Who is the best defensive player of All-Time?

[RuthMayBond]

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

Originally posted by VELCROHIDE
[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.

Then go with Bid McPhee

[Iron Jaw]

Halo - Alex hasn't been at the position long enough to be considered with the likes of Brooks, etc. But, if you want to choose a Yankee for best defenseman at third, you couldn't go wrong with Clete Boyer (I'm Boyer biased - Ken Boyer was my favorite player when I was a kid - and he wasn't bad defensively or offensively).

Alex is a tall, lanky son of a gun. I wouldn't be surprised to see him evolve into a first sacker in a few years, ala Ernie Banks. Of course, he's still young, but his height is much more fitting for a first baseman. I always thought Cal Ripken would wind up at first (tall, lanky), but he never did.

[Edgartohof]

In response to an earlier statement, If Ichiro keeps it up - for a long while - he could be considered the best defensive right fielder.

[ElHalo]

C: Bench (with a strong nod to Buck Ewing and Roger Bresnahan)
1B: George Sisler
2B: Maz
SS: Ozzie Smith
3B: I'm going to go out on a limb on this one and say Alex Rodriguez. If any of you have yet to watch a Yankee game this season, you have to if for no other reason than to see ARod play 3B. I watched a lot of Schmidt's games in Philly, and he wasn't a patch on ARod. I guess that's what happens when you take a gold glove SS and move him to 3B.
LF: Barry Bonds (I'm drawing blanks on other great defensive LF's... he was, statistically at least, better than Yaz)
CF: Tris Speaker (I can't believe nobody mentioned him before you, Leecemark)
RF: Roger Maris (I'm sure I could think of a better rightfielder if I tried hard, but people tend to forget that he was a phenomenal defensive player)
P: Kaat

[RuthMayBond]

I'm working on my Gold Gloves awards, and at least statistically Brooksie appears to be a bit overrated

[Iron Jaw]

Brooks would sure be my defensive 3b, with Clete Boyer a close second.

Hard to beat the Say Hey Kid in center. But you sure couldn't go wrong with a Paul Blair (remember, we aren't talking about hitting).

Maz was amazing at second - especially in the years he teamed with Gene Alley at short and both were healthy. He had Dick Groat before Alley, who was adequate, but more known for his excellent bat.

Ozzie was awfully acrobatic at short. Mark Belanger made some tremendous plays at short. Teamed with Brooks, you couldn't get much on that side of the infield. Better try Davey and Boog's side.

Ken Berry was another one of those all field, little hit guys. What a glove that guy had in the OF though.

Jerry Grote was an awfully good defensive catcher. Not the best, but very good. I also liked Tony Pena behind the plate. I didn't like Tony Pena the player, but he was one heck of a catcher - the most unorthodoxed style I've ever seen.

[leecemark]

--I'd say arm is defiantely part of the defensive package we're talking about. As to Puhl, don't give him too much credit for fielding percentage. That is a pretty small part of what makes up a great defensive outfielder (or player period). I'm alot more interested in how many balls they get too. With very few exceptions, the difference in fileding percent is only a few balls a year - the difference is in the dozens for range factor.

[Bushrod]

definitive word

Jim Edmonds and Omar Vizquel, Ken Griffey, Jr. should have been mentioned by now. good point about Brooks R. not making the team at shortstop.
What about Terry Puhl? top fielding average for outfielders, career, in history.

are we counting the arm or only the leather?

[santotohof]

Paul Blair and Devon White were both cream of the crop

[leecemark]

P: Greg Maddux
C: Johnny Bench
1B: Kieth Hernandez
2B: Bill Mazeroski
3B: Brooks Robinson
SS: Ozzie Smith
OF: Tris Speaker
OF: Willie Mays
OF: Mike Cameron
---There are 100 CF better than the best corner OF ever.
I'll go with Smith as best ever for the same reason I picked 3 CF and no RF or LF. An average SS has more defensive value than the best 3B who ever lived. If Brooks could have played SS, he would have played SS. For the Ichiro fan - he was not the best defensive OFer on his team until Cameron left this year. I've seen about 85% of his games and he hasn't been anywhere near as good as Cameron. I would like to see him in center now though to see what he could do.

[wlh99raiders]

ozzie smith, the play where hes diving for a ball and it hit a rock and went back the other way and he grabbed it with his bare hand was the greatest play ever.

[researcher]

RE: Brooks ...

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Apr-08-02 AT 01:50 AM (EST)]You may be looking at the wrong DiMaggio! Dom was the best of the three brothers!

He covered more ground than Joe, and he had a better arm. Dom had more
put-outs per game than Joe, and beat Joe every time they had a throwing contest...

When Boston and NY would play, sometimes the two brothers would have
a contest, by throwing the ball from the deep outfield at a basket
sitting on home plate. ...Dom DiMaggio would throw the ball, and 1-2 hops into the basket....Joe would have to pack it in.

Joe would tell everyone that his brother was a better fielder than
he was....But Joe could hit the ball.

[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

[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: 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