Debates like this are one of the great things about baseball and its history. There is obviously no perfect or correct answer, but it’s fun and there are so many great choices.
Griffey is not just one of the greats of his generation, but of all-time. BUT WITH THAT SAID….I’d take Pujols in his prime (say 2002-2010) any day of the week, simply because of how he changed the way opposing managers and pitchers defended a game, always thinking about him coming up to bat again and trying to minimize the damage that he'd surely produce. I never heard that or witnessed it with Griffey.
Quote:
Originally Posted by packs
Albert never hit 50 or drove in 140 runs in a season. Griffey hit 50 two years in a row and drove in 140 runs THREE years in a row.
I should also mention the years Griffey didn't hit 50 in that 5 year stretch he hit 49, 48, and 40. The years he didn't drive in 140 he drove in 134 and 118.
He kills Albert. Especially when you also factor in Griffey won 4 Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers while also winning one MVP compared to Albert's one Gold Glove, two Silver Sluggers and one MVP.
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In the five-year spans mentioned by previous posters, Pujols just happened to be playing in the same league as Barry Bonds, who was making and breaking home run history each year, and MVP voters are enthralled by homers. Pujols was also only in his second year in the league in 2002. Griffey was THE STAR of his league by 1996.
Yet, let's look at the MVP voting for those years mentioned:
Albert’s finishes in the NL MVP race those years (2002-06):
2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd
Ken’s finishes in the voting for his years (1996-2000):
4th, 1st, 4th, 10th, no votes
Albert finished in the top three in MVP voting each season of his five-year span. I understand that Griffey moved to the NL in 2000, but I don't see how a player literally receives NO MVP VOTES in one year of a "great" five-year span and have that be considered one of the best ever (?). I mean, Richard Hidalgo had votes that year. Antonio Alfonseca, twelve fingers and all, even had a vote. But Griffey had none.
Griffey finished with four Silver Slugger Awards in that span and Pujols had two I believe.
Griffey was an amazing defender, but I don’t give any credence to the Gold Glove Award (those of you on the board who I’ve discussed this with in the past know my feelings that it is the most flawed and worst representation of true excellence of any award in the history of the game).
Again, no correct answers, and I can't really argue too hard against Griffey's five-year span, I'm just saying there is was more to Pujols than the power numbers and his stats are way deeper than Griffey's, in my humble opinion.