So lets have a little fun with all the negitivity in the hobby

[nat]

I'm going to play by my own rules.

Greatest player with a rookie card in the corresponding decade:

1950s: Willie Mays. At their respective peaks Mantle was comparable, but Mays kept it up much longer.

1960s: Johnny Bench. This pick makes me wonder if I'm forgetting someone. He was great and all, but it sure is a drop-off from the 50s.

1970s: Mike Schmidt. The greatest third baseman of all time.

1980s: Barry Bonds. Second only to Ruth.

1990s: Alex Rodriguez.

2000s: Albert Pujols.

2010s: Mike Trout. This one is way early - who knows what Juan Soto will end up doing - but I'm still comfortable with it. There are two things that make Trout so astoundingly great: he was great extremely young, and he's extremely consistent. Think about this: excepting his cup of coffee in 2011, the year in which he had his WORST on-base percentage he also won the MVP award. By WAR the year in which he had his second-lowest score he won an MVP award. And his third lowest. He's an MVP-caliber player even when he's not playing well (by his standards).