The always fun and interesting sports talk question, “The best player to have never won a championship”, presented itself once again last week. Of course, all of the usual suspects were brought up; Dan Marino, Charles Barkley, Ted Williams, and that started me thinking about the best players from Wisconsin’s pro teams that never “won the big one”. I was going to post a blog on that very subject, when I decided to take it a step further. Over the next couple of posts, I will be putting together the best starting line-ups of ringless players for the Packers, Bucks and Brewers/Braves.
The list of Packers players that have excelled on the field of play is long, and many of them did win championships. But there were some players between Lombardi and Wolf that were all pros on some pretty mediocre to bad teams. As for the Bucks, you could simply pick any number of Don Nelson’s teams for your starting line-up of all stars that fell short of the championship win. And with the Brewers, and to a lesser extent the Braves, it could be the most challenging of the three.
So, I invite you to join me on memory lane and give me some of your own suggestions for these stellar starting line-ups, and let the debate begin!
Badger State Sports 
Comments
I think from the Brewers I’d have to start with Teddy Higuera. During the prime of his career there were few pitchers in baseball that were better.
Obviously Robin Yount has to be mentioned. He’s a Hall of Famer but no championship ring.
Higuera is an excellent pick, I almost forgot about him. He would definitely be the starter on the Brewers all time ring less team. As far as Robin is concerned, where would you start him? Centerfield or shortstop?
Due to age, my memories of Yount are nearly 100% as a Centerfielder. I hear he was great at Short before the injury.
To continue with the Brewers, I have a guy that few people would probably ever think of… I thought that Chuck Crim, from the aspect of a pure set-up man, would be a guy that I’d list here. There was a time when Crim was at the top of relief pitcher appearances every year for the AL and he was as good as it go. He rarely gave up a run. Unfortunatley, he didn’t get to play on many good teams so he’s not well remembered.
Another former Brewer that I think should be mentioned here is B.J. Surhoff. Surhoff ended his career with over 2,300 hits and he played every position except pitcher. For the Brewers, he never lived up to the lofty annual all-star potential that some had wanted but that shouldn’t keep us from appreciating what he did give us which was 9 years of consistant play.
The above players weren’t necessarily superstars themselves like Yount and Higuera but both were as good as I have seen put on a Brewer uniform. If we’re picking position by position…. Crim and Surhoff belong in the conversation.