-- Kahrl, Who's the greatest left fielder of all-time? The calmness with. He was enshrined in Cooperstown in 1989 and no Cincinnati Red will ever wear his #5 again. Don't think so. Tris Speaker was one of the greatest players in baseball history. In two short weeks the Cleveland Browns will close the book on their disaster 2015 season. To create our list, an ESPN expert panel voted on thousands of head-to-head matchups of 162 players, based on both peak performance and career value. Note: All stats are through the 2019 MLB season. In 1966, the National League All-Star team fielded a lineup with arguably the greatest outfield ever to appear in a baseball game: Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, and Hank Aaron. That year, Foster posted a .320/.382/.620 slash line with a club-record -- and Major League-leading -- 52 homers and 149 RBIs, winning NL MVP honors. Pirates top 5 >, Key fact: Had 39.5 bWAR with Reds (16th in franchise history), After hitting .306/.364/.530 with 29 homers and a league-leading 121 RBIs in 1976, the second of Cincinnati's consecutive World Series title seasons, Foster enjoyed his best season in 77. Ted Williams is one of the greatest hitters in MLB history. Justin Upton can hit, but when he takes the field he can be a defensive liability. How We Ranked Baseballs Greatest Players, PRIME = WAR in 5 Best Consecutive Seasons. -- Lauber, Was he one of the best pure hitters ever? -- Schoenfield, He's known primarily for taking money to throw the 1919 World Series but Jackson hit an astounding .356 for his career and batted .382 with a dozen home runs his final season. Cincinnati Reds (1963-78, '84-86), Philadelphia Phillies ('79-83), Montreal Expos ('84). All told, Anderson appeared in 623 games in left over his 14 seasons in Baltimore, good for second in franchise history. He is the all-time leader among third basemen in games played, putouts, assists, double plays turned, and total zone runs. This guy didnt hit enough to play regularly (career .642 OPS), but some team always wanted Rey Sanchez. Ibanez leads all Mariners left fielders and ranks among the franchise's overall top 10 in games (1,110), hits (1,077), homers (156), doubles (216), extra-base hits (392), RBIs (612), runs (540), walks (367) and slugging percentage (.466). The sixtime All-Star was a two time batting champ, but his fielding statistics were truly special. The criteria were a combination of Gold Glove Awards (since 1957) and metrics such as Defensive Wins Above Replacement (dWAR), Total Zone Runs (an estimate of runs saved in the field) and Range Factor per nine innings with an assist from YouTube on occasion. -- Lauber, You know the quote: Williams once supposedly said, "All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, 'There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.' A five-time All-Star, "King Kong" Keller completed his Yankees career with a slash line of .286/.410/.518, slugging 184 homers with 723 RBIs in 1,066 games. Jonty Rhodes features at number one on our list of "Best fielders in world cricket." He was described by Ricky Ponting as "The best defensive fielder of all-time." This probably had some truth to it, because he could stop runs inside the 30-yard circle, like no other fielders could. His defensive skills were so highly regarded that his glove was known as the place where triples go to die. The three-time World Series champion was named MVP in 1912 and won the batting title in 1916. Rose finished with 4,256 hits and he also touched home plate with a run 2,165 times. In Pirates history, only Willie Stargell -- whom we ranked as the Bucs best first baseman of all time -- has hit more home runs (475) than Kiners 301, and only six Pirates have driven in more runs than his 801. Cruz is undoubtedly the best left-fielder in Astros history, and is one of the greatest Astros of All-Time. I explained my methodology here, and weve previously looked at catchers, first-, second and third basemen, and shortstops. Schmidt was a three time NL MVP and was the 1980 World Series MVP, where he led the Phillies to victory. .356/.423/.517, OPS -- .940, Hits -- 1,772, HRs -- 54, RBIs -- 785, None other than Babe Ruth said Jackson was "the greatest natural hitter I ever saw." Suspended forever after his age-32 season, since we don't have the back slope of his career to judge him fully, not someone I'd rank among these others. Baseball's Best @ 150, The Book That Counts Down the Best Players, Pitchers, And Fielders in Baseball History at the 150th Anniversary of the Major Leagues (1871-2020). His #20 is retired by the Phillies and he was inducted as a first ballot Hall of Famer in 1995. He won an NL batting title in 1918 en route to a career batting average of .317. Seven-time NL All-Star (1981-87), NL Silver Slugger ('86), All-Star Game MVP ('87), Career stats Tweet Email Comment Next The Clooney Garage: Inside George Clooney's Insane Car Collection Related Topics Baseball Vizquel is first all time among shortstops for games played at the position and double plays turned. As fast as he was, somehow those stirrup socks made him look even faster. He became the first Tiger to earn a $100,000 salary. The ten time All-Star, eight time Gold Glove, led all second basemen in double plays turned for eight consecutive years from 1960 to 1967. Rays top 5 >, Key fact: His 121.9 fWAR ranks second in AL history to Babe Ruth, The Red Sox have three Hall of Famers at the head of their left-field class, but Williams easily stands out as the most dominant player in team history. Honus Wagner is known as one of the greatest players of all time, but unfortunately he played in an era before advanced defensive statistics. But they still have some very meaningful football left to play on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefsand next week when the Pittsburgh Steelers visit FirstEnergy Stadium.If theTennessee Titanssomehow win their next two games, two losses by the Browns would secure them the No. When the last out settled into his glove a half-inning later, Jones had to leap the left-field fence to avoid a mob of Mets fans streaming onto the field. that almost certainly lessened his performance. No first baseman won more Gold Gloves (11) in his career. He posted a .609 OBP one year. On Opening Day in 2010, the southpaw made a kick save on a shot up the middle, quickly ran down the ball in foul territory then executed a no-look, between-the-legs, glove-handed flip to first base for the out, the most insane, off-the-charts play by a pitcher in the history of history. Nationals top 5 >, Key fact: Hit .331/.445/.507 with 110 runs and 123 RBIs in 1910, Were considering Modern Era players (1900 and later), so Hall of Famers Ed Delahanty and Billy Hamilton aren't included in these rankings. The talented footballer was voted UEFA Men's Player of the Year. Mariners top 5 > Rangers: Rusty Greer (1994-2002) Truth is, few ever played the field with more flair and confidence. Rockies top 5 >. He was Brooklyns starting left fielder for 17 years, succeeding in both the Dead Ball and Live Ball eras. -- Lauber, Here's how good Rickey was: Even if he never stole a base he'd be a Hall of Famer. Who's the greatest left fielder of all-time? Seven-time MVP (1990, '92-93, 2001-04), 14-time All-Star ('90, '92-98, '00-04, '07), eight Gold Gloves ('90-94, '96-98), 12 Silver Sluggers ('90-94, '96-97, '00-04), Career stats Bill Mazeroski became a baseball icon when he hit the first World Series winning walk off home run in history. Paul Blair's home run thievery in the final game of the 1966 World Series sweep was one of the greatest plays ever in postseason play, but because it came in the pre-YouTube days, it was never recognized as such. In 1982 when he was the second oldest player in the Major Leagues, he won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals. He is the career leader in putouts by a pitcher. We'll run you through the top 50 below, with the likes of Javier . In the 2017 season, this valuable moveable piece was among the Total Zone Runs leaders at second base and left field. "The Curacao Kid" ranks second in Total Zone Runs (253) in baseball history. His defensive contribution to his teams were so significant that he was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2001 and had his #9 retired by the Pirates despite underwhelming stats at the plate. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and a 12-time NBA All-Star, he was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career. Part of the reason Rose would eventually break Ty Cobb's hit record was because of his incredible durability and longevity. By the way, he ranked among the top five in assists in 15 consecutive seasons, five of them as the league leader, and his pickoff move was just plain filthy. N'Golo Kante. One of the five greatest left-handed hitters in MLB history, "Stan the Man" helped the Cardinals to win World Series titles in 1942, 1944 and 1946. 344 views, 3 likes, 0 loves, 1 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Field of Dreams Navojoa: Aguerridas Vs Buhas Carl Yastrzemskiplayed three different positions for the Boston Red Sox during his 22-year career. 5. Yankees top 5 >, Key fact: Is the only player in MLB history to hit 50 homers and 50 doubles in a single season, Belle may not have left Cleveland on the greatest terms, but theres no denying the contributions that he made to the club during its run in the 1990s. "Pops," of course. He was an especially strong presence in Seattle's lineup from 2004-08, batting .291/.354/.477 with 113 home runs and 489 RBIs in 755 games. He led third basemen in assists seven times, double plays turned six times, total zone runs seven times, and range factor four times. But I wouldn't put him in the top 100 players. -- David Schoenfield, ESPN.com senior writer, Simmons hit .334 for his career and batted .390 one season. Zack Greinke is the modern Greg Maddux, only with less range, surer hands (one error per 319 innings pitched) and a superior pickoff move. Ted Williams Boston Red Sox With Red Sox: 19 seasons Best season: 1941 (10.4 WAR, .406/.553/.735, 37 homers, MVP runner-up) Sorry, Barry. ABOUT MISSOURI. Teams: Texas Rangers (1991-2002, 2009), Florida Marlins (2003), Detroit Tigers (2004-08), New York Yankees (2008), Houston Astros (2009), Washington (2010-11), Gold Glove Awards: 13 (1992-2001, 2004, 2006-07). SHORT PEAK = WAR in Best 3 Seasons. How great does a career .228 hitter have to be to play regularly for 10 seasons? Carty stood as one of the best outfielders of his era, and fans showed their respect for his game when they used write-in votes to elect him to the NLs starting lineup in the 1970 All-Star Game. COLUMBUS - Scoring lulls hindered Shelbyville all season. He was the league leader in Total Zone Runs five times. RANK. Notable Astro Highlights: #25 Retired. While Gonzalez is best remembered for his base hit off Mariano Rivera that won the 2001 World Series for the D-backs, he also ranks second in franchise history among D-backs position players with 30 bWAR, trailing only Paul Goldschmidt. Known as "Pudge" because of his size and attitude, hes the all-time leader in Gold Gloves and swag at the position. Some of the players on this list have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and are considered among the games greatest players. (Insider), Teams -- Schoenfield, The last player to hit .400, Teddy Ballgame batted .334 with 521 home runs despite missing five seasons while serving in two wars And when he homered in his last at-bat, there went the greatest hitter who ever lived. Many who have known Manny would disagree. Being shutout for nearly five minutes to start the third quarter Friday once again put the Golden Bears in chase mode. What's the Dodgers' plan at shortstop? Not only as an outfielder, mind you, but at any position. -- Tim Kurkjian, ESPN.com senior writer, For as much as we dwell on the video-arcade numbers from his final 10 seasons, sometimes we don't make enough of what he did in his first 12: .288/.408/.551, 374 HR, 417 SB, three NL MVP awards. Now guess whos second to Robinson in career Total Zone Runs at the position. Weve been examining the best three-year peaks of defensive play by Giant players, as measured by baseball-reference.coms rfield. Mays is the all-time leader in putouts in center field, fifth in assists, and second in double plays as a center fielder. Ashburn has remained one of the best Phillies center fielders of all time and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995. At the age of 29, Troy Tulowitzkistill has a long MLB career ahead of him. Angels top 5 >, Key fact: His .959 OPS with the Astros is the second highest in franchise history, Berkman is one of the three greatest offensive players in Astros history, joining Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. In the 2019 season, 35 percent of all plate appearances ended in one of the three, a recent trend that meant even fewer balls in the field of play, which meant fewer chances for a highlight-reel play that could make the hairs on our arms stand at attention. Pittsburgh Pirates (1986-92), San Francisco Giants ('93-2007), Honors The differences seen in baseball across different eras are significant, and television and radio were not always available to document the miraculous plays of major leaguers on a daily basis. His eight grand slams are also the most in franchise history, as are his 10 RBIs in a single game against the Yankees on Aug. 21, 2007. Orioles top 5 >, Key fact: Had four All-Star selections with Rays, the most in franchise history, In his nine seasons with Tampa Bay, Crawford displayed the athleticism and talent that made him a coveted three-sport athlete and a highly regarded prospect. Brooks was a two time World Series Champion and was named World Series MVP in 1970. For most of his career, Ozzie Smith was the premier defensive shortstop in baseball. For all of his on field accomplishments, Bonds remains an underrated defensive player. He also leads the club in total steals (409), as well as hits (1,480), batting average (.296) and triples (105). .282/.360/.529, OPS -- .889, Hits -- 2,232, HRs -- 475, RBIs -- 1,540, The most feared slugger on the "We Are Family" Pirates? Check out Gil's full list here! He won the 2021 Champions League and Club World Cup with Chelsea and the 2020 Euros with Italy. Teams: Baltimore Orioles (1965-81), Los Angeles Dodgers (1982). Dangerous on the basepaths, Raines led Major League Baseball in stolen bases in 1981 and 84. Sometimes, it's a combination of all of the above. Mets top 5 >, Key fact: Was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, Raines accomplishments go far beyond his standing among the franchises left fielders. .298/.444/.607, OPS -- 1.051, Hits -- 2,935; HRs -- 762 (all-time leader), RBIs -- 1,996; BBs -- 2,558 (all-time leader); IBBs -- 688 (all-time leader), He is, after Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, the greatest hitter ever. Ed Delahanty Delahanty was one of the first great hitters in the game's history. He split time between left field and first base while in Queens . The Grey Eagle was a legends both at the plate and in center field. 18-time All-Star ('63, '65-79, '82-83), All-Star Game MVP ('70), MVP (1967), Triple Crown ('67), seven Gold Gloves ('63, '65, '67-69, '71, '77), Hall of Fame ('89), Career stats Others are not included in those categories, but excelled in the defensive aspects of the game to such an extent that their inclusion was necessary. Barry Bonds is Major League Baseball's all-time home run leader and the only player to win more than three MVP awards he ended up with seven but is that enough to declare the infamous,. He ranks third in Gold Gloves and fourth in Total Zone Runs among shortstops. Williams not only had a .344 average for his career, but he also blasted 522 home runs despite missing nearly five full seasons serving in World War II and the Korean War. He was so feared a hitter that he once was walked intentionally -- with the bases loaded. He is the last player to hit .400 in a season -- back in 1941. More so than any position I've reviewed so far, the right fielders are affected by the 1970 timeline cutoff. Ken Griffey Jr. 5. Yaz won the Triple Crown and AL MVP in 1967. Although he played only 1,027 games during his nine-year career, Greer ranks 10th in franchise history with 1,166 hits. Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers. The contribution to championship teams (player performance in seasons where his team wins the pennant) is a small factor in most cases. For true seamheads, this was absolutely rotten news. Nine AL Silver Sluggers (1995, '99-06), 12-time AL All-Star ('95, '98-08), World Series MVP (2004), Career stats Bench was named to fourteen All-Star Games and earned ten Gold Glove Awards in his seventeen seasons in the majors. His #1 is retired by the St. Louis Cardinals and he's a Hall of Famer who helped win a World Series title in 1982. Consistency, discipline, and work ethic are essential traits for a player to earn the coveted Gold Glove Award, awarded to elite fielders at the end of each season. Whiteland built a double-digit lead at the pivotal moment of the third quarter then hit just enough free throws in the game's final minute to secure a 47-45 victory over Shelbyville . -- Kahrl, Teams Although not always earning the recognition of home run hitters or ace pitchers, excelling in the defensive elements of baseball is crucial to teams winning baseball games. Two-time MVP (1946, '49), two Triple Crowns ('42, '47), 19-time All-Star ('40-42, '46-51, '53-60*), Hall of Fame ('66). Mariners top 5 >, Rangers: Rusty Greer (1994-2002)Key fact: Tied for fourth in franchise history (min. Regarded as the one of the best defensive right fielders of all time thanks to a legendary arm that helped him win 12 Gold Gloves, Clemente was a notorious bad-ball hitter who hit .312 lifetime . Ben Zobrist also spent time at shortstop and right field in his career. Right field really does have it all. He deserves to be in the Hall of Defense at the very least. 9 in 1983, and a sculpture of Minoso was unveiled at Guaranteed Rate Field in 2004. And he pulled it off in only eight seasons as a regular. Here is our list of the 25 best outfielders of all time: 25. He spent the majority of his career with the Texas Rangers among other teams, but a one year stint with the Florida Marlins earned him a World Series title in 2003. The Ultimate Compendium for the Baseball Fan, Including All-Time Teams for Your Favorite Franchise From Yankees to Dodgers and More. Too bad he wasn't able to play longer because he finished just 73 hits shy of 3,000. Defense is why he flew into the Hall with ease on his first try (91.7%).
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