It’s April 27. The Cleveland Indians are celebrating a walk-off victory, after getting to the Angels’ bullpen, an occurrence that has become a fixture for the Halos in April. The Angels sit at 6-14, having lost five straight games and won only one series.
The other night I tweeted something like, "Would love to see Aroldis Chapman face 2001 Barry Bonds." On the Baseball Today podcast, we had a reader ask us about best pitcher-hitter matchups to watch for over the next few years.
A few days before Josh Hamilton had his historic four-homer game, I had written a post asking readers to vote for the greatest day by a hitter in major league history. After Hamilton set an American League record with his 18 total bases, I was on an email chain in which the writer Allen Barra posited the greatest game ever wasn't one of the guys who hit four home runs or drove in 12 runs.
Here are the debut seasons of the 15 greatest position players in baseball history, according to Baseball-Reference.com's WAR (wins above replacement-level) statistic, listed in chronological order: 1897 (Honus Wagner) 1905 (Ty Cobb) 1906 (Eddie Collins) 1907 (Tris Speaker) 1914 (Babe Ruth) 1915 (Rogers Hornsby) 1923 (Lou Gehrig) 1926 (Mel Ott) 1939 (Ted Williams) 1941 (Stan Musial) 1951 (Willie Mays) 1951 (Mickey Mantle) 1954 (Hank Aaron) 1979 (Rickey Henderson) 1986 (Barry Bonds) You see the issue here, right?
We've moved on to the second round of the Greatest MLB Season Ever bracket. All top-10 seeds advanced, but there were three upsets; interestingly, all involved shortstops. Alex Rodriguez lost to Ken Griffey Jr.
In 1975, Joe Morgan hit .327 with 17 home runs and 94 RBIs. Those traditional statistics may not seem impressive, but Morgan’s season ranks as one of the best in the game’s history. As we begin voting Monday on the greatest individual season of all time, consider Morgan's value that season: He drew 132 walks, giving him a league-leading .
There are a lot of misunderstandings about the Hall of Fame and its voting procedures and results, beginning with the little fact that baseball was not, of course, actually invented in Cooperstown, N.Y.
I asked my colleague Jim Caple a simple question: "Who is on your short list of the greatest hitters of all time?" He reeled off the names: Pujols, Bonds, Ruth, Williams ... Mays, Hornsby, Cobb (a little reluctantly on that one).
In honor of 80-year-old Jack McKeon taking over the reins of the Marlins, we present the all old-team. If you weren't at least 40 years old, you're too young for this club. C -- Carlton Fisk, 1990 White Sox (42).
To go with our Willie Mays package today, SportsNation worked up a list ranker with 30 of the greatest players of all time. Don't agree with me that Willie Mays was the greatest ever? Then Click here to vote yourself.
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