Best Players of your era

[NYJets]

Re: Best Players of your era

Position Player: Barry Bonds- Was a great player even when he wasn't on the Roids. He used to be a great all around player, now he is one of the most feared power hitters ever.

Pitcher: Pedro Martinez-For a few years, he was by far the most dominant pitcher in the game. I had the "pleasure" of seeing him strikeout 17 Yankees and pitch a one hitter live. Truly dominating. Clemens, Maddux, and Johnson will all probably go down as having better careers, but Pedro in his prime was as good as anyone.

Team: 1998 Yankees- No real superstars, they didn't have that one feared hitter or pitcher in the lineup. But they were an incredible team with no weaknesses. 1-9 they had a great lineup, big game pitchers like Wells, El Duque, Cone, and Pettitte in the rotation, and a dominating bullpen.

Manager: Joe Torre- 4 Championships, 6 World Series appearances, 8 division titles. Can't argue with that. He's been able to handle teams full of big egos and superstars, and has won with teams that didn't have many huge names.

[Spivey11]

Re: Best Players of your era

1986 - Present

Hitter: Ken Griffey Jr. - In his prime he put everyone else in the bigs to shame. If he wasn't plagued by all these injuries he would be the best there ever was. (Why did he ever leave Seattle?? )
Honorable Mention: Fred McGriff

Pitcher: Greg Maddux - He's never had over-powering stuff. But knows how to pitch on the corners and he knows where to pitch almost everyone he faces.

Fielder: Andruw Jones - He gets to balls standing up that every other outfielder would have to dive for. He gets the craziest jumps on the ball; he starts to move before the batter even hits the ball!

Manager: Bobby Cox - Sure the Braves have won 13 straight divison titles and they have only won one World Series. But, they've won 13 straight divison titles. That is a very arduous task and I don't think that there is anyone better than Bobby.

[RedsFan75]

Re: Best Players of your era

Best Team: [/b]'98 Yankees, I don't think anyone on OS is old enough to have witnessed anything better. In fact there prolly aren't too many people alive on this planet who witnessed anything better.

This could bring up the argument involving the Big Red Machine of '75 and '76

Seriously the Reds of '75/'76 and the '98 Yankees are the 2 best teams I've seen play. Both teams were built in much the same manner. Lots of Speed, Pitching, Hitting, Defense. No real stand out player scrappy team. If I picked a team, it'd be hard to go against the '76 Reds, but I'd pick the '98 Yankees just for the total number of wins.... but it's a narrow margin.

Manager would have to be Sparky Anderson... Taking both the Reds and Tigers. # 3 in total wins...

But hey, I seem to be older than most of you here.

[SportsTop]

Re: Best Players of your era

Honestly, the Braves should be worse goats than the Buffalo Bills. 15 straight division titles and ONE Wold Series championship? Are you kidding me?! And with THAT pitching staff?!

Winning 1 outta 15 w. their talent vs. Losing 4 straight Super Bowls, three of which the Bills had inferior talent anyway. Cox should not be considered that great of a manager IMO.

I don't care if the Braves lost 14 straight World Series. The managing job Cox did last couple years alone earns him status as one of the greats of our generation. You seem to forget (or blinded by bias) that Torre gets a team laden with All-Stars and routinely has the highest payroll in baseball. Add to it that he manages in the American League and I give Cox the edge over Torre for best manager of the past 15-20 years.

[Acid]

Re: Best Players of your era

I'm about 1994-present.

I would say Ken Griffey Jr. is the best position player, not just because he's my favorite player of all time but because he was DAMN good back in the day with Seattle.

For pitcher, I would probably say Pedro Martinez.

[dieselboy]

Re: Best Players of your era

Best Batter Seen Live - Ken Griffey Jr., Reds (multiple games)
If not for those injuries, would he have 600 homers? 650 by now? People forget just how great this guy was back when he was a Mariner.

Best Pitcher Seen Live - Randy Johnson, D-Backs and Yankees
I've seen him pitch twice in my life, just this past Saturday vs the Cardinals and back in 2001 when he was with the Diamondbacks vs the Reds at Cinergy Field. He's probably one of a handful of pitchers to throw 17 K's and still lose a game, which he lost 2-0 thanks to a Dessens two hit shutout. He is an absolute beast on the mound and his speed and control is just mind boggling. Its an honor to get to say that I've seen a Hall of Fame pitcher pitch before.

Ahh, former Mariners.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Best Players of your era

Best Hitter: Barry Bonds. He may be a prick, but he's also a helluva ballplayer - steroids or not.

Best Pitcher: Greg Maddux. Biased here, but this guy would just carve hitters up. It was a clinic. Take a look at his stats in 94-95. Sick.

Best Manager: Bobby Cox. Once again, biased. The guy just wins. He may not be the greatest tactician (though he's not bad), but he just has an amazing ability to bring a team together, and get the most out of his players.

Best team: 1998 Yankees. It wasn't the greatest collection of talent ever assembled, but they just had professional ballplayers at every position, guys who knew what it took to get the job done.

My feelings exactly.

[Vince]

Re: Best Players of your era

Best Pitcher: Greg Maddux. Biased here, but this guy would just carve hitters up. It was a clinic. Take a look at his stats in 94-95. Sick.

Bias? where, where, where!?!?!

[SPTO]

Re: Best Players of your era

I consider my "era" to be 1980-present


BEST HITTER: Barry Bonds, The man has been out of this world with his statistics. Even if he took 'roids it can't change him so much that he's the biggest home run hitting machine in history.


BEST PITCHER: This one is a bit tougher, I'm struggling between Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. It's kinda interesting tho that both of those guys were going strong in the twilight of their career. Ryan was more of a pitcher from 1990 on but he still had that amazing fastball. Roger Clemens has been simply the best pitcher in baseball for the last few years. It's amazing how he's still a very dominant pitcher in what should be his twilight years. Then again most of the strong power pitchers who emphasize the use of their legs have had careers like that. (Tommy John, Tom Seaver, etc et al)


BEST MANAGER: Bobby Cox, He may not be the best at managing the bullpen but he's been one of the greatest managers of all time when it comes to motivating players and getting the most out of sometimes mediocre talent. You also have to remember that Cox was also the GM of the Braves until he molded the team in the way he wanted. That's when he stepped into the dugout. I still wish he'd stay in Toronto. Pat Gillick said that Cox would've been the Blue Jays' answer to Tommy Lasorda.


BEST TEAM: 1984 Tigers, That team was one of the most dominant teams in baseball history. They weren't the most talented team ever but they had great chemistry. Jack Morris was the only star starting pitcher they had that year.

[iLLmatic]

Re: Best Players of your era

how in the world are people saying griffey? come on. please. as he has gotten older he has wilted. you can say what u want bout barry and them roids but i would think that roids would hurt you as you get older. griffey is early to mid 90's. his legacy stretches about 5-7 years. bonds has been kickin large amounts of azz since 90-91 till the present. by the time griffey went to cincinatti he was done. it may make you appreciate how difficult it is to play in your hometown as well as your dads former team. another thing barry has done and gets no credit for. he is doin that in san fran where his dad played and he is playing in front of argueably THE greatest 5 tool player in the history of bat and ball, willie mays. roids cant help you perform under that kind of scrutiny.

[elicoleman]

Re: Best Players of your era

If wilted, you mean that he's been injured and hasn't been able to perform up to what he's capable..fine.

Its funny how easy people forget just how great a player was. I'm not blind to that like some people are.

Even if you take away he injury plagued seasons since 2001, he was an incredible player for a good decade (91-00). He had eight 100 RBI seasons, and had 90 RBIs in the strike of 94. He had 40+ homers in 7 of 8 seasons from 93-00 and that one seasonn he didn't, he still had 17 in only 72 games.

Remember, he had 10 straight gold gloves years (90-99)

Bonds is a hell of a player and one of the best ever, but overall, I'd rather have a healthy Griffey.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: Best Players of your era

Lets see, I was born in 1990, but didn't start watching baseball until about 1997-ish. So I will start there...

Hitter: Barry Bonds. I don't like the guy, but I'm really hoping he gets back healthy and breaks this record...

Pitcher: Pedro Martinez. I remember a little of '99 when he was lighting everyone and thier mothers up, and he's still one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Team: '98 Yankees, but the '97 Indians have a spot in my opinion. I was 7 years old watching Game 7...******* Renteria man.

[Stu]

Re: Best Players of your era

Bonds is a hell of a player and one of the best ever, but overall, I'd rather have a healthy Griffey.

I agree. I didn't base my decision on how good a career they've had, more how good they were in their prime. I'd take Griffey in his prime over anybody.

[Picci]

Re: Best Players of your era

Since I started following baseball in 1968.....I'll give my thoughts prior to the 80's. Players like Martinez and Arod may very well become more imortal but until they finish their careers I would have to say..............

Best Pitcher- Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton
Gibson was the ultimate intimidator. Seaver I remember watching that 19 K game where he Kd the last 10 Padres in a row. And Carlton was always winning even when playing on bad teams.

Best All Around Player- Roberto Clemente. Best player based on sheer talent alone. Was incredible to watch.

Best Hitter- Pete Rose and Rod Carew. Both were hitting machines.

Best Power Hitter- Harman Killebrew. Imagine how many this guy would be hitting in ballparks of now a days. And this guy played in the old Twins stadium (what was the name again?) and RFK.

Best Team- (1972, 73, 74) The Oakland A's. Free Agency killed this team. I wonder how many more championships they could've won if the players were kept in place.

[SPTO]

Re: Best Players of your era

Best Power Hitter- Harman Killebrew. Imagine how many this guy would be hitting in ballparks of now a days. And this guy played in the old Twins stadium (what was the name again?) and RFK.

Metropolitan stadium.

What do I win?