The 200 Greatest Major League Baseball Players of All Time, 2012 Ed. 11-20

The previous ten is here.


11.Tris Speaker 1907-28 CF Indians/Red Sox
     122.1
     .327/.411/.555
     OPS+157
     MVPQ=1913, 1916, 1923
     Elite: 1912, 1914
     PA=12,000
     

12.Ted Williams LF Red Sox 1939-60
     118.85
     .332/.455/.658
     OPS+190
     MVPQ=1948, 1949, 1957
     Elite: 1947
     Inner circle: 1941, 1942, 1946
     PA: 9800

13.Rickey Henderson LF 1979-03 A's/Yankees
    116.7
    .291/.411/.456
    OPS+127
    Elite: 1985,
    Inner circle: 1990
    PA: 13,350

14.Rogers Hornsby 2B 1915-37 Cards/Browns
     116.6
     .333/.421/.608
     OPS+=175
     MVPQ=1917, 1928
     Elite=1920, 1922, 1925, 1927
     Inner circle: 1921, 1924, 1929
     PA=9500 

15.Eddie Collins 2B White Sox 1906-30
     115.95
     .331/.427/.487
     OPS+141
     MVPQ=1912, 1914, 1920
     Elite=1909, 1910, 1915
     Inner circle=1913
     PA=12,030

16.Greg Maddux RHP 1986-08 Braves/Cubs
     110.9
     358-261
     ERA+132
     MVPQ=1992
     Elite=1994, 1995
     IP=5000
   
17. Mike Schmidt 3B Phillies 1972-89

     109.05
     .269/.386/.572
     OPS+147
     MVPQ=1976
     Elite=1974, 1977, 1980, 1981
    PA=10,060
   
18. Lou Gehrig 1B Yankees 1923-39

     109
     OPS+178
     .318/.421/.656
     MVPQ=1930, 1931
     Elite=1928, 1934, 1935, 1936
     Inner Circle=1927
     PA=9660

19.Tom Seaver RHP 1967-86 Mets/Reds
     108.8
     310-200
     ERA+128
     Elite=1973
     Inner circle=1971
     MVPQ=1975
     IP=4780

20.Pete Alexander 1911-30 RHP Cubs/Phillies
     108.5
     ERA+136
     320-199
     Elite=1917
     Inner circle=1915, 1916, 1920
     IP=5200
 
We start with Gehrig v. Pujols.  Gehrig had a better bat (higher OPS+ driven by a higher adjusted slugging); Gehrig's career value is 16 wins greater, and that's significant - but not as significant as the couple of thousand plate appearances he's had beyond Pujols.  Per game, Pujols has more value driven by his superior glove.  Pujols has 8 MVPQ seasons, Gehrig 7; Pujols never had a year as good as Gehrig's best season.  Pujols is 4 healthy years from reaching Gehrig's number of plate appearances; at that point, probably, he's past Gehrig's career value, but at that point, his per game value might be a little less, if he has, in fact, entered his decline phase.  If he hasn't - if he has another couple of MVPQ years left, he goes by Gehrig without question.

It is really close.  You keep Gehrig as your starting first baseman, but Pujols is second.

The best player in MLB history with only ten players left is Hornsby.  He had Gehrig's bat but played second base.  His 9 MVPQ seasons is the current record; he and Ted Williams and Pete Alexander all hit this section with 3 Inner Circle seasons, the current record.  Collins doesn't quite beat out Lajoie, so he and Morgan are the new B team. We're out of second basemen, so that's the final list.  Schmidt's our last third baseman, and there just isn't a good argument for anyone else as the best third baseman of all time.

If Hornsby isn't the best baseball player on the list, it's Williams, the best bat we've seen so far.  He and Rickey go into left field, we slide Robinson over to right with Ott.  Speaker challenges the Yankees.  Williams holds him off - Speaker's got a 20 win advantage but in 3000 more plate appearances.  It's close, Mantle's bat holds him off.  Speaker goes by Joe D solidly however, 40 more wins and the same bat.  3 arms in the sections - they're close, but it's Alexander/Maddux/Seaver.  Alexander's the new best pitcher of all time; Pedro was better per game, but the aggregate value and Alexander's 3 inner circle seasons make him the best.  Maddux is going to move into second, the total value really starts to weigh against Pedro in this section. Seaver moves in behind Nichols on the B team.

With only the ten most valuable players in baseball history left, here are the two all time baseball rosters.

 Team One

 C Bench 
    Piazza

    
1B Gehrig 
     Pujols
   
     

2B Hornsby 
     Lajoie
     

SS Rodriguez 
     Vaughan
      

  3B Schmidt
        Mathews

   

LF  Williams
       Henderson
      

    

CF   Mantle
       Speaker
    

RF  Ott
       Robinson

  

 P 
   Alexander
    Maddux    
    Martinez
    Johnson(L) 
   Mathewson
    Grove (L)
    Gibson   
    Walsh

    Rivera
   

Team 2

C Dickey
    Carter

1B  Brouthers
      Connor 
           
  2B  Collins
         Morgan

      

SS Ripken
     Banks
     
3B  Boggs
      Jones
     

     
LF  Delahanty
      Jackson
     
   
CF  DiMaggio
       Hamilton
      
        
RF Ramirez
      Heilmann
      
                

P Nichols
  Seaver 
  Spahn(L)
   Hubbell (L)
   Clarkson
   Newhouser (L) 
   Carlton(L)
   Feller

Uti Caruthers