As others have stated, Brooks vs. Schmidt is pretty silly. Brooks was a fine ballplayer, but no where near the player Schmidt was. The difference in offense is staggering, and can't really be debated. Defense is much tougher to evaluate. However, Schmidt was a very good defensive 3B in his own right, winning ten gold gloves. Was Brooks better defensively? Sure, but by how much? Surely not enough to make up for the difference in hitting. Brooks finished with .267 ba, .322 on base, .727 OPS, 104 OPS+. He was basically an average MLB hitter during the era he played.
Schmidt vs. Brett is more interesting. Most people have Schmidt #1, and I think it is hard to argue. Brett has the edge in small ball (ave/obp/speed combined), but Schmidt was superior in power and defense.
2B to me is a little more open to debate. Hornsby best hitter for sure, but his defense leaves a little to be desired, and brings him down much closer to the ranks of Collins/Lajoie/Morgan in my opinion.
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