ESPN Top 100

[Tyruscobb]

Shoeless Joe Jackson is 89th out of 100? This was the biggest headscratcher for me.

[chadeast]

Jeter > Foxx and Speaker? Ummm, no.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by Tyruscobb

Shoeless Joe Jackson is 89th out of 100? This was the biggest headscratcher for me.

Yeah, head scratcher for me too... why was he even on the list?

Ha - could you imagine trying to get just a few people to agree on this list?

At least they probably have the #1 player selected correctly (well, at least for a third of the people that read the list...)

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Tyruscobb

Shoeless Joe Jackson is 89th out of 100? This was the biggest headscratcher for me.

+1 agree about Joe jackson

Do not understand Jeter being so high up and ahead of some greats

[oldjudge]

I can’t understand why DiMaggio ranks so low. He had a shorter career than Mantle but his batting stats per season are better and there was no comparison in the field-DiMaggio was much better.

Per 162 game season

Runs-DiMaggio -130, Mantle-113
Doubles-DiMaggio-36, Mantle-23
Triples-DiMaggio-12, Mantle-5
Homers-DiMaggio-34, Mantle-36
RBIs-DiMaggio-143, Mantle-102
BA-DiMaggio-.325, Mantle-.298
OPS-DiMaggio-.977, Mantle-.977

I think Joe D was the greatest center fielder ever although I can see an argument for Mays.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

I can’t understand why DiMaggio ranks so low. He had a shorter career than Mantle but his batting stats per season are better and there was no comparison in the field-DiMaggio was much better.

Per 162 game season

Runs-DiMaggio -130, Mantle-113
Doubles-DiMaggio-36, Mantle-23
Triples-DiMaggio-12, Mantle-5
Homers-DiMaggio-34, Mantle-36
RBIs-DiMaggio-143, Mantle-102
BA-DiMaggio-.325, Mantle-.298
OPS-DiMaggio-.977, Mantle-.977

I think Joe D was the greatest center fielder ever although I can see an argument for Mays.

And yet, Mantle is comfortably ahead on WAR type stats. 4th among CF, DiMaggio is 7th. And not just longevity, Mantle is ahead in WAR7, 64 to 52. And his dWAR for whatever reason is MUCH better 9.6 to 3.2.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/l.../jaws_CF.shtml

And FWIW, Bill James rates Mantle 6th all time, DiMaggio 13th.

[Tao_Moko]

Pete Rose #34. Uhhhhh

[perezfan]

Jeter, Pedro and Bryce Harper are ranked way too high. And Bench, Speaker, Ott and Foxx are too low.

Maybe it's my eyes.... but I do not see George Sisler or Carl Hubbell anywhere on the list (I scanned it twice). If that's the case, those are two terrible omissions that compromise the credibility of the list.

[paul]

Grove is way underrated in this list.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

And yet, Mantle is comfortably ahead on WAR type stats. 4th among CF, DiMaggio is 7th. And not just longevity, Mantle is ahead in WAR7, 64 to 52. And his dWAR for whatever reason is MUCH better 9.6 to 3.2.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/l.../jaws_CF.shtml

And FWIW, Bill James rates Mantle 6th all time, DiMaggio 13th.

That is surely an indictment of WAR. Every person I have known who saw both play said DiMaggio was the better player. Mantle walked more but DiMaggio beat him by almost 60 total bases per 162 game season.

[Ricky]

No George Sisler.

[Fred]

Having a difficult time with a few of the selections:

Trout at # 15 - wow - that's a bit presumptuous - great player (no doubt). He's still playing. What happens if he plays 8 more years but with mere mortal numbers? Yes, top 100, but #15?

Harper at #94 - he's a .279 lifetime hitter. Yes, there's potential there, but really top 100?

Yes, more, but those two stand out to me.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Ricky

No George Sisler.

Thank you, Rich. The fact that he and Crawford aren't even on the list is shocking to me and, at the very least, shows a lack of appreciation or research on the greats of the first quarter of the 20th century by ESPN.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

That is surely an indictment of WAR. Every person I have known who saw both play said DiMaggio was the better player. Mantle walked more but DiMaggio beat him by almost 60 total bases per 162 game season.

The plural of anecdote is not data, my friend. Not that he's infallible, but I have a lot of respect for Bill James. Obviously both are very very upper echelon all time greats we can agree on that.

[John1941]

I'm far from PC, and don't think the Negro Leagues were the equal of the major leagues, but I think the low rating for Negro League greats is ridiculous. Oscar Charleston 53rd? He should, at the very least, be in top 20, and there's a good argument for him being in the top 5. Josh Gibson behind Derek Jeter? Whaaaa???

And I agree -- Bryce Harper is nowhere near the top 100. Needs three to five more great seasons.

[RCMcKenzie]

WAR is not a perfect stat, but it works pretty well sometimes, and other times not at all.
47th Bob Gibson
48 George Brett
49 Tim Keefe
50 Robin Roberts
60 Nolan Ryan
65 Curt Shilling
66 Dimaggio

I don't think anyone thinks Schilling was a better baseball player than Dimaggio