Greatest baseball player of all time?

Discussion in 'OTHER SPORTS Forum' started by LaSalleAve, May 8, 2015.

Page 6 of 8
  1. LaSalleAve

    LaSalleAve when in doubt, mumble

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2008
    Messages:
    44,037
    Likes Received:
    18,027
    Tony Gwynn was the best pure hitter I've ever seen. It was almost automatic that Gwynn was gonna put the bat on the ball.

    Paul Molitor was a really good hitter as well, but nothing like Gwynn.

    Does anyone remember Phil Plantier? That guy had the craziest stance, and Julio Franco with the bat pointed at the pitcher?
     
    LaSalleAve, May 14, 2015
    #51
    ParadiseiNC likes this.
  2. GiantDuckFan

    GiantDuckFan be excellent to each other Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2011
    Messages:
    13,358
    Likes Received:
    10,176
    Hey kcal,

    I decided to unplug last June, no tv, internet, or dvd. I missed this place.

    Go Ducks
     
    GiantDuckFan, May 15, 2015
    #52
    ParadiseiNC likes this.
  3. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2002
    Messages:
    47,986
    Likes Received:
    22,994
    Were you in jail?
     
    Bengal B, May 15, 2015
    #53
    GiantDuckFan likes this.
  4. GiantDuckFan

    GiantDuckFan be excellent to each other Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2011
    Messages:
    13,358
    Likes Received:
    10,176
    Last edited: May 15, 2015
    GiantDuckFan, May 15, 2015
    #54
    ParadiseiNC likes this.
  5. kcal

    kcal Founding Member

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2004
    Messages:
    10,956
    Likes Received:
    7,877
    kcal, May 15, 2015
    #55
    GiantDuckFan likes this.
  6. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2002
    Messages:
    47,986
    Likes Received:
    22,994
    Bengal B, May 15, 2015
    #56
  7. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2005
    Messages:
    37,742
    Likes Received:
    23,921
    There was an unbelievable Stat on him and I don't remember the number, but the times he swung and didn't make contact with the ball in some way is ridiculously low
     
    shane0911, May 15, 2015
    #57
  8. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2002
    Messages:
    47,986
    Likes Received:
    22,994
    A case could be made for Mariano Rivera as the greatest player of all time. Besides his truly amazing stats both in the regular season and in post season, from what I remember watching him was that just about every pitch he threw looked like a belt high fastball until it got near the plate. It wasn't like he had a great fastball or curve and he never worked at nibbling the corners. He only threw one pitch-A cut fastball. All I can say is that it must have had some kind of strange movement right as it reached the plate because a hell of a lot of hitters broke their bats instead of getting hits.
     
    Bengal B, May 15, 2015
    #58
  9. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2003
    Messages:
    46,115
    Likes Received:
    9,705
    that's why I think the best method for comparison is how you fared against your peers during the time you played

    no one had a bigger gap than did Babe vs the 2nd best hitter/slugger of his era
     
    islstl, May 15, 2015
    #59
    Winston1 likes this.
  10. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2003
    Messages:
    46,115
    Likes Received:
    9,705
    Tried to find it and have not yet, but did find these nuggets:

    In 2,440 career games, Gwynn had only 34 multi-strikeout games. So, the odds were better that Gwynn would get four hits than striking out twice.

    He once went 39 straight games without striking out.

    With a 2 strike count, he batted .302 over his career. So not only was he great at avoiding the strikeout, he was still very good at getting the barrel of the bat on the ball with 2 strikes.

    Gwynn hit .415 against the best pitcher of his time, Greg Maddux. He never struck out against him in 107 career at bats. Maddux averaged 24 strikeouts per 107 outs during his career as a reference point.

    Against the big 4 of Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and Pedro Martinez, Gwynn struck out only 3 times in 323 career at bats.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2015
    islstl, May 15, 2015
    #60
    ParadiseiNC likes this.
Page 6 of 8

Share This Page