Tuesday, November 16, 2004
ALL-TIME TOP 100s: Left Fielders
Good morning!
Today, we will continue the Top 100s series that Justin Ahern researched for us with the left fielders. If you would like some background on the process used to develop this report and ranking, please click here. Here are the previous Top 100 lists:
All-Time Top 100s: First Basemen
All-Time Top 100s: Second Basemen
All-Time Top 100s: Third Basemen
If you have any questions for me, or if you have any questions for Justin, please e-mail me, and I will be sure to forward your thoughts to him.
THE LEFT FIELDERS
Here are the Top 100 Left Fielders of All-Time. Please send me your thoughts on the Top 100s.
Rank Player Year Born Total 1 Barry Bonds 1964 201.62 2 Ted Williams 1918 186.65 3 Stan Musial 1920 173.10 4 Rickey Henderson 1958 155.51 5 Carl Yastrzemski 1939 152.02 6 Tim Raines 1959 147.39 7 Joe Jackson 1889 145.57 8 Ed Delahanty 1867 142.32 9 Al Simmons 1902 140.63 10 Jesse Burkett 1868 140.40 11 Willie Stargell 1940 139.79 12 Joe Medwick 1911 138.52 13 Manny Ramirez 1972 138.51 14 Sherry Magee 1884 137.06 15 Frank Howard 1936 136.98 16 Billy Williams 1938 136.20 17 Ralph Kiner 1922 133.56 18 Charlie Keller 1916 133.27 19 Albert Belle 1966 132.89 20 Goose Goslin 1900 132.35 21 Bobby Abreu 1974 131.77 22 Fred Clarke 1872 131.72 23 Zack Wheat 1888 129.45 24 Lou Brock 1939 128.84 25 Luis Gonzalez 1967 127.69 26 Brian Giles 1971 127.68 27 George Burns 1889 127.07 28 Roy White 1943 126.78 29 Jimmy Sheckard 1878 126.77 30 Minnie Minoso 1922 126.29 31 Jim Rice 1953 125.50 32 Joe Kelley 1871 125.39 33 Jose Cruz 1947 123.97 34 Tip O'Neil 1858 123.89 35 George Foster 1948 123.14 36 Bobby Veach 1888 120.14 37 Heinie Manush 1901 119.96 38 Augie Galan 1912 119.32 39 Don Buford 1937 118.65 40 Greg Luzinski 1950 118.18 41 Bob Johnson 1905 117.88 42 Brian Downing 1950 116.81 43 Topsy Hartsel 1874 115.79 44 Moises Alou 1966 115.66 45 Harry Stovey 1856 115.54 46 Joe Carter 1960 115.30 47 Jim O'Rourke 1850 114.87 48 Del Ennis 1925 114.65 49 Kevin Mitchell 1962 114.44 50 Kirk Gibson 1957 113.79 51 George Stone 1877 113.64 52 Gary Matthews 1950 113.46 53 Kevin McReynolds 1959 113.17 54 Tom Tresh 1937 113.04 55 Ken Williams 1890 112.35 56 Elmer Smith 1868 111.68 57 Jeff Heath 1915 111.49 58 Sid Gordon 1917 110.11 59 Don Baylor 1949 108.55 60 Lefty O'Doul 1897 107.52 61 Hal McRae 1945 107.38 62 Dusty Baker 1949 106.96 63 Tommy Harper 1940 106.39 64 Sam Mertes 1872 106.18 65 Chick Hafey 1903 105.92 66 Willie Horton 1942 105.92 67 Tommy Davis 1939 105.61 68 Patsy Dougherty 1876 104.41 69 Gene Woodling 1922 103.71 70 Riggs Stephenson 1898 103.67 71 Greg Vaughn 1965 103.64 72 Rico Carty 1939 102.82 73 George Bell 1959 102.08 74 Kip Selbach 1872 101.71 75 Joe Rudi 1946 101.44 76 Bobby Higginson 1970 101.44 77 Ben Oglivie 1949 101.22 78 Ron Gant 1965 101.18 79 Jo Jo Moore 1908 101.18 80 Lonnie Smith 1955 101.10 81 Charley Jones 1850 100.47 82 Wally Moon 1930 100.23 83 Garret Anderson 1972 100.12 84 Reggie Sanders 1967 99.28 85 Leon Wagner 1934 99.09 86 Hank Sauer 1917 98.81 87 Bob Meusel 1896 97.33 88 Cleon Jones 1942 97.23 89 Ralph Garr 1945 96.94 90 Mike Greenwell 1963 96.90 91 Duffy Lewis 1888 96.73 92 Dale Mitchell 1921 96.11 93 Joe Vosmik 1910 95.97 94 B.J. Surhoff 1964 95.52 95 Irish Meusel 1893 94.70 96 Tito Francona 1933 94.51 97 Steve Kemp 1954 94.18 98 Jeff Conine 1966 94.08 99 John Anderson 1873 93.50 100 Dave Kingman 1948 93.50 101 Shannon Stewart 1974 92.71 102 Abner Dalrymple 1857 92.11 103 Carlos Lee 1976 91.41 104 Frank Thomas 1929 90.94 105 Charlie Jamieson 1893 90.11 106 Bibb Falk 1899 89.17 107 Gee Walker 1908 87.51 108 Rondell White 1972 86.96 109 Charlie Maxwell 1927 86.88 110 Hoot Evers 1921 86.71 111 Lou Piniella 1943 85.32 112 Gus Zernial 1923 83.78
Justin's Thoughts:
Tim Raines. I would guess that 90% of the people who see this list saw that name and wondered why it was so high. I will attempt to explain it. I think that there are two reasons that Raines isn't viewed by most casual fans as a great player: Montreal and Rickey Henderson. If Raines played in New York or L.A. or Chicago, he would have been a much more acclaimed player. He didn't play in any of those cities until late in his career when he was no longer a great player, but from 1981-1989 he was an exceptional player. He was probably the best player in the National League besides Mike Schmidt. Schmidt and Henderson were the only two players who earned more Win Shares in that 9 year stretch. He hit .300, drew walks, and stole a ton of bases year after year. The problem was that he just wasn't as good as Rickey Henderson. I don't understand why that should be held against him. Lou Brock wasn't as good as Henderson. Neither was Rod Carew. Or Pete Rose. Or Paul Molitor. Or any other leadoff hitter in baseball history. Henderson shouldn't be the guy that you should compare leadoff hitters to. Henderson was the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history and there really hasn't been anybody else like him. You don't have to take my word for it. Just visit www.baseball-reference.com and you will see that there isn't anybody with a high similarity score. Molitor is the closest with 686. Raines was the most similar to Henderson every year until he decided that he was going to try to play baseball and collect social security at the same time. Paul Molitor was fortunate to remain healthy to keep playing effectively until he was 41 years old, mostly because he got to DH so much. Raines never did. If he did, his career would have lasted longer and he would be viewed as a better player than Molitor. For some reason he isn't viewed that way, but he should be. Molitor was a career .306/.369/.448 hitter while Raines was a career 294/.385/.425 hitter. Molitor had a little more power, but Raines was better at getting on base and I think that is more important since they were both leadoff hitters. Raines was a better base stealer. He was 808/954 while Molitor was 504/635. They were very similar players, but I think that Raines was better. It's too bad that he has little to no shot at making it into the Hall of Fame.
The active players on the list include: Manny Ramirez, Bobby Abreu, Luis Gonzalez, Brian Giles, Moises Alou, Bobby Higginson, Garret Anderson, B.J. Surhoff, Jeff Conine, Shannon Stewart, and Rondell White. Manny will probably be somewhere between #5 and #8 when he retires. Abreu is probably the most underrated player in baseball today and I never realized it until Aaron Gleeman wrote about him getting screwed out All Star appearances every year. He will probably end up around #11 or #12. Luis Gonzalez probably won't move up on this list much, if at all. Giles could make into the top 20 with a few more good seasons. I think that Alou's best days are behind him, but he could get as high as #35 or so with a couple more productive years. Bobby Higginson probably won't move up any further. Anderson will probably end up around #65. B.J. Surhoff, Rondell White, and Jeff Conine probably aren't going anywhere. Shannon Stewart will probably end up around #80. He will be in the top 100 at this time next year if he can stay healthy.
There are many people in Red Sox Nation who believe that Jim Rice belongs in the Hall. I've looked at him several times in the past and I didn't think that he quite measured up. Win Shares doesn't think that he is even close. Bill James referred to him as the most overrated player of the past 30 years and he might be right. He definitely wasn't as good as Albert Belle and I don' t think that Belle is going to get inducted anytime soon.Seth's Thoughts:
It doesn't surprise me, but some may be surprised, not that Barry Bonds is #1 on this list, but the distance between he and Ted Williams. Now, of course, Williams lost a few years during his prime to the war, but I do think this (along with the 7 MVP Awards) validates just how incredible Barry Bonds has been. Yesterday, he won the MVP Award. It was his fourth in a row. Remember that no other player has been an MVP more than three times. He is remarkable.
And then Ted Williams has a safe lead over a group of three all-time greats, Stan Musial, Rickey Henderson and Carl Yasterzemski. I was shocked to see Tim Raines this high on the list. I knew he was great, but this ranking is well higher than I would have though and makes him worth Hall of Fame consideration. OK, more than consideration, he should be a first ballot guy!
Willie Stargell was a great player. I think a lot of times he is known as "Pops" the leader of the 1979 "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates. And, even though he is a Hall of Famers, I think that what he did on the field is often times overlooked. We're talking about a guy with 475 career home runs and 1,540 RBI. He had over 2,200 hits.
Similarly, Albert (Joey?) Belle's accomplishments are overlooked because of his frequent attitude problems. But he was probably the best player in the American League in the 1990s! A .295 hitter, Belle hit 385 homers in just 11 seasons. Unfortunately, a debilitating hip injury cost him the last four seasons and ended his career. It is scary to think of the types of career numbers he would have now.
Belle spent the early 90s with the Cleveland Indians. So did #13 on this list, Manny Ramirez and #26 Brian Giles. Giles and another decent player, Jeromy Burnitz, didn't get much playing time because #48 CF Kenny Lofton played as well and wasn't too bad!
Here is more proof of how good Bobby Abreu (#21) is. I mean, Lou Brock is a Hall of Famer and he ranks only 24th.
Is it strange that some current and former managers all ranks real close to each other. Don Baylor is 59th. Hal McRae is 61st, and Dusty Baker is 62nd. Twin fans can thank a lot of the Twins AL Central success on #55 on this list, none other than White Sox GM Ken Williams. Just kidding. Different Ken Williams. The White Sox version is no where near making this list!
To continue to look at when most of these players played, I again looked at how many of the players were born before 1930, and how many of those were born before 1900. I also wanted to see how many have played in the last couple of decades, so I looked at how many were born after 1950:
(Out of Top 50)
Position Before 1930 Before 1900 After 1950
LF 26 14 12
SS 28 14 14
3B 21 11 17
2B 29 14 13
1B 19 8 19
C 15 5 17
Twins rankings:
#59- Don Baylor (Twins 1987 )
#101 - Shannon Stewart (Twins 2003-2004)
Not much Twins representation here. Makes us wonder where the likes of Dan Gladden, Bob Allison and Jacque Jones are?
Do you have any thoughts on these left field ratings? Do you have any questions for myself or for Justin Ahern on this ranking or how this was comprised? If you have any thoughts, please e-mail me, and be sure to check back in the coming weeks for the rest of the positions.
As expected, the Eagles crushed the Cowboys, and we all got that one right. Missy Olson is our winner for the week with just one wrong. That performance moved her from 6th place to 2nd place! Nice work!
Thru Week 10 Total Week 10 Over All Name Site W
L Win% W L Win % Mike Brasel Fantasy FB Guru 11 3 71.4% 97 47 66.2% Melissa Olson SethSpeaks.net 13 1 57.1% 94 50 62.3% Ryan Maus Twins Chatter 8 6 57.1% 93 51 65.4% Aaron Gleeman Aaron's BB Blog 9 5 57.1% 93 51 64.6% Michael Labuda ChiSox Daily 11 3 64.3% 93 51 63.1% David Bergner Baseball Savant 9 5 57.1% 92 52 63.8% Vic Quick KDUH-TV Sports 11 3 57.1% 88 56 59.2% Jeremy Kovash Wolf Lake Mgr 7 7 57.1% 85 59 60.0% Ben Jacobs Hardball Times 10 4 50.0% 82 62 55.4% Seth Stohs SethSpeaks.net 8 6 42.9% 81 63 56.2% David Bloom Ya Gotta Believe 10 4 50.0% 80 64 53.8% John Bonnes The Twins Geek 6 8 42.9% 75 69 53.1%
That's it for today. Please feel free to let me know what you think. Have yourself a great day! If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future topics, please e-mail me.