First off, I want to thank the powers that be at CBS. I'm pretty quick to criticize them when I disapprove of a policy or a change, but I have to also show my gratitude when they throw me a bone. They featured this blog last week when we were voting for the greatest center fielder of all time and the response I got was tremendous and insightful. I also want to thank all of you who took the time to stop by, vote and give your reasons. I'd love to see all of you to stick around as we still have much more team building to do. This week we'll be voting for the final position on the field before we move to the pitchers and the bench.
Before we get to this vote, its time to announce the center fielder who you all voted as the best all time. The clear cut winner was Willie Mays who garnered 35 of of the 75 votes that were cast. Ty Cobb finished second with 19 votes, Mickey Mantle was a distant third with 6 votes and Ken Griffey Jr. was fourth with 5 votes. Eight other centerfielders received either one or two votes. Had I voted, I would have been torn between my heart and my head. I began my love affair with baseball in the late 60s, so one of my early favorite players was Willie Mays and I jumped at every opportunity to watch a game he played in. Unfortunately, back then there was only one or two baseball games a week to watch back then and you didn't get to choose what game they'ld decide to televise. So my heart is with Willie Mays. This being said, I can't overlook the chance of my all time team having a .366 lifetime batting average and .433 OBP leading off for me. 2246 runs scored and 892 stolen bases tells me that in those 43% of the time he reaches base, he's a great bet to score a run. Judging from the defensive stats, Cobb appears to be on par with Mays, at the very least pretty darned close, so I would have personally picked Cobb. Due to the need of a true leadoff hitter for this all time team, I may have chosen Speaker or Hamilton over Mays due to their speed, OBP and defense.
Now we get to the matter at hand. Who is the greatest right fielder. If I was a slacker, I could have probably gotten by with just listing 3 or 4 names on my list and let it fly, but as you know, I'm a rather thorough fellow and I want to give as many great players as I can the recognition that they deserve. My list consists of 22 past and present right fielders. 16 of these 22 are in the Hall of fame and the other 6 are a mix of current players or retired players who aren't in the hall but had distinguished careers. The 7 HOFers not listed are Elmer Flick, Harry Hooper, King Kelly, Chuck Klein, Tommy McCarthy, Enos Slaughter and Ross Youngs. I also nearly included the stats of two great retired right fielders that narrowly missed my cut, Andre Dawson and Dave Parker. Some of you may feel that I should have included their numbers rather than the 6 non-HOFers I did include, well, sorry, but its my blog. At least you vote...I'll only cast a vote if we have a tie. Anyway, without further ado, here's my list....
PLAYER AVE/OBP/SLUG HR RBI RUNS SB Fldg +/- Range +/-
Hank Aaron 305/377/555 755 2297 2174 240 +.05 +.30
Roberto Clemente 317/362/475 240 1305 1416 83 -.04 +.37
Sam Crawford 309/362/452 97 1535 1391 366 +.13 -.22
Kiki Cuyler 321/386/474 128 1065 1295 328 +.01 +.04
Tony Gwynn 338/388/359 135 138 1383 319 +.09 +.26
Harry Heilmann 342/410/520 183 1539 1291 113 -.04 -.35
Reggie Jackson 262/358/490 563 1551 1702 228 -.10 +.17
Al Kaline 297/379/480 399 1583 1622 137 +.07 +.29
Willie Keeler 341/388/415 33 810 1719 495 +.20 -.34
Mel Ott 304/414/533 511 1860 1859 89 +.06 -.22
Sam Rice 322/374/427 34 1078 1514 351 even +.02
Frank Robinson 294/392/537 586 1812 1829 204 +.10 +.19
Babe Ruth 342/474/690 714 2213 2174 123 +.02 -.20
Sam Thompson 331/384/505 127 1299 1256 229 +.29 -.23
Paul Waner 333/404/473 113 1309 1627 104 +.02 -.05
Dave Winfield 283/355/475 465 1833 1669 223 +.07 +.21
Vladimir Guerrero 322/389/573 393 1271 1129 173 -.18 +.29
Sammy Sosa 273/344/534 609 1667 1475 234 -.05 +.32
Ichiro Suzuki 330/376/431 77 481 898 320 +.10 +.43
Larry Walker 313/400/465 383 1311 1355 230 +.07 +.18
Dwight Evans 272/370/470 385 1384 1470 78 +.09 +.27
Gary Sheffield 292/394/515 501 1640 1606 252 +.02 +.08
Have fun ladies and gentlemen and thanks again!
Comments Add a Comment
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KBrown |
Posted on: May 25, 2009 12:35 am
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeI have been flip-flopping between Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. I have decided to cast my vote for Hank Aaron because I saw him hit a home run against the St. Louis Cardinals when I was around twelve. Thanks Lazer. |
jmw10
Since: Feb 11, 2007 |
Posted on: May 24, 2009 7:30 am
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeAnother great list Lazer. Hopefully I am not to late getting in on this one. Better late than never! My vote goes for Mr. George Herman Ruth, the "Babe". He was one of the most dominate players of his time. He led the American League in Home Runs 12 times (all-time he is 3rd).is He was tops in RBIs 6 times. He led the league in Runs Scored 8 times. He was the leader in On Base Percentage 10 times (2nd all-time for his career. He was first in Slugging Percentage 13 times (the all-time career leader at .690). He led in Runs Scored 8 times (4th overall for his career). He also just missed a Triple Crown in 1924 falling 8 RBIs shy. And one could make an arguement for him being on the Greatest Pitcher list as well. His part-time pitching stats would rival some of the greatest pitchers if he had focused on pitching. So with that as a segway... on to the pitchers Lazer.
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GolfCoward |
Posted on: May 21, 2009 12:01 am
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeThanks Lazer.
I'm not sure why Andre Dawson isn't in the Hall of Fame. Because he played in Chicago and Montreal he has no World Series' under his belt. He did not have a stellar post-season record either. Still, he had tremendous range, a great arm and could hit the ball real hard. My first real taste of baseball was early '70's when the A's won 3 in a row. Reggie Jackson was king. I did not see Babe Ruth, so I can only judge him by his legend. Ichiro is probably the best pure hiitter that I've seen of the bunch. My favourite player is Vladimir Guerrero but he doesn't seem to be able to play full seasons anymore. Thanks for adding Larry Walker to the list. His NL MVP award certainly shows he deserves to be mentioned. My vote goes to Mr. October because he was the best of the bunch that I've seen. |
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climrev |
Posted on: May 20, 2009 11:02 pm
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeI have to say that is the funniest thing I have read tonight. It is hard to argue with that logic. Good post.
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TrueBlueFrank |
Posted on: May 20, 2009 1:42 am
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeI would of picked Reggie Jackson, one of my favorite California Angels. I'm going to pick Babe Ruth. He's the one everyone is measured up to.
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nine5seven |
Posted on: May 19, 2009 3:11 pm
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeTo me it's a toss up between Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth and since Hammering Hank never played for the Yankees he's got my vote. |
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chris*brown |
Posted on: May 19, 2009 1:01 pm
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeBABE RUTH
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vegab132 |
Posted on: May 19, 2009 1:01 pm
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeNot only the greatest right fielder, but the greatest player of all time.....Babe Ruth.
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TebowLovesSC
Since: Mar 25, 2009 |
Posted on: May 19, 2009 11:40 am
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All TimeThis is a great discussion to have. I would have to say the greatest right fielder of all time would have to be Babe Ruth. He is followed by Hank Aaron in second place.
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Scott-24 |
Posted on: May 19, 2009 11:34 am
Vote for the Greatest RIGHT FIELDER of All Timehey lazer
another tough one - i mean, if you look at offensive stats, its gotta be babe ruth (hank aaron a close second) i grew up in Boston watching dwight evans and his rocket of an arm gun down many a baserunner (or scare one back a base) that alone is worth another run/game but - as far as personality, sheer presence in the game and his offense - I choose Babe Ruth (even though the Red Sox traded him) but i wonder - whats it gonna be like to have an all star team without hank aaron, frank robinson, regiie jackson, etc?? thanks again |
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