Greatest Living Players - Top 5

[orioles70]

All my life it was easy to make a list of the top few living baseball players (non pitchers)...there was Dimaggio, Williams, Mays, Aaron, Mantle, Berra, Clemente, etc...I always included Frank Robinson in that group. With his recent passing who would now round out a top 5 living baseball position players after Mays and Aaron? My thoughts would be the other 3 would have to come from this group...in no particular order...Jackson, Brett, Murray, Henderson, Griffey, Bench, Rose, Schmidt, Morgan and Ripken. Tried to include a player from every position. Would love to hear other opinions.

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[murphusa]

Griffey, Jr
Mays
Aaron
Suzuki
Trout

[bnorth]

Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds would be my picks.

[perezfan]

Aaron
Mays
Bench
Griffey Jr.
Brett

[Scott Garner]

Okay, so it isn't 5. Let's call it top 10 in no particular order...
Aaron, Koufax, Bonds, Clemens, Randy Johnson, Seaver, Ryan, Griffey, Carlton, Mariano Rivera

BTW, I know that people will criticize my picking Ryan (personal bias).
Ryan absolutely dominated opposing hitters (7 no-hitters, 12 1-hitters, 5,714 strikeouts). He also left the ML setting (or tying) 52 MLB records.
I know from personal experience being a die-hard Angels fan, growing up in So Cal, that Ryan was unfortunate to spend the majority of his career playing for two teams (Angels & Astros) that just did not score any runs.
You can't win if your team doesn't score for you. Just sayin'...

[Mark]

No doubt in my mind that Mays and Aaron are the top 2. After that I'd say Seaver, Schmidt, and Maddux--but a case can be made for Koufax, and a couple of others. Trout? not quite yet. I leave out the players whose names have been associated with PED's.

[Case12]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Okay, so it isn't 5. Let's call it top 10 in no particular order...
Aaron, Koufax, Bonds, Clemens, Randy Johnson, Seaver, Ryan, Griffey, Carlton, Mariano Rivera

BTW, I know that people will criticize my picking Ryan (personal bias).
Ryan absolutely dominated opposing hitters (7 no-hitters, 12 1-hitters, 5,714 strikeouts). He also left the ML setting (or tying) 52 MLB records.
I know from personal experience being a die-hard Angels fan when I was growing up in So Cal that Ryan was unfortunate to spend the majority of his career playing for two teams (Angels & Astros) that just did not score any runs. You can't win if your team doesn't score for you. Just sayin'...

I am right there with you on Ryan. He was a pitching machine. No one will ever touch his record. I would also put Maddox on the list.