Posted on 07/06/2012 11:07:56 AM PDT by jazusamo
Edited on 07/06/2012 12:18:22 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
Nothing is likely to get an argument started among sports fans faster than attempts to name the all-time greatest in any sport, or even the all-time greatest in a particular aspect of a sport. However, in baseball, we can at least narrow down the list of possibilities
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
Ruth. And it’s not even close.
The greatest 3rd baseman of all time IS Brooks Robinson.
Ted Williams ~ The Man John Wayne ‘played’ in the movies.
Thanks for the pings to both articles jaz. Read them both. Interesting.
Yep. But there are some individual events that I would have loved to have seen. On July 25, 1956, Roberto Clemente hit a walk-off, inside the ballpark, grandslam homerun. Now that would have been something to see!
You are exactly correct, except that the words ‘Brooks Robinson’ should be replaced with the words ‘Mike Schmidt’.
The gold standard for offensive stats these days is wRC+, which uses "weighted on base average" to assign a value relative to the rest of the league in which a player was playing. Ruth has the all-time career record of 197, versus Williams' 189 (league average is set at 100, which shows how far above the competition these hitters were). Gehrig is third all-time at 174 (sorry, but Bonds would never have managed his career value of 175 without that massive, unnatural muscle gain that he kept on for 9 years).
Let's not forget that Williams lost more than 4.5 years to war service (he trained pilots in WWII and fought as a fighter pilot in the Korean War), so his counting stats would have been much higher absent that. As far as his efficiency stats, Williams might have seen a bump had he not served, which would inch him closer to Ruth.
Lastly, Ruth was the more spectacular hitter, striking the baseball harder and sending it farther. Baseball historian Bill Jenkinson has estimated an incredible 52 500-foot or greater home runs for Ruth. In addition, Jenkinson estimates about 300 450-foot drives for Ruth by comparison, Mark McGwire, even though enhanced for much of his career, managed only 98), and fully 100 of those 450-foot or greater blasts by Ruth were not home runs, due to the enormous size of the playing fields during his days (mostly due to very deep centerfield areas). And Ruth somehow managed all this while wielding baseball bats that were absurdly heavy by today's standards (from at least 52 ounces when he was young, to 42-46 ounces in the middle of his career, to 36 ounces toward the end). Heavy bats are inefficient for imparting kinetic energy to pitched baseballs (the formula is that kinetic energy = 1/2*m*v^2), which is why modern sluggers use the lightest bats they can that will give them a fair chance of squaring up the baseball. That makes Ruth's feats even more amazing.
So overall, I would put Ruth 1a, and Williams 1b. Everyone else is at least one level below them.
A guy walks into a bar with his dog. A mutt.
The bartender says, "Get that dog outta here. We don't allow animals in here.
The guy says, "But this is a talking dog! I can prove it!"
The owner turns to the dog and says, "What's on top of a house?"
The dog says. "Roof!"
His owner then says, "What's the main characteristic of sandpaper?"
The dog says, "Ruff!"
Finally his owner says to the dog, "Who was the greatest ballplayer of all-time?"
The dog responds, "Ruth!"
The bartender, having had enough of this yells, "Now you can both get outta here! And I mean it!"
Dejected, the owner and his dog leave. On the sidewalk the man plops down on the curb. The dog turns to him and says;
"What? You think I should have said Gehrig?"
A lot of factors to consider. Williams played in a very good hitters ballpark. Ruth played in the all-time hitter’s era. Ruth didn’t have to deal with night baseball, sliders, a pool of pitching talent that just happened to have a greater concentration of melanin in their skin. I agree (and thereby amend my ‘not even close’ pronouncement’) that Williams was close.
Pete Rose, baby! 4256 hits.
Let me also take this opportunity to say that Bud Selig is a thug!
Led AL in Batting Average 11 times
Led AL in On Base Percentage 7 times
Led AL in Slugging Percentage 8 times
Led AL in OPS 10 times
Led AL in Hits 5 times
Led AL in Doubles 3 times
Led AL in Triples 4 times
Top 5 in AL in Home Runs 7 times (Led once)
Led AL in Extra Base Hits 3 times
Led AL in RBI's 4 times
Led AL in Runs Scored 5 times
Led AL in Stolen Bases 6 times
Led AL in Adjusted OPS 12 times
Tyrus Raymond Cobb - The Georgia Peach
Mike Schmidt himself admitted Brooksie IS the greatest; its time for you to do as well...
He was that much better of a batter to quit being a pitcher. Nobody else even came close.
Still, I'm impressed with Dr. Sowell's baseball knowledge. George Will might be slightly better in this field.
But when it comes to economics, George Will wouldn't be fit to caddy for Dr. Sowell.
No mention of Stan Musial. I got to see Stan’s last game on my 10th birthday, Sept 29, 1963:-)
Hmmmm
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Greatest hitter: Aaron. Take away the 755 home runs, and he still has over 3,000 hits.
Best player: Mays. Had the hits and the home runs, but the clip they always play of him is “the catch,” a defensive play. Best all round player ever.
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