If Ronald Reagan played baseball: third base, rated 79

Ronald Reagan as a baseball player: scouting report

Ronald Reagan knew baseball long before he knew Hollywood. As a young radio announcer at WHO in Des Moines he recreated Chicago Cubs games from telegraph reports, and he often told the story of the afternoon the wire went dead and he kept the batter fouling off pitch after pitch until it came back. Years later he played the pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander in The Winning Team. In this game he finally takes the field, at third base.

His eye is the top mark on his card. An announcer who painted every pitch from a few lines of telegraph code learned to picture the whole field at once, and at the plate that is a hitter who sees the ball early and works the count. Speed is his other strength, unusual for a third baseman, and it comes from a real athletic background: he played football at Eureka College and spent his summers as a lifeguard at Lowell Park in Dixon, Illinois, where he was credited with dozens of rescues. His contact, power and fielding are all solid and even, which makes him a well rounded corner bat.

The arm is the honest weakness, so position him a step in and lean on a first baseman with a sure scoop. His speed opens up options: he can slide over to shortstop with a modest drop, and first base works too. He also played George Gipp in Knute Rockne, All American, so he understands the value of a teammate who comes through in the big moment. Bat him second and draft him in the middle rounds.

Plays like A heady third baseman who learned the game in the booth

Put Ronald Reagan in your lineup

12 rolls, nine hitters and a rotation, 162 games. Can you win 117? Free, no account.