Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

[LightSpeedOO7]

Who do you think is the best defensive player of all-time?

A few obvious choices could be Willie Mays or Ozzie Smith.

And although it may be hard to compare infielders to outfielders i would like to know who, respectively to their position, was or is the best defensive player ever.

[LouGehrig]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

1B Hal Chase
2B Bill Mazeroski
3B Brooks Robinson
SS Ozzie Smith
LF Al Simmons
CF James Anthony Piersall
RF Roberto Clemente
C Ivan Rodriguez
P Robert Clayton Shantz OR Harry Breecheen or Harvey Haddix

[LightSpeedOO7]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

this is a good comprehensive list however if you had to pick one person who excelled at his position to a level beyond what other could even imagine who would you pick?

[BASEBALL_TRIVIA_NUT]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

BASEBALL_TRIVIA_NUT

With that clarification, my friend, a question that
would have required some cogitation, now is a question that is a straightforward no-brainer!

And the answer is: BROOKS ROBINSON!

Period!

As a matter of fact, two periods!!

[LightSpeedOO7]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

ok that might be one thing we are able to agree upon.

[researcher]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

...Gold Gloves since 1957................

Pitcher....Jim Kaat............14
3rd base...Brooks Robinson.....16

I always liked Ozzie, but in reality there have been many outstanding
fielding SS over the years, same for outfielders, and catchers

[trosmok]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

I always liked the pioneering defensive players. James Raleigh "Biz" Mackey was perhaps the finest catcher of his day; without him, Bench, Carter, Campy, Fisk, and Ivan R. might have become in or outfielders. The shortstop position was perfected by Luis Aparicio, and Ozzie Smith would be hard to dismiss as anything less than at least his equal. The hot corner is probably one of the most difficult positions to master; it requires a lightning fast instinctual reactions, a smothering glove, flawless footwork, and a gun of an arm, and the good sense to position oneself correctly for the situation. My guess is that Brooks Robinson did this as well as anyone before or since.

[VELCROHIDE]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Apr-05-02 AT 12:05 PM (EST)]When you think of the small- barely fitting over the hand-gloves used back in the early 1900s the men playing during those times had to have "good" hands to catch the ball because you pretty much were using your hands and had very minimal assistance from the glove.

So, taking a player from that era I'll go with Honus Wagner. Tris Speaker is right on his heels.

Did you know that Red Schoendienst had a say in the styling of a glove but didn't know about putting a patent on his original idea and lost out on the residual benefits. He wasn't bitter, just figured he'd been blessed in so many other ways.

[Kroxquo]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

>1B Hal Chase
>2B Bill Mazeroski
>3B Brooks Robinson
>SS Ozzie Smith
>LF Al Simmons
>CF James Anthony Piersall
>RF Roberto Clemente
>C Ivan Rodriguez
>P Robert Clayton Shantz OR Harry Breecheen or Harvey
>Haddix

I will disagree with most of your list. Somewhere on the history of the game forum is an all-time defensive team thread, so there has been a discussion about this. This would be my team:

1B - Gil Hodges
2B - Mazeroski
3B - Mike Schmidt
SS - Honus Wagner
LF - Carl Yastrzemski
CF - Wille Mays
RF - Clemente (with strong apologies to Carl Furillo)
C - Johnny Bench
P - Jim Kaat (with Greg Maddux closing fast)

[LouGehrig]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

It is quite difficult, but I guess Ozzie because ss is such a difficult position to play.

[LouGehrig]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

I forgot about Yaz (I tend to forget all Red Sox players but Williams), and agree he is better defensively than Simmons.

I am biased and prefer that Wagner would be best defensively at ss, but I really cannot take him over Ozzie. I know he played on bad fields etc., and he used a small glove, but based on readings and historical accounts, he was not as good defensively as Ozzie.

Katt is a great choice, but because Shantz had only one great year and, unlike Katt, did not pitch for a long time, he is not given the recognition today that he was afforded in the 1950s.

Hodges belongs in the Hall of Fame and was better defensively than most playing today, but he was right handed, and “even” Keith Hernandez and Don Mattingly were better defensively. That is not to take anything away from Hodges. He was great. But from what I have read, Chase was as graceful, efficient, and mean as any first baseman ever.

I saw Schmidt play and listened to Kalas, Ashburn, and Musser (who didn’t know what was happening) for most of his games. He had a tendency to mess up easy plays (not often) and make the great plays. Brooks was the best. Even though I saw most of Clete Boyer’s games and think he was fantastic, he was a notch below Brooks.

Bench was not as good as Rodriguez, and the problem is that there were or are some great defensive catchers who couldn’t hit, and so are not given the credit they deserved. Henry Blanco and Alberto Castillo today, and Wes Westrum then. And don’t forget Roy Campanella. He was at least as good as Westrum or Bench. As a Yankees fan, we feared Campy and rightfully so. He was a great handler of pitchers, had a great arm, and could catch.

[researcher]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Apr-07-02 AT 09:19 PM (EST)]Seems as if everybody forgets that Berra went 148 straight games
w/o an error.
If I've said it once, .....a hundred times..Ozzie Smith is 6to5 over
any SS I ever saw....BUT I KNOW IT ISN'T TRUE...if the truth be
known (which it won't be) there have probably been 10-15 defensive
SS equal to each other. Belanger-Wagner-Smith-Bancroft-and probably
a dozen who couldn't hit .200 and were dropped.

Willie Mays had "flair" but he wasn't superior to Curt Flood, Tris
Speaker, and likely a dozen others.

First base don't even try..Gold Gloves since they were introduced,
are not the whole story...probably 15-20 equal to each other; with
allowance for inferior equipment in the "old days"

If they were in right field all they needed was a gun like Colivato or Clemente...I don't see how there could be a absolute #1 here.

Same for left field!

If someone was equal, he played before World War II, because I didn't
see him!....BROOKS ROBINSON COVERED MORE GROUND AT THIRD THAN ANYONE
WHO HAS PLAYED IN THE LAST 50 YEARS AT LEAST!

It wasn't a once in a while thing, it seems as if he made a diving
play every game...he could play off 3rd farther than anyone
else, and you couldn't get the ball passed him, on either side of him.
I saw him in a 100 games, and he must have made 150 diving plays, both
to the right and left.........nothing I've ever seen comes close.

[Double Steal]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

OK, I may be getting into the realm oh hearsay here, but if he continues at the rate he is now Ichiro may well be the greatest defensive player of All-Time... OK let the ranting commence...
Seriously, he had one error last year, and had a fielding percentage of .997. Not too bad. History, of course will deem whether this is an anomaly or a trend, but nothing at the beginning of this season leads me to believe otherwise, and he looks to be extremely durable, lending to longevity.

More realistically I think you have to look to DiMaggio as one of the greatest. He always made it look so easy, and no one read the ball better off the bat. In '47 he committed only one error all year, and had a .978 fielding percentage for his career.


Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser - Sandy Koufax

[BASEBALL_TRIVIA_NUT]

RE: Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

BASEBALL_TRIVIA_NUT

For anyone in this thread who did not
answer the clarification with Brooks Robinson
just could not have seen him play!

I saw the man for his entire career and
when he amazed the country with his play
against the Big Red Machine in the World Series
and everyone raved about how miraculous the
plays were, the Baltimore fans just didn't have the
heart to tell baseball fans the world over that the
plays Brooks pulled off were "pieces of cake" and
laughable to the the nth degree!!!!

I hate to tell the world now, but I'm the only
person who would tell you - they were ROUTINE!!!
For Brooks, those plays were so easy, I kept waiting
for guffaws from every Orioles fan, but, to spare
feelings, the fans were silent, hoping that another
play would happen that no one but Brooks could
pull off, but, it didn't happen, and every one remained
silent!

If you ever see the tape, trust me, Brooks did
that with his eyes closed, just from the routine!
He was so great defensively, anything hit to the left
side of the infield was doomed!!!

I've seen all the great defensive players in the
last 50 years and not one is even close to Brooks!
Not Ozzie, not Rey with the Mets, not Mays, not
Schmidt, not Boyer, not Aparicio, no one!!!

Do yourself a favor and look at tapes of
Brooks and you won't believe your own eyes - he
was the greatest at defense and that's period!
As a matter of fact, two periods!!!

[Double Steal]

RE: Brooks ...

Flat out the best third baseman ever BASEBALL_TRIVIA_NUT. You may have the guy here. Defined the position that all others are gauged against. You are a lucky guy to have seen him play, as I have only seen film, but he was something. 22 years in Baltimore, and show me 40 year olds playing the hot corner these days, exception Ripkin.

Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser. Sandy Koufax