Poll - Greatest Living Player

[Snowman]

I voted for Ohtani. But Bonds, Griffey, and Randy Johnson all have a pretty strong case as well in my eyes.

[Snowman]

The next time I get into an argument on this forum, I will try to remind myself that 14 people here voted for Johnny Bench and 16 people voted for Mike Schmidt.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by Snowman

The next time I get into an argument on this forum, I will try to remind myself that 14 people here voted for Johnny Bench and 16 people voted for Mike Schmidt.

Of all the players to single out, and you are going with Bench and Schmidt?

Bench is arguably the greatest catcher ever.

Schmidt is the greatest 3rd basemen ever. He was an elite fielder--and has a career WAR over 100. He won MVP 3x, and finished in the top 10 five other times. His career OPS+ of 148 is in the top 50 ever. He is one of 3 players (with Griffey Jr. and Mays) to win at least 10 Gold Gloves and hit 500 Home Runs. And you are singling out Mike Schmidt as a bad choice?

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Of all the players to single out, and you are going with Bench and Schmidt?

Bench is arguably the greatest catcher ever.

Schmidt is the greatest 3rd basemen ever. He was an elite fielder--and has a career WAR over 100. He won MVP 3x, and finished in the top 10 five other times. His career OPS+ of 148 is in the top 50 ever. He is one of 3 players (with Griffey Jr. and Mays) to win at least 10 Gold Gloves and hit 500 Home Runs. And you are singling out Mike Schmidt as a bad choice?

I agree that Bench and Schmidt are 2 surprising choices to complain about. If I had to pick the result that I found most surprising, it would be the number of votes for Pete Rose. Regardless of his gambling issues, I agree he was a great player, but power hitters usually get thought of more than singles hitters when you talk about the greatest players in baseball.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I agree that Bench and Schmidt are 2 surprising choices to complain about. If I had to pick the result that I found most surprising, it would be the number of votes for Pete Rose. Regardless of his gambling issues, I agree he was a great player, but power hitters usually get thought of more than singles hitters when you talk about the greatest players in baseball.

I agree 100%.

It is amazing to me that Pete Rose has the 3 most number of votes. He was a versatile fielder, but not a particularly good one. And he was a one-dimensional hitter. Let's not forget that in addition to betting on baseball, he was also corking his bat at the end of his career, as he tried to pass Cobb on the all-time hits list.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I think there's an easy explanation for Rose's stature -- he broke one of baseball's most sacred records that was long considered untouchable.

[packs]

He did break the record but if you're going to pick a player in the same vein as Rose, I think Wade Boggs was infinitely better.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think there's an easy explanation for Rose's stature -- he broke one of baseball's most sacred records that was long considered untouchable.

Yes, his overtaking Cobb (while corking his bat) is the explanation. It is not a good one.