Past, Present, Future 5 Tool Players...

[kcohen]

An obvious inclusion I think.

[Northviewcats]

Ken Griffey Jr. in his prime could hit, run and catch with the best of them. Gary Sheffield is another interesting possibility for your list.

Best regards,

Joe

[insidethewrapper]

How about Al Kaline ( great hitter with 399 HR's, great in the field and the best arm I've ever seen). I thought he was fast but didn't get a lot of SB's in his era.

[tedzan]

A lot of great ballplayers have been already mentioned here and we could go on till this thread gets into 3-digit posts.
In recent years, I wish Bo Jackson had stayed strictly with BB. Who knows what kind of career he would have had ?
I saw him play several times at Yankee Stadium in the late 1980's. Gee, he could crush a baseball and do everything.

Anyhow, let's throw in a "6th DIMENSION"....pitching. Are there any others that can compare with Ruth ?




And, don't fault me on Ruth's running. For a super star slugger, he had quite a few SB's and a good number of Triples.


TED Z

[almostdone]

Following Ted Z talking about Babe Ruth is tough but back to the original question, what about Darryl Straberry in the first 5 years of his carrer?
Drew

[packs]

I think Ichiro could hit 30 a year if he wanted to.

[uffda51]

Henry Louis Aaron. Had more than 20 steals six times including at age 34. Not as good an arm as Clemente (not many did) but Clemente's high in steals was 12. Aaron also hit some dingers.

"I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me… "

[Tom S.]

What about Willie Mays?

[prewarsports]

Louis Sockalexis was one of baseballs first (if not THE first) five tool player. His defense and throwing arm were the stuff of legend while he was in college and he was the fastest player in baseball the one year he played full time. Combine that with his high average and extraordinary power for his era (he once hit a 400 foot+ home run against Amos RUsie) and he might have been the first player that was a 5 tool player by todays standards.

Rhys