Cobb vs. Wagner

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Posted By: Elliot

This was not written by me, but I agree with it.

The Mick. Number 7. A country boy with a big smile and an easygoing manner, and a taste for the good life. He was also perhaps the most talented baseball player ever. His combination of speed and power was breathtaking, as he could hit a ball 500 feet, then outrun a fly in Yankee Stadium's spacious outfield for an incredible catch. But Mantle inherited bad knees, a problem made worse when he twisted his knee on an outfield drain during his rookie year.

Given different circumstances, and a greater drive to play the game, he might have been the greatest of them all. As it was, injuries, and rumor has it too much alcohol, kept him a bit behind the greatest of them all. But, he was one of the great "peak" players and had a run of some 10 years when he could have been the AL MVP every year. To break up the monotony, the voters picked a number of others as well, but the Mick was the best in the league from 1954-63, year in and year out. He was an amazing World Series performer as well, in an era when the Yankees went to the Series almost every year.