'82 (Hernandez-Herr-Oberkfell-Smith)
'69 (Torre-Javier-Shannon-Maxvill)
'46-7 (Musial-Schoendiest-Kurowski-Marion)

Couldn't find an infield with Ken Reitz or Ken Boyer that didn't have a weak link, but they were truly outstanding 3Bmen.

Skowron-Richardson-(Clete) Boyer-Kubek was nice for the Yanks for a few years.

Grimm or Cavaretta-Herman-Hack-Jurges for the Cubs in the '30s was also a fine IF.

[sturg1dj]

2000 Cleveland Indians


1B - Thome....the weak link
2B - Alomar
3B - Travis Fryman...won his only gold glove that year and as a Tiger fan I know how great this guy was at 3rd
SS - Omar Vizquel



the 2004 Cardinals had 3 gold glovers in their infield.....Pujols, Rolen and Rentaria plus Tony Womack...and had 2 gold glove catchers...Molina and Matheny

[Gee Walker]

From 1973 to 1975 the Baltimore Orioles had Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Bobby Grich, and Boog Powell/Lee May in their infield. Their first basemen weren't anything special, but the other three guys...

[dgarza]

From 1973 to 1975 the Baltimore Orioles had Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Bobby Grich, and Boog Powell/Lee May in their infield. Their first basemen weren't anything special, but the other three guys...

And before Grich, they had the sweet glove of Davey Johnson.
Lee May had some good years at 1B, and Boog was also pretty good at times.
A pretty impressive IF across the board.

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

Some more choices I would use are Maz, Keith Hernandez, and Ozzie Smith.

[scribe114]

Cincinatti Reds of the late 30's early 40's

1B Frank McCormick
2B Lonnie Frey
SS Billy Myers
3B Billy Werber

[CTaka]

1897 Boston:

1B: Fred Tenney. Had a fielding percentage 8 points above league average and range factor 33% above league average.

2B: Bobby Lowe. Fielding percentage 18 points above league average. Bill James gave him a career fielding grade of A-.

3B: Jimmy Collins. In my opinion, the greatest defensive 3B of all time. Received a fielding grade of A+ from Bill James.

SS: Herman Long. Another all time great glove man; and another A+ recipient from James.

[Iron Jaw]

'69 (Torre-Javier-Shannon-Maxvill)

I much preferred their earlier 60's version of White-Javier-Groat-KBoyer. All-Star infield - of course, Groat was not Maxvill defensively. But his hitting made him considerably more valuable - besides, Dal was there anyway for a late inning defensive replacement.

[willshad]

I seem to recall the Mets having a great fielding infield, I think it was 1999.

[Old Sweater]

Last year Rockies deserve a mention....

Except for Atkins at 3rd who got replaced by Jamey Carroll in tight games in the latter innings.

[dgarza]

1897 Boston:

1B: Fred Tenney. Had a fielding percentage 8 points above league average and range factor 33% above league average.

2B: Bobby Lowe. Fielding percentage 18 points above league average. Bill James gave him a career fielding grade of A-.

3B: Jimmy Collins. In my opinion, the greatest defensive 3B of all time. Received a fielding grade of A+ from Bill James.

SS: Herman Long. Another all time great glove man; and another A+ recipient from James.

Very nice find.
They were better in 1898 and even better in 1899.
In fact, I think they were probably better in 1898 and 1899 than the 1906 Cubs. The 1899 Beaneaters were probably the best fielding IF of all time.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Some more choices I would use are Maz, Keith Hernandez, and Ozzie Smith.

The three never played together. It's a team thread.

I believe the Mets infield willshad mentioned featured Olerud, Alfonzo(?),Ordonez and Ventura. They made the cover of SI as a complete package with Piazza.

I like the Orioles. Those teams from the 60's and 70's had outstanding pitching and defense. They had enough hitting, too, to win.