You’ve heard the claim which was made Philly.com’s Bill Conlin about the Phillies having the greatest infield in the modern era. I heard about another team which is legitimate competition.
The Cincinnati Reds of the 70’s was known as “The Big Red Machine”, and they were the last National League team to win back to back World Series. They had a great infield.
You had Tony Perez on first, Joe Morgan on second, Dave Concepcion at shortstop, Pete Rose at third and Johnny Bench catching.
Morgan, Perez and Bench are in the Hall of Fame and Rose would be also if he hadn’t gotten in trouble for gambling as a manager.
You can see that they could compete with the Phillies group of Ryan Howard on first, Chase Utley on second, Jimmy Rollins at shortstop, Placido Polanco on third and Carlos Ruiz catching.
How do you thinik these groups stack up against each other? Which position would you give to which team?
Think about how great the Big Red Machine was they had George Foster, Ken Griffey and Cesar Geronimo in the outfield.
Like the Phillies there were no easy outs in the lineup. They would carry their pitching with those bats.
