Gehrig/Hornsby: Who Was the Greater Historical Player?

[Bill Burgess]

Time for another historical poll/survey! Who was the greater player, Gehrig or Hornsby?

The Rajah or The Pride of the Yankees?

Here are their Baseball-Reference Pages.

The Rajah or Pride of the Yankees

[AstrosFan]

The thing for me is, Hornsby was almost as good a hitter as Gehrig without PA, but he holds a huge defensive advantage, since he played SS, 2B, and 3B, and had some good years defensively at those positions. I think it's quite clearly Rajah here.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Gehrig all the way for me. His year-in year-out consistency does it for me.

[leecemark]

--I've always had Gehrig ahead, but honestly I'm not sure why. His hitting advantage is not THAT big and Hornsby has a significant positional advantage. Hornsby may not have been an especially good 2B, but Gehrig was just an average 1B. Hornsby has at least a little advantage on the bases. They had about the same longevity. I guess the big thing in Gehrig's favor is that you could on him to be in the lineup producing everyday. It took a tragedy to get him out, while Hornsby limped though a number of years as a part timer. Well that and Lou was a nicer guy to have in your clubhouse. I'll hold off on voting for now.

[Blackout]

Gehrig was a better hitter with better peak

he was a better defense 1st baseman than Hornsby was a defensive 2nd baseman by a long margin

[leecemark]

--What makes you say that? Gehrig was nothing special with the glove. he was actually a lousy defender when he came up, but worked hard to make himself into a solid guy with the glove.
-- Hornsby was the opposite. He came up as a SS, but got too big for the job (fairly quickly), tried third but diidn't have the qucikness and ended up at second. He was okay there once he settled in and before his legs started to go.

[Blackout]

ty cobb said Hornsby was the worst defensive second basemen in the world


gehrig had a nice rep as a gloveman from accounts I've read

[EdTarbusz]

ty cobb said Hornsby was the worst defensive second basemen in the world

I don't think that opinion means much. How often would Cobb have seen Hornsby's defense? Maybe in Spring Training and possibly a few exhibition games?

[Blackout]

I don't think that opinion means much. How often would Cobb have seen Hornsby's defense? Maybe in Spring Training and possibly a few exhibition games?

read Cobb's biography

he saw enough of Hornsby. if you look at Hornsby as a second basemen his fielding is average and his range is below average.

is it hard to except the fact that he may not have been a great defensive 2nd basemen?? it was common knowledge to me.

[EdTarbusz]

read Cobb's biography

he saw enough of Hornsby. if you look at Hornsby as a second basemen his fielding is average and his range is below average.

is it hard to except the fact that he may not have been a great defensive 2nd basemen?? it was common knowledge to me.

I don't know whether Hornsby was good defensively or not. I just don't think that Cobb would be any kind of authority on the matter.

[csh19792001]

I don't think that opinion means much. How often would Cobb have seen Hornsby's defense? Maybe in Spring Training and possibly a few exhibition games?

And I'd like to see this alleged Cobb quote replete with a citation.

[soberdennis]

I may be a Yankee fan. But I have to go with Hornsby. The man could hit for both average and power. So could Gehrig. But you also cannot ignore a lifetime .358 average.

[Bill Burgess]

In our last Greatest Hitters series, Fever members clearly favored Hornsby over Lou strictly as hitters. Here was the vote.

1. Babe Ruth---------68 votes - 95.77%
1. Ted Williams-------68 - 95.77%
3. Ty Cobb-----------52 - 73.24%
4. Rogers Hornsby----36 - 50.70%
5. Lou Gehrig---------32 - 45.07%

Members were asked to choose from a menu, who they believed were the 5 greatest hitters of all time. We are now in the process of redoing that series.

So, Rogers was at least perceived in that process to have been the superior hitter to Lou, AND he also has positional adjustment in his favor. Kind of hard to argue with. Know what I mean? Of course, one of our polls doesn't prove much, just a consensus of opinions, really. But what else do we have to go on?

[leecemark]

--Just as hitters the consensus was wrong. Gehrig was the better hitter. The question is "was he enough better to make up for Hornsby positional/defensive advantage?" and "does he have anything else going for him to supplement his batting edge?".

[Blackout]

And I'd like to see this alleged Cobb quote replete with a citation.

It's in Cobb's book by Stump, the original one.