Who is the greatest BB player you ever SAW?

[tedzan]

I saw Ted Williams play (at Yankee Stadium and on TV) from 1947 - 1960. As a Yankee fan, I still got a thrill when Ted would hit a HR
into the RF upper deck at the Stadium. After all it didn't really matter, as the Yankees would win the Pennant, anyhow.







I saw Satchell Paige pitch (when the Yankees played Cleveland or the St Louis Browns) from 1948 to 1953. He was certainly exciting
to watch. It's too bad we didn't see more of him.


1949 LEAF......(one of the top 10 cards in my collection)





I saw Mickey play many times at Yankee Stadium (and on the TV) from 1951 - 1968. He was the best there was in the post-WWII era.
What I consider really amazing about Mickey is.....he was a shy teenager from a small town that arrived in the "Big City"; and, stepped
into the footprints of a tremendous Yankee legend....and, succeeded beyond all expectations.

I can think of only one other ballplayer in the modern era with that distinction....Can you name him ?







TED Z

[Peter W Thomas]

Left fielder right after ted no ted but pdg.

[tedzan]

Yaz grew up in a small potato farming town way out in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY. He stepped into Ted Williams footprints in LF,
and the rest is BB history.

I met him briefly up in Cooperstown in 1989 at his HOF celebration event. A really fine gentleman.

TED Z

[dougscats]

Barry Bonds on steroids. He was in another league.

Ditto for Sandy Koufax, for those 5-6 years.

[Kenny Cole]

Koufax pitched the first game I ever saw in person. It was his last year in the majors and I was five years old. I had no clue what what happening, but I remember watching all those Giants batters flailing away and hitting nothing but air. He went 9 innings and pitched a shutout. It was awesome, I was hooked, and he was my hero from then on out. He still is.

Until Barry Bonds came along, I never thought I would see anyone who approached Willie Mays as an all around baseball player. Bonds was better. Steroids or not, he was so good it was scary.

Kenny Cole

[MilBraves]

I was lucky enough to see Hank Aaron play towards the end of his career. He tops my list.

I also had the opportunity to watch Robin Yount play on numerous occasions. He is my hometown pick. More hits than any other player in the 80s. 2 MVPs at different positions. He flew so far under the radar because he played in Milwaukee, that when he won his second MVP in 89 he didn't even make the All Star team.

[quinnsryche]

Originally Posted by Kenny Cole

Koufax pitched the first game I ever saw in person. It was his last year in the majors and I was five years old. I had no clue what what happening, but I remember watching all those Giants batters flailing away and hitting nothing but air. He went 9 innings and pitched a shutout. It was awesome, I was hooked, and he was my hero from then on out. He still is.

Until Barry Bonds came along, I never thought I would see anyone who approached Willie Mays as an all around baseball player. Bonds was better. Steroids or not, he was so good it was scary.

Kenny Cole

You can't discount the steroids considering he was on it for possibly the last 8 - 10 years of his career. How good would Willie Mays have been all doped up? Hit 1000 hrs.? 3000 rbi's.? Who knows? What we do know is Bonds was a cheat and every stat and record he owns should be expunged from the MLB records along with all the other cheaters: Palmeiro, McGwire, Clemens, A-Rod, Sosa etc. Let me leave you with this, if Bonds was so good, why did he have to cheat 1/2 of his career?

[Kenny Cole]

Spare me the self-righteous indignation about steroids. I don't care. If you do, power to you. Engaging in that discussion is an absolute waste of time.

Regardless of the reason, Bonds was simply the most feared player in the game, and rightfully so. I also guess we need to discount all of Mays stats because he took greenies, right?

[tachyonbb]

Pitcher: Bob Gibson Living in a minor league town, we only got to St. Louis once every other year or so to see a game in person. In 67 I was finally on my own and drove to St. Louis a few time just to watch him pitch.

Batter: Most explosive home run I have ever seen came from Barry Bonds. We were at spring training in Scottsdale and he hit one that got to fence faster than I have ever witnessed before. The whole crowd just went silent for a moment after that shot.

[Mollys Dad]

Pete Rose. I grew up watching him and the Big Red Machine play. I was at the game on Sept. 11th, 1985 when he broke Cobb's record. My ears still hurt.

[quinnsryche]

Originally Posted by Kenny Cole

Spare me the self-righteous indignation about steroids. I don't care. If you do, power to you. Engaging in that discussion is an absolute waste of time.

Regardless of the reason, Bonds was simply the most feared player in the game, and rightfully so. I also guess we need to discount all of Mays stats because he took greenies, right?

Greenies didn't blow your body up to 2x it's normal size, give you the head the size of a basketball or turn you into a rage driven prick. Choose to ignore the fact that what these guys did certainly effected they're performance 10 fold. Jimmie Foxx and Ted Kluszewski cut their uniform sleeves off because of hard work not needles. "Engaging in that discussion" is NOT a waste of time as long as you don't idolize or respect the accomplishments of cheaters and drug addicts. By the way, if you don't care, why respond? Bonds was feared because he was an abnormal freak, no one ever talked of not pitching to him when he weighed 180 lbs.

[Mikehealer]

I'm not sure, but Bonds led the league in intentional walks basically every year from 1992 forward. Here is a picture of him in 1992, doesn't look all that big.
He was easily the best player in baseball from 1990 until he retired. I couldn't care less if he or any of the steroid users get in the HOF, but there is no denying he was the best player in baseball before and after steroid use.