Today! Who would you consider the next BABE!

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Posted By: V117Collector

Besides the obvious! "Bonds and A-Rod" Who would you think the most underrated superstar today is and why?

This could be fun, sometimes the bored needs a little flavor!

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Posted By: Paul

There will never be a "next Babe". No way.

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Posted By: Ray

Mike Young, Rangers SS

2003 .306 BA 72 RBI
2004 .313 BA 99 RBI
2005 .331 BA 91 RBI

2006 .329 BA 49 RBI

He had over 200 hits in each of his last three seasons, and is on pace to do it again this year.

edited to add - This guy isn't the Babe, and he isn't a power guy, but he's by far the most underrated player in the bigs right now.

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Posted By: Patrick McMenemy

David Ortiz...Big Papi!

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Posted By: Tim James

I think of the Babe the same way I think about John Wayne or Roy Rodgers.They come from a time that I think we all would like to see again,but know it could never be the same.We could compare one to the other as far as yesterday and today,but icons like these are only immitated.

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Posted By: cmoking

I'd like to know who is underrating David Ortiz. He is praised as the best clutch hitter ever and the best clubhouse leader ever. And that's from sabremetric guys that run the Red Sox. How many other DH came 2nd or 1st in the MVP balloting? He barely got discounted for not playing the field last year.

He's great...but I don't see anyone underrating him.

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

Well, not the Babe, but certainly an up and comer....David Wright 3B NY Mets.

Frank

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Posted By: jay behrens

Joe Mauer.

Jay

Growing old is not optional, growing up is.

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

Still way too early to tell, but Ryan Howard of the Phillies certainly has potential.

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

The Babe ushered in a brand new era in baseball, slugging. Following the Babe, Mays/Aaron/Robinson et al. ushered in a new era in baseball: black MLers. Is the next major change the inclusion of Asians in our National Pastime? Or is this integration anticipated, and therefore considered trivial, not Major?

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Posted By: T206Collector

Michael Russell Laga

The Mike Laga, rare "Pink Jersey" version of his 1987 Topps (Topps airbrushed his Tigers jersey pink).




The stats speak for themselves:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lagami01.shtml


Now, he only hit .199 over his career, but 16 of his 84 career hits were home runs. That's 19% and just six percentage points shy of Ruth's 25%! Compare that stat with future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who only had 4% of his hits go for home runs. That is amazing.

And let's talk about his fielding. Only 4 errors over 9 big league seasons. A true master with the glove at first base and designated hitter.

But nobody talks about Mike Laga anymore. In fact, no one talked about Mike Laga when he was even playing. Mike Laga is the greatest player that no one has ever talked about. Now, you might be able to identify underrated players who do not get the attention that is reserved for lesser players, but can you identify another player as unidentifiable as Mike Laga -- a 9 year veteran of the Majors with a better home run per hit ratio and fewer errors over that period of time? Of course you can't. You should not even try.

Mike Laga. The greatest player no one has ever even spoken about.

(I was so overcome by the obviousness of Mike Laga's superiority that I had to edit this link about sixty times to do Mr. Laga's legacy justice.)

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Posted By: steve f

David Americo Ortiz. If not for skills alone, certainly for charisma. New England adores this guy.

STATUS/FAMILY: Married with three children

LIFE OUTSIDE OF BASEBALL: I like to hang out with my kids and family.

PLAYERS--PAST AND PRESENT--I'D PAY TO WATCH PLAY BASEBALL: From the past, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. -Baseball Digest 3/2006

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Posted By: Rob NYC

I think in order to be the next "Babe", one has to play just about all positions, right? And play them exceptionally well.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Rob, you would talking about Bill Hall then.

Jay

Growing old is not optional, growing up is.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

The 19th Century gave us BB "super-stars" such as Anson, Burkett, Kelly, and many
more. The 20th Century gave us George Herman "Babe" Ruth.....and, we have not
seen the likes of him, since.

Perhaps, the 21st Century will produce another Babe.......but, I have not seen
this ballplayer, yet ? But, at this time a 100 years ago Ruth was still just
an 11 year old kid who Father Matthias was grooming to be a BB player. So,
let's see what developes in the next few years.

T-Rex Ted

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Posted By: Josh K.

Im sorry, but how is it that no one has mentioned Pujols the great?

The guy hits for power
The guy hits for average (and high average at that)
The guy plays 1st, 3rd and OF - and does them all well
He is the backbone of his team
He is a superstar

The only knock on him is he has only been in the league for 5 years - but he has done more in those first 5 years than almost every other HOFer.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

PUJOLS !!!!....he will be in Detroit this week and my
partial seasons tics has me there on Sunday !

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Posted By: Mark

If you count Ichiro's performance in Japan (and his hit totals in Japan would have been higher if the Japanese season were as long as the U.S. season), he is well ahead of pace to break the all-time hits record:

Ichiro at age 32 = 2522
Rose at age 32 = 2152

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Posted By: Brian

With the most baseball knowledge on this board, everyone is forgetting Ken Griffey Jr. The most praised in the 90's is now invisible. with almost 550 homeruns, i would say he gets no praise anymore. And he was on pace to pass the Babe if it wasnt for injuries.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Josh, the reason Puljos never got mentioned is that the question asked was "Who do you think is the most underrated superstar today?" Puljos is far from underrated.

Jay

Growing old is not optional, growing up is.

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Posted By: ralph

Ken Griffey Jr.
he has stayed the course ( clean) dispite injurys, has very impressive numbers...still climbing..will look very srtong when said and done

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Posted By: Aaron Seefeldt

P-U-J-O-L-S

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Posted By: Josh K.

sorry, I just dont believe the two questions -

who is the next babe? and who is the most underrated superstar?

are consistent with one another.

The babe was never an underrated superstar (at least not after he became a yankee).

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Posted By: Jim

I always thought Jim Thome has a swing and home run trot a lot like the Babe. He hits massive shots like him too.

Jim