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Originally posted by leecemark
--Perfect is not a word I'd use to describe Joe Morgan either. Especially if you take his broadcasting career into account
. He was an enormously valuable player at his peak though. The closest thing to perfect players IMO are Wagner and Mays. Both were the best or very close to it in EVERY phase of the game. That sort of well rounded excellence doesn't necessarily mean they were better than somebody who had a weakness, but also a more towering strength though. Of course, they are among the very best ever and Mays is, in fact, my number one guy. For career anyway - I might take Morgan and others (Mantle for one) just for peak.
. He was an enormously valuable player at his peak though. The closest thing to perfect players IMO are Wagner and Mays. Both were the best or very close to it in EVERY phase of the game. That sort of well rounded excellence doesn't necessarily mean they were better than somebody who had a weakness, but also a more towering strength though. Of course, they are among the very best ever and Mays is, in fact, my number one guy. For career anyway - I might take Morgan and others (Mantle for one) just for peak.Now while we all realize, in our more sober moments, that such a title REALLY doesn't exist, and cannot exist, by definition, I'd like to know who the Fever membership felt came the closest to the mythical expression, "The Perfect Ballplayer".
So, I will conduct another of my countless, delightful polls, to see who the house feels falls into that category of who came closest. Some examples might well be:
1. Babe Ruth - only fielded average, and ran very poorly. Hit great, threw great.
2. Ty Cobb - only fielded very, very well. Fine OF arm, but not great arm. Had difficulties getting along with team mates. Coached hitting great, managed very well considering personnel. Hit/ran great.
3. Hans Wagner - Fielded great, hit great, ran great. Got along with everybody. His skills may not have been the absolute best ever, but were so uniformly excellent, he had no chinks in his armour, from which we can take any points away. His competition was somewhat soft, 1901-07, but that wasn't under his control.
4. Tris Speaker - Fielded great, hit great, ran very well. Got along well. Managed credibly due to being able to coach others.
5. Willie Mays - Modern day Speaker. No chinks in his chain. No area we can mark him down appreciably.
6. Mickey Mantle - Initially, no weak spots. Hit great, fielded well, ran very well. His downfall was his injury-prone physique, which robbed him of his greatness/longevity prematurely.
I am asking you to rank all those players who you feel were "magical", and came closest to "perfect players". However many you name is up to you.
I am deliberately not defining this for anyone. Use your own criteria.
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