Barely OT: ESPN Ranking Greatest Players

[EvilKing00]

Im a bonds fan, but i never knew this stat:

In 2004, this guy reached base 376 times, walked 232 times and was intentionally walked 120 times. In one year. And here's my all-time favorite Bonds stat: Even if he'd gotten no hits that year, he still would have had a higher OBP than the player who led the league in hits. --Jayson Stark

[sycks22]

Joe Morgan's better than Dimaggio? Amazing.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Pedro at his peak was as good as or better than anyone. His career stats of course fall short of some of the pitchers with more longevity.

[CMIZ5290]

I dont get the hype either over Joe Morgan, come on, are you kidding me?

[Gecklund311]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

I dont get the hype either over Joe Morgan, come on, are you kidding me?

Outside of Hornsby's 1920-1925, Joe Morgan's 1972-1977 is probably the best stretch by a second baseman in the history of baseball. He could hit for average and power, stole 50+ bases, walked 100+ times a year, and was a gold glove fielder.

His announcing career hasn't helped his image, as people tend to be annoyed by him, and that opinion seems to bleed over to the image of him as a player. I wouldn't have ranked him as highly as ESPN, but a spot around number 30 seems about right.

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Pedro at his peak was as good as or better than anyone. His career stats of course fall short of some of the pitchers with more longevity.

He was one of the best for a certain number of seasons, (12 great seasons) 11 in a row (also 3 of them his ERA was mid to Hi 3's)- BUT some of the grates pitched great for longer.

[isaac2004]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Pedro at his peak was as good as or better than anyone. His career stats of course fall short of some of the pitchers with more longevity.

I think thats the point of this ranking, not who had the best career, but who was the best player taking into account "prime" years. I agree Pedro was insane those few years, but I stil can't see him ranked that high... I think Koufax would be way higher, but he is taxed because he didnt play long enough

[WWGjohn]

When I saw they included all the "roid & HGH" players, I dismissed the whole project.

John

[packs]

To me if this list is based on pure ability and talent Ken Griffey Jr. is the second best baseball player of all time behind Ruth.

I'm very surprised that Rube Waddell and Dazzy Vance were both excluded from the Top 50. When Waddell played he was the most dominating pitcher to ever play Major League baseball. And Vance was just as dominating. How many guys lead the league in strikeouts 7 years in a row?

[EvilKing00]

Griffey at 34 is a joke, he should be way closer to the top 20

[bender07]

Originally Posted by WWGjohn

When I saw they included all the "roid & HGH" players, I dismissed the whole project.

John

+1

[z28jd]

The problem with that thinking on the "roid" players is who can you positively confirm never did anything that is now against MLB rules? The answer is 100% absolutely no one that has played since the 70's and then before that, we all have heard the stories about how easy it was to get pills. Basically, if you could walk into the clubhouse, you could get amphetamines in the 60's. So unless you want to do a list of only pre-1950 players, then you're going to have to include everyone who has played. Just because someone like Jeter or Larkin didn't get caught, doesn't mean they didn't do it, so don't pretend like 10-15 people are guilty and everyone else was clean during an era with no rules in place against it.

Thinking that way, I have no problem seeing a list of the top 100 players pre-1950, definitely would be more interesting than this list.

[michael3322]

Totally agree. What's the point of such a list with the juicers? Some of their descriptions don't even mention the steroids (eg. Mark Steroid McGwire, Manny Suspended for Steroids Ramirez)Really?

Chipper Jones is better than Jackie Robinson? Really?

Bagwell was better than Frank Thomas? Really?

Biggio is the 90th best ballplayer in history? Really?

How can anyone take this list seriously?