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Sorry, Maddux got a lot of wins, but I never saw any other pitcher get so many called strikes for pitches that were 2 feet outside of the plate. I think he was great and did what the umps let him do, but I think a lot of those wins were gifts.
Anyway, I'm picking Nolan Ryan as my pitcher, and not for the 5714 strikeouts either. I pick him for the time the 46 year old Ryan pounded 26 years old Robin Ventura's face after Ventura charged the mound. link
My position player should be Bugs Bunny. You all remember the cartoon where he took on the Gashouse Gorillas all by himself, right?
Well, just to be different though, I'm gonna take Ricky Henderson. He was a great leadoff hitter, stole more bases than anybody, hit more leadoff homeruns than anyone, and he played for 37 different teams.
I also like the idea of picking players I actually saw play.
Sorry, Maddux got a lot of wins, but I never saw any other pitcher get so many called strikes for pitches that were 2 feet outside of the plate. I think he was great and did what the umps let him do, but I think a lot of those wins were gifts.
Anyway, I'm picking Nolan Ryan as my pitcher, and not for the 5714 strikeouts either. I pick him for the time the 46 year old Ryan pounded 26 years old Robin Ventura's face after Ventura charged the mound. link
My position player should be Bugs Bunny. You all remember the cartoon where he took on the Gashouse Gorillas all by himself, right?
Well, just to be different though, I'm gonna take Ricky Henderson. He was a great leadoff hitter, stole more bases than anybody, hit more leadoff homeruns than anyone, and he played for 37 different teams.
I also like the idea of picking players I actually saw play.
I loved when Ryan pounded Ventura but his win loss is jus over .500 so no way.Maddux got alot of calls? No more then anyone else.
Henderson-best leadoff guy no question but besides his steals,can't agree.He was average defensiveley,not a great arm,batting average and homeruns were so so.
Don't just look at Henderson's batting average. Check his on base percentage. He got a lot of walks. A lot of times that also meant an automatic stolen base and a run scored on almost any hit, or even two ground balls. He holds the MLB record for runs scored, if I'm not mistaken, and I think scoring runs is the main part of the game.
Ryan did not have as impressive of a W/L record as some others, but he didn't always play for good teams either, so I won't hold that against him, and yes, I really do think Maddux got more favorable calls than most pitchers of his era.
Don't just look at Henderson's batting average. Check his on base percentage. He got a lot of walks. A lot of times that also meant an automatic stolen base and a run scored on almost any hit, or even two ground balls. He holds the MLB record for runs scored, if I'm not mistaken, and I think scoring runs is the main part of the game.
Ryan did not have as impressive of a W/L record as some others, but he didn't always play for good teams either, so I won't hold that against him, and yes, I really do think Maddux got more favorable calls than most pitchers of his era.
Ryan didn't always play for a good team but neither did Maddux especially at the beginning of his career.Ryans W/L numbers aren't good compared to most decent pitchers.His strikeouts and no hitters are outstanding.
Henderson's average was good but not great but he was more of a cancer then Manny is today and is one of the main reasons the salaries are out of whack too.He had it in his contract that he had to be the top 5 or 10% by position in his later contract which caused an automatic raise when others got new contracts.He also dogged it and played hard ,based on mood which doesn't fly with me.
Check his on base percentage. He got a lot of walks.
This is the reason why Willie Mays, as great as he was, was not the greatest position player (IMO). Ted Williams has a career OBP about 100 points higher than Mays, and Ruth's OBP is about 90 points higher. There's no doubt Mays was a much better defensive player than either the Babe or Williams, but both players were much better offensive players, even adjusting for era. Mays and the other top offensive players of his day were roughly equal to one another, while the Babe and Splendid Splinter stood out like sore thumbs when comparing their offensive statistics to their contemporaries. I think offensive differences between players tend to be more significant than defensive differences between players.
Barry Bonds is an interesting guy to include in the above comparison. He wasn't as good offensively in his career as either Ruth or Williams, but he's a lot closer to them than Mays is. On the other hand, Bonds wasn't as good defensively as Mays, but he's a lot closer to him than either Ruth or Williams is. Bonds was also the best position player of his generation even before the whole steroids thing with him took place.
Incidentally, Mickey Mantle was clearly a better player than Joe DiMaggio, ironically because he had a much better OBP. Mantle and Mays truly are comparable to one another, though Mays was a little better.
Finally, with Nolan Ryan he probably wasn't even a top 5 pitcher in his own generation! Tom Seaver (best pitcher of the great group that was born between the late 1930's and the end of the 1940's) and Steve Carlton were clearly better, Jim Palmer was almost definitely better, and guys like Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins, and Phil Niekro (whose stats are negatively impacted by mostly pitching on bad teams in hitters' parks) may have been better too.
Best player of all-time is Pete Rose. The man could play ever postion at a high level. A was the best hitter in baseball when he played. His All-time hit record will never be broken.
Best pitcher is Randy Johnson is stuff was sick durring his prime
Rickey Henderson couldn't have been dogging it too much - he played on 8 playoff teams, 3 pennant winners, and 2 World Series winners. He was a deserving league MVP for a pennant-winning team (1990 A's) too.
Best player of all-time is Pete Rose. The man could play ever postion at a high level. A was the best hitter in baseball when he played. His All-time hit record will never be broken.
Pete Rose was a genuinely great player in his prime, but played at least 3-4 years too long. He also wasn't even the best hitter (or more accurately, most productive hitter) on his own team for a number of years; that would have been Joe Morgan (who is also the reason why Rose didn't play 2nd base for the Reds in the mid-1970's). The last time a singles hitter with some pop and a high batting average was the greatest player of all-time was the deadball era.
Pete Rose was a genuinely great player in his prime, but played at least 3-4 years too long. He also wasn't even the best hitter (or more accurately, most productive hitter) on his own team for a number of years; that would have been Joe Morgan (who is also the reason why Rose didn't play 2nd base for the Reds in the mid-1970's). The last time a singles hitter with some pop and a high batting average was the greatest player of all-time was the deadball era.
4000 hits is something that no one probably will ever touch again,so this is a great choice as well. Definitely should be in the hall.
Rickey Henderson couldn't have been dogging it too much - he played on 8 playoff teams, 3 pennant winners, and 2 World Series winners. He was a deserving league MVP for a pennant-winning team (1990 A's) too.
Didn't deny he was a great player but turned it on and off when he wanted to.
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