50th Season All-Time Oaks and Cubs - 1969-79

Fan voting for the All-Time Iowa Team commences with players from the first decade of Triple-A baseball in Des Moines -- 1969-79. The six players with the most votes through Wednesday, April 25 will be included in a 50th Anniversary Card Pack, to be given away at Principal Park on Thursday, June 21. Click here to vote. 
Please note: only positions players with 70+ games played and pitchers with 50.0+ innings pitched for Iowa have been included in the voting. Choices are based both on success in Iowa and in the major leagues. Availability of player photos also impacts the early decades. 

SS Bucky Dent (1973)
Bucky Dent was a 21-year-old playing in the White Sox organization when he suited up for the Iowa Oaks. Dent appeared in 95 games in 1973 for Iowa, batting .295 (105-for-356) with 38 RBI. The shortstop debuted for the White Sox that season, hitting .248 (29-for-117) through 40 games. Overall logging 12 major league seasons and over 1,300 games, Dent went on to become a three-time All-Star, a two-time World Series Champion and the MVP of the Fall Classic in 1978 for the Yankees. 
INF Jerry Hairston (1973-74, '76)
Jerry Hairston played 220 games in parts of three seasons in the mid-70's while the Oaks were affiliated with the White Sox. In his Iowa career, Hairston batted .307 with a .450 on-base percentage. Hairston played in parts of 14 big league seasons with the White Sox (1973-77, '81-89) and the Pirates (1977). He was a career .258 hitting through 859 major league games. 
INF Lamar Johnson (1974)
Lamar Johnson blasted 20 home runs for the Oaks in 1974 while batting in 96. He collected a .301 batting average with a .380 on-base percentage. Johnson appeared in 792 major league games across nine seasons with the White Sox, batting .287 with 64 home runs and 381 RBI. 
INF Sam Ewing (1973-74, '76)
Sam Ewing played just 167 major league games through three seasons, but thrived in his four seasons with Iowa. In 384 career games as an Oak, Ewing batted .309 with 245 RBI. In 1974, he led the American Association with 35 doubles. 
RHP Marcel Lachemann (1969-72)
Marcel Lachemann only logged 70 major league games through three seasons, but was a mainstay in Iowa for much of four seasons. Lachemann was 19-13 with a 3.84 ERA through 116 games as an Oak. He walked 64 and struck out 139.
Manager Joe Sparks (1973-75, '77-79)
Until Marty Pevey passed him this year, Joe Spark was the winningest manager in Iowa Cubs history with 355 victories. Sparks led the Oaks to a first-place finish in 1973 with an 83-53 record. Iowa fell to Tulsa in the American Association Championship that season, four games to three. 
LHP Vida Blue (1970)
Vida Blue tore up the American Association in his only season with Iowa, going 12-3 with a 2.17 ERA through 17 starts. He fanned 165 through 133.0 innings, while allowing just 88 hits and walking 55. Blue still holds the Iowa single-season record in strikeouts and the record for strikeouts in a game with 16 on Sept. 1, 1970. Nearly 50 seasons later, Blue's ERA remains the second-lowest mark in a season (100+IP) for an Iowa pitcher. Through his major league career, Blue was a six-time All-Star, won three World Series, the Cy Young and the MVP in 1971 and also collected the ERA title with a 1.82 mark that season. 
OF Harold Baines (1979)
Harold Baines suited up for Iowa at 20 years old as an up-and-comer in the White Sox organization. Baines batted .275 through 137 games, adding 13 homers and 72 RBI. Baines went on to play 22 major league seasons with the White Sox (1980-89, '96-97, '00-01), Texas (1989-90), Oakland (1990-92), Baltimore (1993-95, '97-2000), and Cleveland (1999). He was a career .289 hitter and logged more than 2,800 major league contests. 
2B Tony LaRussa (1969-71, '76)
Tony LaRussa appeared in parts of four seasons with Iowa, batting .277 through 225 games. LaRussa returned to the organization in 1979 as the manager, leading the Oaks to a 54-51 record before leaving toward the end of the season to manage the White Sox. Following his Iowa career, LaRussa managed in the big leagues for 22 seasons, getting named Manger of the Year four times over, managing six All-Star teams and winning three World Series titles. LaRussa was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.