Baseball's Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame (16 page)

LEFTFIELDERS (22)

Ted Williams/Stan Musial

No one would question the credentials of either of these two men—they were both among the very greatest players of all-time.

A very good case could be made for Ted Williams being the greatest hitter who ever lived. In addition to the obvious—his 521 career home runs, 1,839 runs batted in, 1,798 runs scored, and .344 batting average—Williams, along with Stan Musial, was the only one of the truly great hitters who played during the period that saw the game go through some of its greatest changes during the last century. During his career, night ball started to become far more prevalent than it had previously been, black players were finally allowed into the major leagues, relief pitching started to become more of a factor in games, and new pitches, such as the slider, were developed. If he was not the greatest hitter of all-time, Williams was certainly among the top two or three.

The last player to hit .400, Williams also holds the record for highest career on-base percentage (.483), and is second only to Babe Ruth in career slugging percentage, with a mark of .634. Had he not missed almost five full seasons due to two stints in the military, Williams likely would have challenged Ruth’s career mark of 714 home runs.

During his career, Williams won seven batting championships and also led the American League in home runs and runs batted in four times each, runs scored six times, on-base percentage twelve times, slugging percentage nine times, and walks eight times. He won two triple crowns, leading the league in home runs, runs batted in, and batting in both 1942 and 1947. He was also a two-time winner of the league’s MVP Award, winning it in both 1946 and 1949. Williams is generally considered to be among the five or ten greatest players of all-time.

Stan Musial may very well have been the finest all-around hitter in National League history. When he retired following the 1963 season, he held league records for most hits, runs scored, doubles, runs batted in, and total bases. He was clearly the league’s best player from 1944 to 1953, during which time he won three Most Valuable Player Awards. In fact, during his career, Musial finished in the top five in the MVP voting a remarkable nine times!

Musial led the league in batting seven times, runs batted in twice, runs scored five times, hits six times, triples five times, doubles eight times, and both on-base and slugging percentage six times. He also led the major leagues in total bases six times. He finished his career with 475 home runs, 1,951 runs batted in, 1,949 runs scored, 3,630 hits, and a batting average of .331. Musial is generally thought of as being one of the 10 or 15 greatest players in the history of the game.

Rickey Henderson

As the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history and the all-time leader in both stolen bases (1,406) and runs scored (2,295), Rickey Henderson was most deserving of his 2009 election by the baseball writers in his first year of eligibility. In his 25 major league seasons, spent with nine different teams, Henderson led his league in stolen bases 12 times, runs scored five times, walks three times, hits once, and on-base percentage once. He holds the single-season mark for most stolen bases (130), set in 1982 as a member of the Oakland Athletics. He stole more than 100 bases three other times, and swiped as many as 50 bags a total of 13 times. He also scored more than 100 runs 13 times, drew more than 100 walks seven times, and batted over .300 seven times.

Henderson had one of his finest seasons for the Yankees in 1985, when he hit 24 home runs, knocked in 72 runs, batted .314, stole 80 bases, and scored 146 runs. He was voted the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1990 when, after rejoining the Athletics, he hit 28 homers, drove in 61 runs, scored 119 others, batted .325, and stole 65 bases. It was one of three times he finished in the top five in the MVP voting. He also finished in the top ten in the balloting another three times. Henderson was a 10-time All-Star and also won a Gold Glove in 1981 for his outstanding defensive work in the outfield.

Throughout much of his career, Henderson was the best leftfielder in the American League, and, in several seasons, among the five best all-around players in the game. He was clearly among the game’s best players from 1980 to 1986, and, again, in 1988 and 1990 (in eight of those nine seasons, he scored more than 100 runs; in six, he stole at least 80 bases; and in five, he batted over .300). With the exception of Barry Bonds, he was the finest leftfielder of the last 25 years, and the members of the BBWAA rewarded Henderson with a resounding 94.8 percent approval rating the first time his name appeared on the ballot.

Al Simmons/Joe Medwick

Both Simmons and Medwick were among the best players in the game for extended periods of time. They are both, therefore, quite deserving of their Hall of Fame status.

For eleven straight seasons, from 1924 to 1934, Al Simmons knocked in more than 100 runs and batted over .300. During eight of those seasons, 1925 to 1932, he was among the two or three best players in the American League, and among the five or six best in all of baseball. Over that eight-year stretch, Simmons never batted below .322 and surpassed the .380 mark four times. He also hit more than 30 homers, drove in more than 150 runs, and scored more than 120 runs three times each during that period, while collecting more than 200 hits five times, including a career-best 253 safeties in 1925.

Simmons won two batting titles, leading the A.L. in batting in both 1930 and 1931, with averages of .381 and .390, respectively. In 1929, he led the league in runs batted in with 157, while being named Most Valuable Player, one of four times he finished in the top five in the voting. He also led the league in hits twice and in runs once. Simmons finished his career with 307 home runs, 1,827 runs batted in, 1,507 runs scored, 2,927 hits, and a .334 batting average. He also played on three pennant winners and two world championship teams in Philadelphia, for Connie Mack’s A’s.

From 1935 to 1939, Joe Medwick of the St. Louis Cardinals was the most dominant hitter in the National League and one of the five or six best players in baseball. During that five-year stretch, he never batted below .322, and he topped the .350 mark three times. He also hit more than 20 homers three times, accumulated more than 200 hits and scored more than 100 runs four times each, and amassed more than 40 doubles and 100 runs batted in each season, including a career-high 64 doubles in 1936 and a career-best 154 RBIs in 1937. In fact, that 1937 season was Medwick’s finest as he became the last National League player to win the triple crown by leading the league with 31 homers, 154 RBIs, and a .374 batting average, en route to being named the league’s Most Valuable Player. He also finished in the top five in the MVP voting on two other occasions and was selected to the National League All-Star Team a total of nine times.

In all, Medwick led the league in runs batted in a total of three times, and also led the circuit in triples once, hits twice, runs once, and doubles three times. He knocked in and scored more than 100 runs six times each, had more than 40 doubles seven times, more than 10 triples seven times, and batted over .300 in ten straight seasons. In addition, he played on two pennant-winners and one world championship team during his career.

Ed Delahanty

There are some baseball historians who feel that Ed Delahanty may have been the greatest righthanded hitter in baseball history. If nothing else, he was certainly one of the greatest players of the 19th century.

Delahanty was part of the Philadelphia Phillies outfield of 1894 (along with Billy Hamilton and Sam Thompson) that batted over .400. During his career, Delahanty batted over .400 three times and became the only player ever to win a batting title in each league. During the last decade of the 19th century, he led the National League in almost every major hitting category at least once. In addition to winning two batting titles, Delahanty led the league in home runs twice, runs batted in three times, slugging percentage five times, and doubles five times. He had probably his most productive season for the Phillies in 1893 when he hit 19 home runs, knocked in 146 runs, batted .368, collected 219 hits, and scored 145 runs. In all, Delahanty drove in more than 100 runs and batted over .360 seven times each, scored more than 100 runs ten times, finished with more than 200 hits on three occasions, and totaled more than 40 doubles five times.

While it is true that Delahanty, along with the other hitters of his era, benefited greatly from the rules changes that were implemented during the 1890s, he stood out as the finest all-around hitter of the decade. In fact, even after 1900, when the size of the strike zone was increased and pitching once again began to dominate the game, Delahanty remained an exceptional hitter, posting averages of .354 in 1901 and .376 in 1902.

Carl Yastrzemski

While he was a very good player for most of his career, Carl Yastrzemski was a truly exceptional one from 1967 to 1970. For those four seasons, he was one of the two or three best players in the American League, and one of the best all-around players in baseball. In fact, it could be argued that in two of those seasons, 1967 and 1970, Yastrzemski was
the
best all-around player in the game.

After being a good player from 1961 to 1966, Yastrzemski had one of the greatest seasons a player has ever had in 1967, winning the American League triple crown and MVP Award, playing a superb leftfield, and leading the Boston Red Sox to the pennant. That year, in the middle of a pitching-dominated decade, Yaz hit 44 home runs, knocked in 121 runs, and batted .326. He also led the league with 112 runs scored, 189 hits, an on-base percentage of .421, and a slugging percentage of .622. After carrying the Sox into the World Series on his shoulders, he hit .400 with three home runs in a losing effort to Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals. The following season, Yastrzemski won the third and final batting title of his career by being the only player in the American League to bat over .300. In 1969, Yaz hit 40 homers and knocked in 111 runs, but batted a disappointing .255. However, in 1970, he was again the best all-around player in the A.L., and, perhaps, in all of baseball. That year, he hit 40 homers, knocked in 102 runs, batted .329, scored 125 runs, and walked 128 times. Although he never again put up those kinds of numbers, Yastrzemski remained an outstanding ballplayer for many more seasons.

Yastrzemski finished his career with 452 home runs, 1,844 runs batted in, 1,816 runs scored, 646 doubles, a .285 batting average, and 3,419 base hits. He is the only American League player to hit 400 home runs and compile 3,000 hits. He led the league in home runs and runs batted in once each, batting average, doubles, runs scored, and slugging percentage three times each, hits twice, and on-base percentage five times. He hit over 40 homers three times, drove in more than 100 runs five times, and batted over .300 six times. Yastrzemski was selected to the All-Star Team 18 times and finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting four times during his career.

Goose Goslin

During his 18-year career, Goose Goslin was an outstanding player who batted over .300 and knocked in more than 100 runs eleven times each. From 1924 to 1928, he was arguably one of the five or six best players in the American League. During that time, he never batted below .334, topping the .350 mark in two of those years. Over that five-year span, he also drove in more than 100 runs and finished with double-digits in triples each season, scored more than 100 runs three times, and collected more than 200 hits twice. In 1924, Goslin led the A.L. in runs batted in, with 129, and he won the batting title in 1928 with a career-high mark of .379.