Who was the best center fielder of all time?

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by robw1959

... But Mays did not have over 400 outfield assists... In my mind the overall greatest CF was Speaker.

Speaker's assist numbers are ridiculous, but I think they're really tough to compare with current OF stats. Playing much of his careeer in the dead ball era (and in some small ballparks as mentioned earlier) allowed him to play a much shallower CF than modern day outfielders. I think it was probably not that uncommon for a CF to get an assist on a standard force out a 2nd on an otherwise clean line drive to center. I think runners were also more aggressive in stretching singles into doubles and doubles into triples, allowing for more assist opportunities. Mays by all reports had an absolutely cannon of an arm, and playing in the modern era has very respectable even high assist total for a center fielder.