Esoteric all-time teams.

Unfortunately, none of that affected his ability to be an talking head. Crud ...

 

It's tough to beat Mrs. Sandberg for the 2B spot, but one of my favorite baseball-wife stories involves Mrs. Tommy Herr. Years ago I was covering a local minor-league team, and one of the coaches was a guy who'd played for the Cardinals in the '80s.

According to him, one of those years when Tito Landrum was in St. Louis, he needed a place to stay, and Herr offered to let him bunk in his guest room. Well, about that time, Mrs. Herr got pregnant. Nine months later, it comes time for Tommy to drive his wife to the hospital. They go into the delivery room, and pretty soon the doctor congratulates the couple on a new baby boy. Which happened to have a much darker complexion than either Tommy or his wife. Tommy was less than pleased.

I've heard other versions of this bandied about, but that's the way my guy told it. What always got me about the story was the gamble Mrs. Herr made, not wanting to spill the beans to Tommy in hopes the baby would be his. And boy, what a scene that delivery room must've been.

 

The Tragic 500 (field of the best 33 drivers killed on track)

Row 1​

Ayrton Senna ('88, '90, '91 F1 champion)
Dale Earnhardt (seven-time NASCAR champion)
Jim Clark ('65 Indy 500 champ, '63, '65 F1 champ)

Row 2​

Bill Vukovich (two-time Indy 500 champ, died while leading what would have been his third straight in '54)
Mark Donohue ('72 Indy 500 champ)
Graham Hill ('62, '68 F1 champ, Indy 500 champ)

Row 3​

Gilles Villeneuve (six wins in 67 F1 starts, father of Jacques)
Fireball Roberts (32-time NASCAR winner)
Alberto Ascari ('52, '53 F1 champion)

Row 4​

Tony Bettenhausen Sr. (22 Indy car wins)
Jochen Rindt ('70 F1 champion)
Greg Moore (5 CART wins)

Row 5​

Ronnie Petersen (10-time F1 winner)
Eddie Sachs (8-time Indy Car winner)\
Rex Mays (Indy 500 standout from the 40s)

Row 6​

Michele Alboreto (5-time F1 winner)
Tiny Lund (2-time NASCAR winner)
Pedro Rodriguez (2-time F1 winner)

Row 7​

Ted Horn (5-time Indy winner in the 40s)
Peter Revson (2-time F1 winner)
Ralph Hepburn (open-wheel pioneer)

Row 8​

Patrick Depaillier (2-time F1 winner)
Elio de Angelis (2-time F1 winner)
Rich Vogler (sprint car legend, Indy 500 veteran)

Row 9​

Wolfgang von Tripps (2-time F1 winner)
Swede Savage (Indy Car winner)
Jo Siffert (2-time F1 winner)

Row 10​

Francois Cervert (F1 winner)
Kenny Irwin (NASCAR driver)
Lorenzo Bandini (F1 winner)

Row 11​

Scott Brayton (CART, IRL driver)
Adam Petty (NASCAR)
Jeff Krosnoff (CART)

 

Might have gone with Chuck Fusina as my QB

 

What? No Lucy Harris?

Hey, where are all the Jewish DBs?

And you've got a great backup QB in Benny Friedman.

 

How about Bobby Hebert?

OK, maybe Doug Flutie.

 

ALL-TIME BEST IORGS

1) Dane
2) Garth

 

All-Time Best Alous:

1. Felipe
2. Moises
3. Matty
4. Jesus
5. Bob

 

Thank you, Ricky Ricardo.