Today's poll got me thinking about young outfields -- not individual outfielders, but entire outfields. So here's a question ... who had the very best?
Strict parameters: all three starters aged 25 or younger and at least two (preferably three) starting-quality backups under the age of 30.
Simple enough? I have done absolutely zero research on this, relying entirely on my memory, so am probably missing several obvious candidates. Anyway, my top candidate, as much as I hate to admit it, is easily ...
... the 1975 Boston Red Sox, with a starting trio of LF Jim Rice (22), CF Fred Lynn (23) and RF Dwight Evans (23) ... coming off the bench were Bernie Carbo (27), Juan Beniquez (25) and Rick Miller (27) ... that trio in itself is a starting outfield many teams of the era would have loved to employ!
Looking at that team, Lynn was the best of the bunch at the time, Rice had the best prime and Evans had the best overall career. None of the three backups earned any Cooperstown votes, but then the starters really haven't, either.
Now, your candidates? Yes, yes, the 1985 Blue Jays had Barfield, Moseby and Bell (all age 25), but the backups -- stalwarts like Lou Thornton, Mitch Webster and Rick Leach -- while all under 30, don't quite measure up to that Red Sox crew.
Do the current Rays -- Crawford, Upton, Haynes and Gomes -- have a chance to measure up? Who else does? And who's missing from our (very short and late-20th-century) list anyway?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080501132800835