All you can do is compare folks against their competition, and Babe Ruth was a better player relative to his competition than any other player in the history of baseball. Also, it's kind of weird that you don't have a problem comparing eras when you talk about guys playing in the 40s vs. 90s/2000s.
I do have a problem with it. I realized that it's stupid to compare them. Probably better to just list the great players from each era in baseball. Going to be a lot of pitchers in the newest era.
Career OPS of over .900 combined with the defense in center would seem hall worthy to me, but then again I'm a massive homer when it comes to Edmonds.
I used to love Dan Uggla's stance. He looked like he was about to beat the pitcher's ass with his bat. But then he became a Brave and started sucking dick.
Him and Tulo could have been two of the best SS ever if they could/would have stayed healthy. Nomar was so much better than Jeter.
Walter Johnson has some impressive stats. Gave up 97 homers in a 20 year career, essentially one every 50 innings. He won 38 games by a 1-0 score and lost 27 by the same score. Had he pitched for the Yankees, the A's or even Red Sox he would probably be considered the GOAT without question.
Nothing against Johnson, but the home run stat is a little misleading. He pitched more than half his career in the dead ball era. Even in the post-1919 live ball era, teams played with the same ball until it unraveled. Take a look at the dimensions of some of those old parks in the 1910's and 1920's as well. Johnson is pretty amazing for his strikeout totals though. Every player in the top-10 pitched within the last 30 years except Johnson.
read how ty cobb usually bested walter johnson. cobb noticed that johnson was very scared of hurting someone and possibly killing them. so cobb would just crowd the plate as much as possible and it would unnerve johnson
Was looking up old pitching stats with the WJ talk. "Old Hoss" Radbourn once threw 678 innings in a single season
Goddamn old baseball was amazing Jealousy and hatred between Radbourn and Charlie Sweeney, the other ace pitcher on the team, broke out into violence in the clubhouse; Radbourn was faulted as the initiator of the fight, and was suspended without pay after a poor outing on July 16, having been accused of deliberately losing the game by lobbing soft pitches over the plate. But on July 22, Sweeney had been drinking before the start of the game and continued drinking in the dugout between innings. Despite being obviously intoxicated, Sweeney managed to make it to the seventh inning with a 6–2 lead, but when Bancroft attempted to relieve him with the change pitcher, Sweeney stormed out of the park in a rage, leaving the Providence side with only eight players. With only two men to cover the outfield they lost the game. (Under modern rules, a team cannot play with only eight players and would have to forfeit.) This left the team in a state of disarray with the consensus view that the team should be disbanded. At that point, Radbourn offered to start every game for the rest of the season (having pitched in 76 of 98 games the season before)[6] in exchange for a small raise and exemption from the reserve clause for the next season. From that point, July 23 to September 24 when the pennant was clinched, Providence played 43 games and Radbourn started 40 of them and won 36. Soon, pitching every other day as he was, his arm became so sore he couldn't raise it to comb his hair. On game day he was at the ballpark hours before the start, getting warmed up. He began his warm up by throwing just a few feet, increasing the distance gradually until he was pitching from second base and finally from short centerfield.[7]
Underrated: Vlad Guerrero. Not that people don't think he was really good, but you don't hear him mentioned often when talking about some of the greats of our era. Usually not among the first to come to mind for most people I guess is what I'm saying. Had longevity, power, career .318 hitter, insane arm out in RF. Especially when he was on the Expos and he was stealing bases and going 30/30 Throws like this Also iirc he had a fucking rocket arm in the SNES classic Ken Griffey jr baseball
A few things after reading the last few pages: - Old Hoss Radbourn is a great follow on twitter. @OldHossRadbourn - Shoeless Joe Jackson has to be mentioned amongst the greatest hitters ever. - Agree with LeonardWashington on Vladdy. He was fun to watch.
I think the people who are impressed with Pete Rose and think he belongs among the best ever are the same ones who think baseball is all about the stuff you learn in Little League -try hard and hustle and all that.
On this day in baseball history: August 5, 1969 With a titanic blast that clears the right-field pavilion, Willie Stargell becomes the first player to hit a home run completely out of Dodger Stadium. The 506-foot round-tripper helps the Pirates defeat LA, 11-3.
In 1985, the federal court in Pittsburgh convicted 7 men on cocaine distribution charges in connection with the Pittsburgh Pirates 1980-1982 teams. As a result of the trial, MLB suspended 11 players, including Keith Hernandez and Dave Parker. 10 others became subject to mandatory drug testing but were not suspended, including Dusty Baker. The drug ring operated out of Pittsburgh, but as the suspensions indicate, cut across baseball. The Pittsburgh Parrot mascot was implicated for selling cocaine. Our favorite source, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_drug_trials
TIL that connie mack, who debuted in 1886, managed so long that he managed in a game called by vin scully
That reminds me of this nifty tool. It's like a six-degrees-of-separation finder for MLB players (although it can be more than six steps between the two players): http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/
Easily the best offensive catcher in the 90's, subpar defensively, had the og "I'm not gay" press conference...I don't think he's particularly overrated or underrated