I’d forgotten that Elston Howard was the regular catcher on that team. But, man, what a bench! Blanchard wasn’t a great outfielder, but he could play there when he was needed. If I recall, Yogi Berra was the regular left fielder when he wasn’t catching and, of course, with Mantle in center and Maris in right, there just weren’t enough places in the lineup to use talent like Johnny Blanchard regularly. I believe he hit over .300 in 1961. Can you imagine having a team so rich in talent that even a .300 hitting catcher-outfielder did not get to play every day?
the ‘61 team gets my vote (just ahead of the ‘69-’71 orioles) for best balanced in the last fifty years. go to MLB.com and check out that team’s stats in the ‘historical’ link.