Team USA’s World Cup is over early. Again.
For nearly 100 years, the Americans have been also-rans at best and ne’er-do-wells most of the time. But what would be the nation’s legacy on the world’s greatest sports stage if MLB stars had grown up on a soccer pitch instead of a baseball diamond?
It is reasonable to assume that Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Mike Trout, Jackie Robinson and Rickey Henderson would be as revered as Pele, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Franz Beckenbauer or Diego Maradona.
Certainly that American quartet matched and likely exceeded the speed of those soccer icons. Instead of developing the exceptional hand-to-eye coordination needed to hit a darting, dipping baseball, they seemingly could have acquired the foot skills to make a soccer ball dart and dip.
If American athletes had spent all their time playing soccer and receiving high-level instruction, there’s no telling what Yank soccer players could have accomplished. Soccer, instead of baseball, football or basketball would have been the American Dream.
America’s greatest soccer victory ever, the improbable 1-0 win over mighty England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, was not achieved by supremely gifted athletes. The goal was scored by Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian who washed dishes to pay for his studies at Columbia University. Goalie Frank Borghi drove a hearse; Charlie Columbo was a meat packer; Harry Keough a mailman; team captain Walter Bahr a gym teacher.
American soccer is getting there, but at a snail’s pace for fans. This year’s team featured Alex Freeman, whose father Antonio won a Super Bowl ring with the Green Bay Packers. Christian Pulisic’s dad Mark was an indoor soccer star in the 1990s. Gio Reyna’s father Claudio played in 112 matches for Team USA. Tim Weah’s father George played for international power AC Milan – and has had a pretty good post-soccer career – as President of Liberia!
A Team USA Soccer Lineup Of MLB Talent
Imagine an all-time Team USA roster comprised of MLB players who played soccer instead of baseball for all their athletic lives. It would include players of speed, agility and power over the past 120 years.
Team USA would have had swift, strong forwards; majestical, mercurial midfielders able to go forward and score or get back to defend; bulldog defenders on both flanks with speed and grit; and tall, solid center backs.
Here’s who I imagine would be the legends and how their skills would translate from our National Pastime to the World’s Game:
Up Front
Left Outside Forward: Ken Griffey Jr. Backup: Tris Speaker. Both left-handed dominant as throwers and hitters were extremely fast. Their motor skills would likely make them particularly adept with their left foot. Their speed would enable them to blow past defenders and then cross the ball left-to-right towards the goal. Both also had leadership qualities and were not shy about getting a bit down-and-dirty to defend.
Left Inside Forward: Mickey Mantle. Backup: Frankie Frisch. Both switch-hitters with speed, so they would likely be adept with both feet. Mantle would be a veritable horse in the middle – similar to Norway’s Erling Haaland in the 2026 World Cup. Frisch would be a bit more feisty, similar to Argentine legend Maradona – who shrewdly (and illegally) knocked in a goal with his left hand against England in a 1978 quarterfinal win.
Right Inside Forward: Tim Raines. Backup: Ozzie Smith. Again, both were switch hitters. Raines not only had great speed, but was so solidly built his nickname was “Rock”. The Wizard of Oz had the agility of Pele in the field as a great defensive shortstop. Each likely would have developed tremendous skills with both feet.
Right Outside Forward: Jackie Robinson. Backup: Vince Coleman. Right-hander Robinson was fast and solidly built. Before breaking baseball’s color barrier, he was an all-American running back at UCLA. Coleman was even faster. A switch-hitter, he was right-hand (foot) dominant, shown by his 20 homers in 1,879 right-handed at-bats to 8 homers in 3,527 as a lefty.
Men In The Middle
Left Midfield: Kenny Lofton. Backup: Richie Ashburn. Both incredibly fast, tenacious and left dominant. Lofton could sneak forward on a corner kick and leap high enough to score on a header. Both would be adept at slide tackles to nip a ball away from opponents.
Center Midfield: Joe DiMaggio. Backup: Willie Mays. DiMaggio’s cool and graceful demeanor would replicate Beckenbauer in complete command of Germany’s champions. Mays would be an incredible whirling dervish in the middle making spectacular plays on offense or defense.
Right Midfield: Derek Jeter. Backup: Mookie Betts. Both right dominant, multi-talented and unflappable. Each were gifted with skills and an ability to read the game and react decisively.
A Case For The Defense
Left Back: Ty Cobb. Backup: George Brett. Imagine Cobb going in cleats first against an opponent. Or Brett charging a referee after a call like the Pine Tar Game. Both left dominant, swift, with absolutely no quitting.
Center Back: Aaron Judge. Backup: Jim Thorpe. These big boys would dominate in the air, leaping up to prevent opponents from scoring on headers. And with their speed and agility, maybe sneak up front to nod home a corner kick, too. Thorpe (.252 career batting average) and many other MLB players with great athleticism were not much at bat. But on the soccer pitch …
Right Back: Rickey Henderson. Backup: Ron Leflore. Rickey usually referred to himself as Rickey and therefore would be America’s one-name star like Brazilian legends Pele, Garrincha, Neymar and Portuguese greats Ronaldo and Eusebio. Envision him or Leflore slide-tackling a ball away and then sprinting down the right side to spark an attack.
Goalkeeper: Scott Rolen. Backups: Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt. These three great third baseman had the razor-sharp reactions needed to make diving saves aplenty. Rolen, at 6-foot-4, gets the nod to start as he has the length to stop shots in the upper corners.
U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!
American soccer needs America’s greatest athletes in order to succeed. Imagine if Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Bob Hayes, Lamar Jackson, Darrell Green, Lance Alworth, Barry Sanders, Lenny Moore and so many other exemplary gridiron stars had played the world’s version of football?
How about Michael Jordan and LeBron James leaping up for headers? Jerry West, Penny Hardaway or Russell Westbrook dribbling with their feet and other NBA legends playing soccer?
And Wilt Chamberlain in goal? Not the 300-pound Wilt of his later NBA years, but the 7-foot-3 high school and collegiate track star who won awards in the 440-yard dash, long jump, high jump and shot put. His rival Bill Russell would probably have other ideas and play in goal just as well.
America’s World Cup legacy – and that of many other sports – would have been wildly different.
