Best Baseball Player by Birth Year - 1944

[Cowtipper]

Here's another fun project idea I had - we are going to name the best baseball players by birth year. The rules are simple: Vote for who you believe to be the best player on the given list, with each player on that list sharing the same year of birth.

You are allowed to vote for a maximum of two players (because oftentimes it seems individuals prefer not to choose between batters and pitchers, rather choosing one of each).

A few of the early years are already taken care of for us, as there was only one person who played Major League Baseball born that year.

A couple notes about this project:

1) The lists are constructed using information from Baseball-Reference.com. They are rather arbitrarily made, however I think they will cover the top players from each year.

2) The lists will, at most, contain 20-25 names.

3) Only MLB players (including NA players) are being considered for this project. I am omitting Negro Leaguers, pre-Major Leaguers, Japanese guys etc. for the sake of ease.

4) Though I am including only major league players, for those who spent time playing in the pre-Major League era or the Negro Leagues (et cetera), you may take into consideration this peripheral playing experience. Weigh it as as you see fit.

5) The poll will stay open for one week.

Which of the following individuals was the best player? You may vote for up to two players.

Stan Bahnsen
Sal Bando
Mark Belanger
Paul Blair
John Briggs
Steve Carlton
Sparky Lyle
Rudy May
Denny McClain
Tug McGraw
Dave Nelson
Graig Nettles
Joe Niekro
Freddy Patek
Doug Rader
Steve Renko
Dave Roberts
Manny Sanguillen
George Scott
Tom Seaver
Bill Singer
Rusty Staub

Best players by birth year:

1831: Nate Berkenstock
1832: Lew Carl
1833: None
1834: None
1835: Harry Wright
1836: Dickey Pearce
1837: None
1838: Dave Birdsall
1839: Al Barker
1840: Al Reach
1945: Rod Carew (best pitcher: Jim Palmer)
1946: Reggie Jackson (best pitcher: Catfish Hunter)
1947: Johnny Bench (best pitcher: Nolan Ryan)
1948: Steve Garvey (best pitcher: Hough/Nolan)
1949: Mike Schmidt (best pitcher: Rick Reuschel)
1950: Ron Guidry (best batter: Brian Downing)
1951: Dave Winfield (best pitcher: Bert Blyleven)
1952: Fred Lynn (best pitcher: John Denny)
1953: George Brett (best pitcher: Bruce Sutter)
1954: Gary Carter (best pitcher: Dennis Eckersley)
1955: Robin Yount (best pitcher: Jack Morris)
1956: Eddie Murray (best pitcher: Bob Welch)
1957: Lou Whitaker (best pitcher: Dave Stieb)
1958: Rickey Henderson (best pitcher: Orel Hershiser)
1959: Tim Raines (best pitcher: Burns/Moore/Worrell)
1960: Cal Ripken, Jr. (best pitcher: Valenzuela/Viola)
1961: Don Mattingly (best pitcher: Jimmy Key)
1962: Roger Clemens (best batter: Darryl Strawberry)
1963: Randy Johnson (best batter: Martinez/McGwire)
1964: Barry Bonds (best pitcher: Gooden/Saberhagen)
1965: Craig Biggio (best pitcher: Kevin Brown)
1966: Greg Maddux (best batter: Larry Walker)
1967: John Smoltz (best batter: Kenny Lofton)
1968: Frank Thomas (best pitcher: Mike Mussina)

[1905 Giants]

I'll take Seaver

Whoops didn't mean to vote twice. Can someone erase my Carlton vote?

[The Commissioner]

I'm voting for Tom Terrific on this one.

[Second Base Coach]

Nettles, Seaver and Carlton are all elite all-timers in a format like this. It was a shame not to have three votes.

I can see Nettles over Carlton if one wanted a hitter and a pitcher, but I gave my second vote to Carlton anyway.

[Cowtipper]

I went with Seaver and Staub.