Friday, November 19, 2004
OK, if you’re looking for a little perspective in your life, please take some time to read this incredible Jerry Zgoda article in Friday’s Star-Tribune sports section. Yes, it is an article about a couple of Division III football players from my alma mater, but if this story doesn’t put everything into perspective, I don’t know what would.
ALL-TIME TOP 100s: Right Fielders
Good morning! Today will be the final positional Top 100s list as Justin Ahern take a look at the right 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.
First, you see the Chris Coste Update on the left side of this screen. I received an e-mail from Josh Bucholz of the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the Northern League with an update on their team. Here is a part of it, an update on Coste's recent signing and how he is doing in Winter ball:
Former Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks C Chris Coste has signed a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies organization for the 2005 season. Coste, playing in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, batted .294 with 21 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 26 RBIs in 78 games for the Indianapolis Indians of the International League (AAA). He is currently playing winter ball the Obregon of the Mexican Pacific League, where he is batting .347 with eight doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 26 RBIs and 27 runs scored in 30 games. Coste is among the league leaders in several offensive categories: batting average (4th); runs scored (T-2nd); hits (3rd); extra-base hits (3rd); slugging percentage (3rd); RBIs (T-5th); doubles (T-5th) and (home runs (T-6th).
Also, before we get to the right fielders, Brent has updated his Top 100 Hip-Hop songs list. The list is getting better and better! Check them out here:
Part 1 - Songs 100-76
Part 2 - Songs 75-51
Part 3 - Songs 50-26
Part 4 - Songs 25-1 (Not sure when this list will be complete, keep checking back)
THE RIGHT FIELDERS
Here are the Top 100 Right Fielders of All-Time. Please send me your thoughts on the Top 100s.
Rank Player Year Born Total 1 Babe Ruth 1895 208.65 2 Hank Aaron 1934 168.52 3 Frank Robinson 1935 159.00 4 Mel Ott 1909 158.73 5 Pete Rose 1941 150.17 6 Gary Sheffield 1968 148.06 7 Reggie Jackson 1946 145.83 8 Sam Crawford 1880 144.45 9 Tony Gwynn 1960 143.74 10 Paul Waner 1903 142.24 11 Sammy Sosa 1968 142.21 12 Roberto Clemente 1934 137.11 13 Elmer Flick 1876 136.54 14 Al Kaline 1934 136.47 15 Harry Heilmann 1894 136.41 16 Ken Singleton 1947 136.37 17 Bobby Bonds 1946 136.16 18 Dave Parker 1951 135.59 19 Dave Winfield 1951 134.59 20 Bobby Murcer 1946 133.30 21 Pedro Guerrero 1956 130.90 22 Jack Clark 1955 130.90 23 Reggie Smith 1945 130.13 24 Rusty Staub 1944 129.93 25 Jose Canseco 1964 128.50 26 Darryl Strawberry 1962 127.91 27 Vladimir Guerrero 1976 127.65 28 Rocky Colavito 1933 127.32 29 Andre Dawson 1954 126.48 30 King Kelly 1857 126.20 31 Dwight Evans 1951 126.18 32 Enos Slaughter 1916 124.99 33 Tony Oliva 1940 124.92 34 Roger Maris 1934 124.41 35 Willie Keeler 1872 123.24 36 Larry Walker 1966 123.20 37 Dixie Walker 1910 122.97 38 Fielder Jones 1871 122.93 39 Johnny Callison 1939 121.22 40 Kiki Cuyler 1898 121.16 41 Shawn Green 1972 120.65 42 Ross Youngs 1897 120.47 43 Chuck Klein 1904 119.61 44 Tim Salmon 1968 119.50 45 David Justice 1966 118.06 46 Babe Herman 1903 117.86 47 Bill Nicholson 1914 117.54 48 Mike Tiernan 1867 116.33 49 Harry Hooper 1887 116.18 50 Gavy Cravath 1881 115.77 51 Paul O'Neill 1963 115.59 52 Juan Gonzalez 1969 115.29 53 Roy Cullenbine 1913 113.95 54 Sam Rice 1890 113.38 55 Ruben Sierra 1965 113.27 56 Harold Baines 1959 113.24 57 Tony Phillips 1959 113.10 58 Ken Griffey Sr. 1950 112.56 59 Tommy Holmes 1917 112.29 60 Felipe Alou 1935 111.89 61 Sam Thompson 1860 111.82 62 Bob Allison 1934 110.18 63 Jeff Burroughs 1951 109.88 64 Tommy Henrich 1913 109.61 65 Magglio Ordonez 1974 108.79 66 Oyster Burns 1864 108.37 67 Wildfire Schulte 1882 108.25 68 Danny Tartabull 1962 108.14 69 Raul Mondesi 1971 107.94 70 George Hendrick 1949 107.78 71 Harvey Kuenn 1930 107.19 72 Chili Davis 1960 106.89 73 John Titus 1876 106.06 74 Bobby Thomson 1923 105.91 75 J.D. Drew 1975 105.81 76 Al Smith 1928 105.50 77 Von Hayes 1958 105.47 78 Jackie Jensen 1927 104.94 79 Richie Zisk 1949 104.35 80 Vic Wertz 1925 103.91 81 Jesse Barfield 1959 103.66 82 Wally Moses 1910 103.23 83 Sixto Lezcano 1953 101.19 84 Carl Furillo 1922 100.07 85 Cliff Floyd 1972 100.03 86 Jay Buhner 1964 99.77 87 Buck Freeman 1871 99.48 88 Terry Puhl 1956 98.42 89 Socks Seybold 1870 97.17 90 Tommy McCarthy 1863 97.07 91 Dante Bichette 1963 93.95 92 Jack Tobin 1892 93.64 93 Hank Bauer 1922 93.35 94 Bing Miller 1894 92.59 95 John Stone 1905 91.62 96 Frank Demaree 1910 91.12 97 Matt Lawton 1971 91.03 98 Claudell Washington 1954 90.73 99 Tom Brunansky 1960 90.46 100 Elmer Valo 1921 89.72 101 Tony Armas 1953 85.83 102 Carl Reynolds 1903 84.52 103 Jim Lemon 1928 83.50 104 Jose Cruz Jr. 1974 83.28 105 Tony Conigliaro 1945 82.86 106 Pete Fox 1909 82.68 107 Jacque Jones 1975 80.02 108 Orator Shaffer 1851 79.12 109 Bruce Campbell 1909 77.51 110 Jermaine Dye 1974 77.36
Justin's Thoughts:
The name at the top of this list doesn't surprise anybody. The gap between Ruth and Aaron is just amazing. Ruth truly was a great player.
The name that surprised me the most on this list was Gary Sheffield. I assumed that Sosa would be the highest rated active player. The reason why I assumed it is because he had a great 5 year run and I never thought much more about it. Now that I have thought about it, it does make sense. Through 1997 Sosa was a good player. He was a career 257/.308/.469 hitter with 207 home runs. He was 28 years old. Those are pretty good numbers for a 28 year old, but nothing that screams Hall of Fame. Through 1997 Gary Sheffield was a career .286/.386/.495 hitter with 180 home runs. He was also 28 years old. We all know what Sosa did in 1998 and for the next four years after that. He had one of the greatest 5 year runs of anybody in baseball history. What went unnoticed is that Sheffield was almost as good as Sosa during that same span. Sheffield earned 141 Win Shares between 1998 and 2002 while Sosa earned 160. Sheffield has been a much better player than Sosa the past two seasons. I am not trying to downplay how good Sosa has been. Obviously has had a great career and belongs in the Hall of Fame, but he wasn't better than Sheffield. Sheffield was a much better player from the time they came up through 1997. Sosa was a better player from 1998 through 2002, and Sheffield is a much better player now. My guess is that Sheffield will also be better from now until they retire. Sheffield will only widen the gap between himself and Sosa and nobody will notice. It's too bad.
I was looking through Rob Neyer's Book of Baseball Lineups the other day and was surprised to see which team had the best outfield comprised of their all time greats. I assumed it would be the Yankees because I hadn't really thought about it. I suppose you could put together an outfield of Ruth, DiMaggio, and Mantle. With Ruth in right, you would probably be better served with two centerfielders anyway since Ruth couldn't cover much ground later in his career. If so, I would put Mantle in left field to save his knees and because DiMaggio was probably a little better fielder. If you did that, it would be better than the Giants outfield. If you are required to select an actual left fielder, then you are forced to select the Giants outfield as the best. They have Mays, Bonds, and Ott. I never would have guessed that they have had the best trio of outfielders if you force yourself to chose a player from each position. It makes sense once you think about it, but I have never thought about it.
That was probably my favorite thing about doing this project. I learned that some of the things that I believed to be true were actually false. Once I looked at the data and thought about it for awhile, it made sense. If Sheffield and Sosa have both been around for around for 16 years and Sheffield was better for 11 of them, why did I think that Sosa would be rated higher? I don't know. I knew that Sheffield was a better player early in their careers and that Sheffield is better now. It only makes sense that he would rate higher. Maybe the media circus that surrounded Sosa in 1998 clouded my judgment.
The active players on this list are: Sheffield, Sosa, Vladimir Guerrero, Larry Walker, Shawn Green, Tim Salmon, Juan Gonzalez, J.D. Drew, Matt Lawton, Jose Cruz Jr, Jacque Jones, and Jermaine Dye. If Sheffield can remain at this level for a couple more years, he could catch Pete Rose, but Ott is too far away. Sosa will probably pass Waner, but will have to have another big season to catch Gwynn. I don't think that he will. Vlad is a great player and I would guess that he will rate at least as high as Sosa by the time he is through. I don't think that Walker, Green, Salmon, Gonzalez, or Lawton are going to move much on this list. Their best years are all behind them. Drew's final standing on this list will be based more on his health than his ability. He has the talent to go into the top 30 or possibly even the top 20, but he has to remain healthy. I don't know if Cruz will make it into the top 100 or not. It'll be close. Jones will probably end up somewhere between 80 and 90. Jermaine Dye will have a hard time cracking the top 100.Seth's Thoughts:
Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson. And we thought that the centerfielders were an impressive group. Ruth is head and shoulders above Aaron. At first glance, the distance is a little surprising. But then you realize one of Hank Aaron's best career traits was just how consistent he was for such a long time. He had a lot of incredible seasons, but his Top 3 years or his Top 5 consecutive seasons may not be nearly as good as many others.
There were a few players that I had to check to see why they would have been put in RF. Pete Rose played all over the field. I was surprised to see his breakdown of games played by position (OF - 1,327, 1B - 939, 3B - 634, 2B - 628). Another was Jack Clark, who I remember as a 1B on the 1987 Cardinals World Series team that played the Twins. I didn't realize it, but much of his earlier career, he was an OF (OF - 1,039, 1B - 581, 3B - 4).
Another was Tony Phillips, and I still have to be honest, that I'm not sure why he is listed in RF (2B - 777, OF - 447, 3B - 428, SS - 294, LF - 263, RF - 65, CF - 36, 1B - 5). So, even if all of the games he is listed at OF were played in RF, it would not be more than 2B. He is listed as the 59th rated right fielder. Had he been listed at 2B, he would have ranked #27.
Ken Singleton was listed ahead of the likes of Bobby Bonds, Dave Parker and Dave Winfield. He was a career .282/.388/.436 with 2,029 hits and 246 home runs in a fifteen year career. He spent time with the Mets and Expos before his best years which were with the Baltimore Orioles.
Rusty Staub played in the big leagues for 23 seasons. He played in six All-Star games. By the time I was old enough to watch baseball and understand, Staub was primarily a pinch hitter. But in his career, he played 1,675 games in the OF and just 426 at first base. But his last five seasons were spent mainly as a pinch hitter. For his career, he had over 2,700 hits, 292 homers and 1,466 RBI.
Players that frequently discussed as possible Hall of Famers fall far lower on this list than I would have thought. Those players include Dave Parker (18), Andre Dawson (29), Dwight Evans (31), Tony Oliva (33), and Roger Maris (34).
What could have been? To even be on these Top 100 lists, a player had to have a pretty good major league career. To finish in the Top 30 means you were really good. We find Jose Canseco listed at #25 and Daryl Strawberry listed at #26. Both were incredible players, but we have to wonder how far up this list both could have been if not for off-the-field problems. Jose Canseco was the Rookie of the Year in 1986 and the AL MVP in 1988 when he became the first 40/40 man. He played in six All-Star Games. From 1985-1999, he was great. But then he started talking too much, and claiming that he was blacklisted by ball clubs. Recently he admitted steroid use. Daryle Strawberry was about as talented and athletic as any player. He burst onto the scene for the Mets and was the 1983 NL Rookie of the Year. He was an eight time all star between 1983 and 1991, his first year with the Dodgers. But after that, it was all downhill. Drugs finally took their toll on him and he was arrested and it has been a struggle for him since. From 1992-1999, he had just one season in which he played more than 63 games. (1999, when he was actually a key member of a Yankees Championship team) Only two seasons did he play more than 43 games. He spent part of the 1996 season with the St. Paul Saints. These guys were both great, but could have been Top 10 types!
And, you know I have to mention my favorite non-Puckett player of all time, Claudell Washington, coming in at #98!! For all the information you need to know on his career, please click here.
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
RF 19 12 16
CF 23 15 17
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:
#19 - Dave Winfield (Twins 1993-1994)
#33 - Tony Oliva (Twins 1962-1976)
#62 - Bob Allison (Twins 1961-1970)
#72 - Chili Davis (Twins 1991-1992)
#97 - Matt Lawton (Twins 1995-2001)
#99 - Tom Brunansky ( Twins 1982-1988)
#107 - Jacque Jones (Twins 1999-Current)
Dave Winfield and Chili Davis were really only DHs when they were with the Twins. Oliva is arguably a Hall of Famer, and you have to wonder what he would have been without the knee injuries. Bob Allison is a Twins Hall of Famer, probably best known for his diving catch in the 1965 World Series. Matt Lawton was very good as a Twin, consistent and underrated. Tom Brunansky coudln't hit for average, but hit for really good power. Worst move of Andy McPhail's Twins GM days was trading Bruno in the 1988 season for Tom Herr. Will Jacque be back next year? Who knows? If so, we can hope goes back to his .300 hitting days of 2002 and 2003, because as little as he walks, he needs to hit for average.
Do you have any thoughts on these right 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.
I have received a lot of e-mails from people who are actually looking forward to seeing our panelists picks. Why? Well, apparently a lot of people wait to fill out their office picks until they look at ours. (You may want to click here to see whose picks you should pay more attention to than others, meaning mine!! Ha!) That is a lot of responsibility so I am feeling the need to make a quick disclaimer.
**The picks as you see them below are for entertainment purposes only, they are the picks/opinions of the individuals.
So, let's see who picked whom this week:
WEEK 11
Seth Stohs Melissa Olson Ben Jacobs Aaron Gleeman John Bonnes Ryan Maus SethSpeaks.net SethSpeaks.net Hardball Times Aaron's BB Blog Twins Geek Twins Chatter Detroit @ Minnesota Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Denver @ New Orleans Saints Broncos Broncos Saints Broncos Saints San Francisco @ Tampa Bay Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Arizona @ Carolina Cardinals Cardinals Cardinals Panthers Cardinals Cardinals Tennessee @ Jacksonville Jaguars Jaguars