Great players by position

[CabreraMVP]

Re: Great players by position

Is Pudge the best catcher of all time? Steroids or not, he was a strong power hitter for almost a decade. A career .298 hitter over 20 years. Too many Gold gloves to count. His defensive ability is second to none.

[Knight165]

Re: Great players by position

Is Pudge the best catcher of all time? Steroids or not, he was a strong power hitter for almost a decade. A career .298 hitter over 20 years. Too many Gold gloves to count. His defensive ability is second to none.

Nah...
Bench was at least equal to Pudge as far as defense and was a better hitter IMO if you factor in that one played in the heavily pitcher favored 70's and the other in the hitter friendly 90's-00's.

Pudge is a very good player for sure...but Bench redefined catching during his stretch.

Heck....I know I'll cause a bit of a stir here...but

Bench
Berra
Piazza
Fisk
Campy/Cochrane(take your pick)
and THEN
Pudge

M.K.
Knight165

[st0rmb11]

Re: Great players by position

My feeling is that Piazza is the best hitting catcher ever, Pudge and Bench are the best defensive catchers. Pudge because of how dominant he was behind the plate, and Bench for revolutionizing the way catchers caught and played defense.

[Sportsforever]

Re: Great players by position

Nah...
Bench was at least equal to Pudge as far as defense and was a better hitter IMO if you factor in that one played in the heavily pitcher favored 70's and the other in the hitter friendly 90's-00's.

Pudge is a very good player for sure...but Bench redefined catching during his stretch.

Heck....I know I'll cause a bit of a stir here...but

Bench
Berra
Piazza
Fisk
Campy/Cochrane(take your pick)
and THEN
Pudge

M.K.
Knight165

I'd actually put Campy in front of Fisk/Cochrane. His career was cut short by racism and paralysis or he would have put up awesome numbers. He was as good as it got behind the plate and while Ebbets surely helped his numbers, he was a great hitter.

I know he never played MLB, but I would put Gibson behind Bench. He was considered an average defender, but probably the best hitting catcher of all time.

[steelcurtain311]

Re: Great players by position

Even with the injuries, I'd still rank Scott Rolen ahead of just about anybody I've seen in my lifetime at 3rd. He can still get it done now, but when he was at his peak, nobody could beat his defense+offense output. Crazy defensive talent who could hit, too. A-Rod's defense gets overrated to hell, because of his offense, which I somewhat understand. As a third baseman, he can't touch Rolen.

[elTodd]

Re: Great players by position

Even with the injuries, I'd still rank Scott Rolen ahead of just about anybody I've seen in my lifetime at 3rd. He can still get it done now, but when he was at his peak, nobody could beat his defense+offense output. Crazy defensive talent who could hit, too. A-Rod's defense gets overrated to hell, because of his offense, which I somewhat understand. As a third baseman, he can't touch Rolen.

Scott Rolen still can flash the leather better than anybody in the league today. Such a great guy too. Hate the way the Cardinals treated him at the end of his stay here.

[12]

Re: Great players by position

How could you NOT have the greatest hitter of all time, Ted Williams

Yeah, this baffled me as well. Williams was nothing special with the glove, but he was the greatest hitter of all-time. The guy missed nearly FIVE FULL SEASONS in his prime (ages 24-28, and 34) because he was off flying planes for the Navy in WW2 and the Korean War.

He still hit 521 bombs, has a career average of .344 and had nearly 2,700 hits.

That's beyond insane. That's just stupid good. How anyone could leave him off an all-time greats list is beyond me. The guy's life goal was to be called the "Greatest hitter who ever lived," and he achieved it.

Teddy Ballgame was the man. Maybe it's just because I don't like him, but I don't think Bonds touches him in terms of overall production. Take five years away from Bonds, when he was in his absolute prime, and he's not even in the discussion.

[Sportsforever]

Re: Great players by position

Yeah, this baffled me as well. Williams was nothing special with the glove, but he was the greatest hitter of all-time. The guy missed nearly FIVE FULL SEASONS in his prime (ages 24-28, and 34) because he was off flying planes for the Navy in WW2 and the Korean War.

He still hit 521 bombs, has a career average of .344 and had nearly 2,700 hits.

That's beyond insane. That's just stupid good. How anyone could leave him off an all-time greats list is beyond me. The guy's life goal was to be called the "Greatest hitter who ever lived," and he achieved it.

Teddy Ballgame was the man. Maybe it's just because I don't like him, but I don't think Bonds touches him in terms of overall production. Take five years away from Bonds, when he was in his absolute prime, and he's not even in the discussion.

I actually like Williams and don't care for Bonds. Williams numbers completely justify taking him over Bonds (William's normal seasons look like Bond's roid seasons without the homers). I took Bonds because in my mind he was the TOTAL package. Yes, Williams is probably the greatest hitter of all time, but Williams is middle of the pack to below par on the bases and in the field and Bonds was the one of the best ever at both.

I have no problem with saying Williams is the best ever...that's the point of the discussion.

[12]

Re: Great players by position

I see the point with Bonds, but the steroids issue makes his accomplishments so much less impressive, in my opinion.

He was pretty damn good with the leather and did steal a lot bases early on, but it's still not enough for me to put him on the list.

I'm not saying you or anyone else is wrong... It's just my thoughts.

Bonds aside, I still can't get over the fact that Teddy Ballgame missed nearly five years in his absolute prime and still put up the numbers that he did. It just literally boggles my mind.

He would have hit at least 700 home runs and had close to 4,000 hits if he never missed that time.

Amazing.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Thus why he is the greatest hitter to ever live.

There is a reason his book about hitting is highly regarded like a "hitting bible" or "art of
war to hitting" to ball players.


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