Hamerin' Hank passes away. In my opinion still the home run king. Sorry to all the Bonds fans.
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/bra...C2KRNX2KBKIEM/
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Hamerin' Hank passes away. In my opinion still the home run king. Sorry to all the Bonds fans.
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/bra...C2KRNX2KBKIEM/
That hurts - I grew up a Braves fan (after his time), but I always admired him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom
Class individual, no showboating, hard to believe he only weighed 180 pounds. I caught the end of his career. Had one of his baseball cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by sportdawg
No batting gloves also -
Forearms and wrist action. Nobody else has ever been able to do what he did.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom
Maybe the best ever? IDK, but I'd pick one of these...
Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, or Pete Rose.
As a pure hitter I would add Tony Gwynn in with those guys even though he didn't have their power.
Roberto Clemente could flat out play.
Agreed about Tony Gwynn being a great hitter, as were Rod Carew and George Brett.
Clemente might have been the most complete all around player ever -Quote:
Originally Posted by dawg80
Unfortunately he was lost to us before he reached his prime
The period from the late 60's through the entire 70's into the early 80's might have been the Golden Era talent wise for pure baseball talent - especially overall American talent (North and South)
This was before the NBA & NFL started siphoning off the best African American talent to their respective sports
Barry Bonds isn't in the top 100!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom
DQuote:
Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden
Clemente was 38 when he died...I think he was on the downhill side of prime.
Ted Williams lost almost five full seasons to military service when he was in his prime, and I've always wondered where he would have ended up if he'd played those five seasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CARTEK
Willie Mays lost almost two full seasons early in his career.
For some reason I thought Clemente was 28 instead of 38...Quote:
Originally Posted by CARTEK
You are correct about Teddy Ballgame - lost 3? to WWII and 2? to Korea - and he wasn't selling war bonds on his tours of duty, he was slinging lead and dropping TNT....
Clemente was still a helluva ball player.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden
Chuck Yeager's wingman in Korea. Yeager is to have said that Ted was one of the best pilots he ever flew with...but he said that about most of them!
Clemente was 38 when he died. he also was a Marine Corps veteranQuote:
Originally Posted by CARTEK
Clemente made it to exactly 3000 hits (I have his last Topps baseball card), so I was a bit surprised by your first comment--was pretty sure he was getting older (though he did look young).Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden
If Williams could have gotten those years back, I wonder if he could have eclipsed Ruth. He still wouldn't have been as dominant compared to his era, but he probably would have matched the big numbers (HR and RBI, for instance).
IMHO, those 5 years cost Ted:
200 HR
400+ runs
500+ RBI
1000 hits
Yeah I probably got caught up in the moment with maybe the best ever. I go with this top ten.Quote:
Originally Posted by PawDawg
1 Babe Ruth
2 Ted Williams
3 Willie Mays
4 Hank Aaron
5 Ty Cobb
6 Walter Johnson
7 Cy Young
8 Lou Gehrig
9 Stan Musial
10 Mickey Mantle
I keep Barry Bonds off the list because of the 'roids. Plus I met him once horrible human being.
Joe D is somewhere in the next 10.
Met Pete Rose a couple of times, he ranges from nice guy glad to meet fans, to can't shut the guy up. But nowhere near the best to ever play. He Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench were my favorite players as a kid. But still not top 20 to ever play. Too many of the early players dominated the game.
A good list. The name I think you're missing is Honus Wagner. Both a great fielding SS and one of the best hitters in the game during his time (something that's seldom been true of SSs). If you discount the 'Roids, Bonds and Clemens would be in the Top 10. In fact, Bonds would be #1. However, I don't think you can discount the fact that he spent nearly a decade of his career blatantly cheating. If I had a HOF vote, I'd probably vote for him, but I don't even really consider him in the greatest ever discussion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom
i am not a baseball guy by any stretch of the imagination and i have been chastised for listing Mantle among the greatest.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom
However, based upon my limited knowledge, I would at least rank him as the most physically gifted on your list with the possible exception of Williams
Griffey Jr has always been one of my favorite baseball players of all times. The game always seemed like it was half speed for him, and nobody had a better swing. If it wasn’t for injuries, his numbers would have been more incredible than they already are (.284 career average, 630 HRs, 13x All Star, 10 Gold Gloves). Junior is definitely a top 15-20 of all time.