Who is the greatest player of all time by position?

[Rad_Hazard]

Hey all,

I wanted to create this thread as a separate thread to the "Who is the greatest player of all time?" thread. To me this is the way to do it and it makes a lot more sense. With that being said, here is my greatest 9...

P - Cy Young
C - Josh Gibson
1B - Lou Gehrig
2B - Rogers Hornsby
SS - Honus Wagner
3B - Mike Schmidt
LF - Ted Williams
CF - Willie Mays
RF - Babe Ruth

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Rad_Hazard

Hey all,

I wanted to create this thread as a separate thread to the "Who is the greatest player of all time?" thread. To me this is the way to do it and it makes a lot more sense. With that being said, here is my greatest 9...

P - Cy Young
C - Josh Gibson
1B - Lou Gehrig
2B - Rogers Hornsby
SS - Honus Wagner
3B - Mike Schmidt
LF - Ted Williams
CF - Willie Mays
RF - Babe Ruth

Replace Cy with Walter and I could go along with this.

[Rad_Hazard]

Originally Posted by Mark17

Replace Cy with Walter and I could go along with this.

I would definitely go with Cy over Walter. Cy dominated 2 different generations. Walter is a great #2 though.

As for catcher we if we want to do solely based on MLB experience I would probably go with Piazza.

RP is easy as Rivera is the GOAT and it’s not close.

[isiahfan]

LHP - Randy Johnson
RHP - Roger Clemens
RP - Mariano Rivera
C - Ivan Rodriguez
1B - Lou Gehrig
2B - Rogers Hornsby
SS - Alex Rodriguez
3B - Mike Schmidt
LF - Ty Cobb
CF - Hank Aaron
RF - Babe Ruth

Notes:

No love for ARod??? You can plug him into either SS or 3B but I think the case at SS is a no-brainer

C - Gibson didn't play in MLB so hard to compare...Bench had more pop and good D, but IRod had 2800 hits, ~.300 avergae...300+ HR...a great Defensive C and also had wheels...similar WAR but Bench played on some ridiculous teams

Love Alomar at 2B...great defensive player and had speed...also good on offese but Hornsby's numbers are heard to ignore

OF - Hard to determine...do you want all sluggers on your team?....Avg?...DEF? a true leadoff hitter (Rickey anyone?)...I went with guys that were best against competition of their eras....Rith gets the eay nod...nobody did anything close to what he did in his era Mantle/Aaron/Mays/Williams....all guys that have an edge over the other ....but all played in the same era for the most part...did any of them really rise above?...Does longevity get taken into account (please see IRod over Bench above...I believe so)?

LHP - Went with Randy...I like Kershaw...felt Carlton was great...as was Spahn....Koufax to me had a great small (See Pedro) box of years (outside of those 4-5 was really quite average)....But seeing Randy pitch...was scary.

RHP - Tough call....Didn't see Johnson...stats deflated due to competion I feel...maybe? Clemens longevity and consistency in a live-ball era wins out IMO

[rats60]

RHP Walter Johnson
LHP Sandy Koufax
C Johnny Bench
1B Lou Gehrig
2B Rogers Hornsby
3B Mike Schmidt
SS Honus Wagner
LF Babe Ruth
CF Willie Mays
RF Roberto Clemente

[Rad_Hazard]

Ok, it looks like we are all adding a RHP/LHP split so I'll change mine to reflect that as well as adding a catcher with MLB experience:

RHP - Cy Young - GOAT, his records will never be touched. Dominated two different eras.
LHP - Randy Johnson - I think this one is clear cut.
RP - Mariano Rivera - Not. Even. Close.
C - Mike Piazza - I like him more than Pudge or Bench, he's the greatest hitting catcher of all time.
1B - Lou Gehrig - This one is clear cut.
2B - Rogers Hornsby - This one is clear cut.
SS - Honus Wagner - This one is clear cut.
3B - Mike Schmidt - I would love to say Brett, but it's Schmidt all the way.
LF - Ted Williams - I can see swapping here, but only for Bonds. Cobb can't go here since he was a CF almost exclusively and Mays is better there.
CF - Willie Mays - This one is clear cut.
RF - Babe Ruth - This one is clear cut.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by rats60

RHP Walter Johnson
LHP Sandy Koufax
C Johnny Bench
1B Lou Gehrig
2B Rogers Hornsby
3B Mike Schmidt
SS Honus Wagner
LF Babe Ruth
CF Willie Mays
RF Roberto Clemente

Great list

[G1911]

SP - Cy Young
SP - Walter Johnson
SP - Lefty Grove
SP - Roger Clemens
RP - Mariano Rivera
RP - Hoyt Wilhelm
C - Yogi Berra
1B - Lou Gehrig
2B - Eddie Collins
3B - Mike Schmidt
SS - Honus Wagner
LF - Barry Bonds
CF -Mays or Cobb depending on the day of the week
RF - Babe Ruth

I don’t think we can quantify greatness in any meaningful way beyond looking at the output of their careers. Josh Gibson, Satchell Paige, they may well be deserving but we cannot know; they have very brief recorded “major league” careers, and talent was not so centered in those leagues as it was in the NL and AL.

RP, C and 3B are the weakest positions most ripe for someone to take over the slots.

Disclaimer: I am cognizant that this is a matter of opinion and not true/false dichotomy, because greatest is a imprecise word we are not defining narrowly by which we could arrive at a total answer within the set parameters. It’s just fun.

[orioles70]

It seems that when the inevitable happens to Mays (we are all day to day) that Schmidt will be considered the greatest living baseball player.

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[ClementeFanOh]

Orioles70- Hmm... Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan would have a
place in that conversation (and I'm likely forgetting others, believe me

Trent King

[orioles70]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Orioles70- Hmm... Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan would have a

place in that conversation (and I'm likely forgetting others, believe me



Trent King

Judging by this thread...Schmidt is the predominant living player other than Mays mentioned as the greatest ever st their position... I don't think Koufax and Ryan have even been mentioned...Bench can certainly be in the conversation as greatest living after Mays passes but I would still give the nod to Schmidt when the time comes

Greatest Living Player
Opinion Addendum

I went to the Hall of Fame website and scrolled thru the list of all the living Hall of Famers for the next greatest living baseball player after Mays.

The only players other than Schmidt that made me pause in my scrolling thru the Hall of Famers for greatest living player were Bench, Jackson, Henderson and Griffey...arguments can be made for all and I readily admit my bias towards position players as I think it would be tough to have a pitcher named as the greatest living player...I did not consider any non Hall of Famers such as Rose and Bonds

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[ClementeFanOh]

Orioles70 (John)- there's no doubt Mike Schmidt is a good candidate. As
far as others on the thread not naming Koufax/Ryan, I guess my reply is
this is why we comment- to bring up possibilities. Ryan and Koufax are
larger than life HOF players who we can identify by their first names alone,
so including them in a group of half dozen isn't a stretch by any means.

Trent King

[G1911]

I think the greatest living player, after Mays inevitably passes, would be Bonds, by a fairly large margin. Not the fan favorite or most popular or most virtuous, but the best.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Orioles70 (John)- there's no doubt Mike Schmidt is a good candidate. As
far as others on the thread not naming Koufax/Ryan, I guess my reply is
this is why we comment- to bring up possibilities. Ryan and Koufax are
larger than life HOF players who we can identify by their first names alone,
so including them in a group of half dozen isn't a stretch by any means.

Trent King

My list would be
Honus Wagner to
Ty Cobb to
Babe Ruth to
Ted Williams to
Willie Mays

Next in line would be Sandy Koufax, then by age Mike Schmidt, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout.