Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark17
It's an odd argument in support of a player to say, "Look how great he was over part of his career, to offset how average he was over the rest of it."
Wagner won 8 batting titles instead of just one, won a World Series, led in stolen bases numerous times, and was the best of his time, by far, at a far more difficult position than Pujols ever played. And Wagner would've had more home runs, obviously, had the ball in his day not been made of mush. And his lifetime batting average tops even Pujols' peak years at St. Louis.
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I love debates where there can be no winner! So here it goes!
What was the average four seamer speed in the 1920s? Would it be fast enough for a Division 3 starting pitcher today? Looking at the 100 yard and 100 meter dash records from that time, I can say with almost absolute certainty that no one playing baseball in the 1920s was objectively fast. Sure, Hornsby gets credit for being the equivalent of the prematurely big and fast kid in fourth grade PE class.
It would be hard to convince me that Hornsby competed against the same type of athleticism and professionalism that Pujols did. Even more so since baseball was neither integrated nor global at the time. It's just a different caliber of athlete playing a totally different game. And Pujols was dominant against that level of competition for 12 years and was still above average (using less forgiving modern metrics -- thanks Peter) for his last 10.
The best comp for Pujols' career is that of Hank Aaron. And Pujols has two more MVPs and one more World Series ring than Aaron does. And, at least for me, Hank Aaron is miles ahead of anyone -- anyone -- who played in the 1920s.
10-12-2025, 04:27 PM
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