The death of Willie Mays rendered me sad and reflective, longing for the days when Ernie Banks was always eager to play two and pitchers threw the whole nine innings or more if that's what it took to win a ball game.

Pulling myself out of a funk, I began thinking of all-time baseball greats who were born in Arkansas. I am not a baseball historian. But I whittled down a lineup for a mythical All-Arkansas dream team I'm confident would compete very well, whether in a cornfield in Iowa or somewhere over the rainbow, where Willie has joined Judy Garland.

LOU BROCK, EL DORADO, LEFT FIELD

Lou Brock joined the St. Louis Cardinals the old-fashioned way, not through free agency, but in a trade with the Chicago Cubs. Even the Cardinals couldn't have predicted Brock would be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame following a 19-year career that included a .293 batting average with 3,023 hits and 938 stolen bases.

Oh, and for you little league dads trying to mold kids into pros, Brock didn't play organized baseball until he was in the 11th grade.

TORII HUNTER, PINE BLUFF, CENTER FIELD

I worked at the Pine Bluff newspaper in the early 1990s, but missed watching Torii Hunter and Basil Shabazz in action because I covered Pine Bluff Dollarway and not Pine Bluff High, where these two played.

I got to see plenty on TV of Hunter, who played 18 years in the major leagues, including his glory days as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins. Hunter won nine consecutive Gold Glove awards and played in the annual all-star game six times.

WILLIE DAVIS, MINERAL SPRINGS, RIGHT FIELD

Type in the name Willie Davis and you're likely to get the NFL Hall of Fame member who dominated the defensive line for the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.

Our baseball Willie Davis was a speedster who played most of his 18-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Davis had a career .279 batting average and stole 20 or more bases in 13 seasons. In 1970, he batted .305, led the National League with 16 triples and drove in 93 runs.

BROOKS ROBINSON, LITTLE ROCK, THIRD BASE

There isn't a boy in Arkansas who loved baseball and grew up in the 1960s who didn't try to copy Brooks when he backhanded a ball at the hot corner and threw across his body to get the runner at first.

Arguably the best to ever play third base, Robinson was an all-star 18 times and a Golden Glove winner 16 times with the Baltimore Orioles. He was also a good hitter who batted .317 with 28 home runs and led the American League with 118 RBIs in 1964.

He gets an added bonus from me for playing his entire 23-year career in the majors with one team, the Baltimore Orioles.

DON KESSINGER, FORREST CITY, SHORTSTOP

It's hard to leave a ballplayer known by the name "Arky" Vaughn off our All-Arkansas team, but his family left here for California before his first birthday.

We'll go instead with Don Kessinger, who played 16 years in the major leagues and was a six-time all-star at shortstop with the Chicago Cubs. I grew up hearing stories about Kessinger, a standout athlete in baseball and basketball at Ole Miss. I got to interview Kessinger years later when he was an associate athletics director at Ole Miss and he patiently answered all the questions I asked.

GEORGE KELL, SWIFTON, SECOND BASE

So, what do we do with two Hall of Fame members from Arkansas who play the same position?

We move George Kell to second base and leave Brooks Robinson at third.

Connie Mack was a major league manager and owner, regarded as one of the best baseball minds in the game. But Mack made a mistake when he traded young Mr. Kell in 1943 to the Detroit Tigers, where he became an all-star and, ultimately, a Hall of Fame member with a career .306 batting average.

Kell, who later became a broadcaster for the Tigers, never forgot his east Arkansas roots. He owned a car dealership and sponsored an American Legion team for years in Newport, which is near his hometown of Swifton in northeast Arkansas.

WALLY MOON, BAY, FIRST BASE

Plenty of athletes move on to successful careers after baseball including Wally Moon, who played for 12 years in the major leagues before joining John Brown University as an educator and athletic administrator.

Moon was from Bay, which I still refer to as the mosquito capital of Arkansas after I was swarmed by the blood-sucking insects while playing left field in a Little League baseball game years ago.

Moon played five years for the St. Louis Cardinals, beginning in 1954 when he hit .304 and was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year. He was later traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he helped the team win World Series championships in 1959, 1963 and 1965.

SHERM LOLLAR, DURHAM, CATCHER

Sherm Lollar was forged by Fayetteville long before Fayetteville High School began using it as a nod to its former athletes.

Lollar was a defensive standout and a capable hitter who played 13 of his 18 years with the Chicago White Sox.

OTIS DAVIS, CHARLESTON, UTILITY

There's no stinkin' DH on our mythical All-Arkansas team, but I did create a spot for someone very deserving.

He's Otis "Scat" Davis, who played in one -- Yes, one-- baseball game in the major leagues.

That happened on April 22, 1946, when Davis appeared as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning for the Brooklyn Dodgers in a game against the Boston Braves. The Dodgers won, 5-4, but Davis didn't get to bat and he was sent back to the minor leagues after he hurt his knee while running the bases in the game.

Davis, who played in nearly 600 games in the minor leagues, will receive his opportunity to bat on our All-Arkansas team even if we send him in as a pinch-hitter for George Kell, a lifetime .300 hitter.

It's the right thing to do.

JAY HANNA "DIZZY" DEAN, LUCAS, RHP

We only need two pitchers for our All-Arkansas dream team, starting with the leader of the famed St. Louis Cardinals "Gashouse Gang" of the 1930s.

Dean won between 20 and 30 games each season from 1933-1936.

"Anybody who's ever had the privilege of seeing me play knows that I am the greatest pitcher in the world," Dean was once quoted as saying.

He may have been, if not for a broken toe that prompted Dean to change his delivery and led to arm and shoulder injuries.

CLIFF LEE, PITCHER, BENTON, LHP

Lee won the Cy Young award with Cleveland in 2008 when he went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA. He pitched for 13 years in the majors, mostly with the Indians and Philadelphia Phillies.

So, this is my mythical All-Arkansas dream team. What's yours?