Who is the greatest right handed hitter of all time?

[nolemmings]

Frank,

I'm waiting for your Kirby Puckett nomination as greatest right-handed hitter, given your strenuous support of his HOF enshrinement

[1952boyntoncollector]

muhammad Ali was a right handed hitter boy could he hit..best all time

[FrankWakefield]

Todd, Jake, thank you both, you've given me smiles to start my day.

I guess I should suggest Mike Schmidt as the greatest right handed hitter... but then I'd have to post about how misguided that would be. He was a mediocre hitter. He could crunch home runs, excellent fielder, great arm on those long throws from third base. He had a lot of walks, some attributable to a good eye and plate discipline, some intentional walks, and some because the defense just wanted to pitch around him given the situation.

I saw Mays and Aaron in the mid 60s. Aaron could move the bat through the strike zone with what seemed minimal effort; a quick, smooth swing. As a kid then, I didn't appreciate what was involved in moving the hands closer to the plate, or further away, because the pitch was out or in... Aaron was a smooth fielder, he would run, field, and throw in a way that didn't draw attention to what he was doing. Mays was different. He'd catch balls on the move. If the ball was hit 20' to his right, he'd break late and be moving as he got to where the ball was; if the ball was 70' to his left he'd break on the ball and be moving as he caught that ball. And he'd do that basket catch that little league coaches hated. If he was throwing a ball back in with no one on, it most likely was thrown underhanded. Running the bases he'd lose his hat; rounding third his arms would be churning on those broad shoulders and he looked like a freight train heading toward the plate. Catchers in their gear were hardly a match for Willie with a head of steam heading for the plate.

I remain unconvinced that there's been a better right handed hitter since Rogers Hornsby. Aaron and Mays were great right handed sluggers, and hitters. Wagner was pretty good, he wasn't just a face on a ball card. In a few years when we see the final totals on Trout, I think they'll be a slightly short of Pujols' numbers.

So I think that Mr. Reality 68 back up there in post #11 has the top five listed:

Hornsby
Aaron
Mays
Wagner
Pujols


It'd take a bunch of listing before we reached whatever number Kirby P would be.

[Stuke1976]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Frank,

I'm waiting for your Kirby Puckett nomination as greatest right-handed hitter, given your strenuous support of his HOF enshrinement

If you compare Trout to Puckett, how close are the stats?

Trout leads in HR and BB, which lend to higher OBS percentage. Puckett played 150 games 8 times, Trout 4. Trout has great stats for generating WAR. Puckett would take a swing versus a walk. Personally, I would rather have a guy up there swinging with runners in scoring position. Look how low Tony Gwynn's WAR is for being such a great hitter. Low walk totals each year. It just appears to me that BB, which are better than outs most of the time, are overrated.

Back on point, my number 1 Right-Handed Hitter would be Josh Gibson.

[FrankWakefield]

Best right handed HITTER from all time...

[FrankWakefield]

Rajah!!!

[tedzan]

Unquestionably, the best answer to this quiz is......Ed Delahanty.

If he had not passed away so tragically, Ed would have topped Ty Cobb's career Batting Average.

Ed's batting performance actually improved, as he got older. Not too many ballplayers can boast
of doing that. The last 10 years of his career, he batted an unbelievable .374

From all I have read regarding Ed, I'm convinced he was the "Greatest" Right-Handed Hitter".


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[FrankWakefield]

Delahanty... among the best of the right handed hitters. I mentioned him in post #18.

I found Sowell's book July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty to be a most enlightening book. He covers Big Ed, the infancy of the 2 league system that we have today, the leagues' inclination to honor one another's contracts, and what baseball was like at the beginning of the 20th century. I recommend this book!

Now back to the best of the best of right handed hitters... I found another card.

[molenick]

I think Delahanty is right up there. I got curious and I was wondering what he would have had to do to top Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.

He ended his career with a .346 average at age 35 with 2597 hits in 7510 ABs. If he hit .400 for the next six years going 240 for 600 (more hits and at bats than he ever had in a season) he would have 4037 hits and 11110 ABs for an average of .363 and would still be below Cobb. Even playing to age 42 and averaging .400 for seven seasons only gets him to .365. (For the purposes of this, I am pretending he did not die in 1903 but merely was disabled for the remainder of the season...but a full season of .333 in 1903 would not have helped him, which was his average that year.)

Considering that his averages his last four seasons were .323, .354. .376, and .333 I have to respectfully disagree that he would have surpassed Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.

Don't blame me! Blame Excel for doing the calculations!

[luciobar1980]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Delahanty... among the best of the right handed hitters. I mentioned him in post #18.

I found Sowell's book July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty to be a most enlightening book. He covers Big Ed, the infancy of the 2 league system that we have today, the leagues' inclination to honor one another's contracts, and what baseball was like at the beginning of the 20th century. I recommend this book!

Now back to the best of the best of right handed hitters... I found another card.

I've always thought the placement of his name on this AND his 33 Goudey were rather unfortunate. They both bother me.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Unquestionably, the best answer to this quiz is......Ed Delahanty.



If he had not passed away so tragically, Ed would have topped Ty Cobb's career Batting Average.



Ed's batting performance actually improved, as he got older. Not too many ballplayers can boast

of doing that. The last 10 years of his career, he batted an unbelievable .374



From all I have read regarding Ed, I'm convinced he was the "Greatest" Right-Handed Hitter".





TED Z



T206 Reference

.

It looks like Ed's bat is smoking.

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