The Pantheon

[AstrosFan]

The Pantheon is the elite of the elite. They are the players that are a step up from even the greatest players of all time. The players that rank a little below the Pantheon are still all-time greats, they are just not quite in the class of the pantheon. Who is in your Pantheon? There will be several categories.

1. Overall players
2. Hitters
3. Hitters by position
4. Fielders by position
5. Overall players by position
6. Starting pitchers
7. Relief pitchers.

If you're getting up to ten or more players in any category, you've probably got too many. Think really, really elite. Finally, I am going to set a rule that no category may have fewer than two players. One person pantheons are boring.

[AstrosFan]

I'll edit this post as I go on.

1. Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner. These are the guys I feel have the best argument for greatest of all time, which is why I put them in my overall players pantheon.

2. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby.

[leecemark]

--That a few too many categories for me.
Arguably Best Overall Player
Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds
Arguably Best of their generation (or would be if not for player above)
1871-85: Anson
1886-1900: Brouthers, Delahanty
1901-15: (Wagner), (Cobb); Lajoie, Collins, Lloyd
1916-30: (Ruth), Speaker, Charleston, Hornby, Gehrig
1931-45: (Gibson), DiMaggio
1946-60: Williams, Mantle, Musial
1961-75: (Mays), Aaron
1976-90: Schmidt
1991-2005: (Bonds), Rodriguez
Arguably Best of Position (or would be if not for player above)
C: (Gibson), Bench, Berra. Piazza
1B: (Gehrig), Foxx, Thomas, Bagwell
2B: (Hornsby, Collins, Lajoie, Lajoie) Morgan
3B: (Schmidt), Brett, Mathews, Boggs
SS: (Wagner, Rodriguez, Lloyd) Ripken, Vaughan
LF: (Bonds, Williams, Musial,) Henderson, Yaz
CF: (Mays, Cobb, Charleston, Speaker, Mantle, DiMaggio); Griffey
RF: (Ruth, Aaron); Robinson, Ott
--Thats 39 position players in my "pantheon"
Arguably Best Overall Pitcher
Young, Johnson, Grove, Paige, Clemens, Maddux
Arguably Best of Generation (or could be if not for above
1871-85 Clarkson
1886-1900 (Young) Nichols
1901-15 (johnson) Mathewson, Williams
1916-30 Alexander
1931-45 (Grove), Feller
1946-60 Spahn
1961-75 Seaver
1976-90 Carleton
1991-2005 (Clemens, Maddux) Johnson, Martinez
--Thats 16 pitchers
--Total 55 players which makes a good start on a "small hall" pantheon. An even hundred would be about where I'd want to go with my small Hall, but some of that hundred would clearly be a notch down from the others.

[RuthMayBond]

The Pantheon is the elite of the elite. They are the players that are a step up from even the greatest players of all time. The players that rank a little below the Pantheon are still all-time greats, they are just not quite in the class of the pantheon. Who is in your Pantheon? There will be several categories.

3. Hitters by position
4. Fielders by position
5. Overall players by position

If you're getting up to ten or more players in any category, you've probably got too many. Think really, really elite. Finally, I am going to set a rule that no category may have fewer than two players. One person pantheons are boring.

Do you want as many as nine from the above categories, at each position?

[bob]

I think a Pantheon should have no more than 5 hitters and 5 pitchers initially. We are talking the greatest of the great.
My votes (in no real order):
Ruth, Cobb, Williams, Mays, Aaron
Johnson, Alexander, Young, Maddux, Seaver

Ideally id have more modern guys in there, but only maddux has a real claim from any post 80's player right now. Bonds doesnt below near here.

As far as voting goes it should be really, really selective. Once every 10 years or so, only the highest vote from each category gets in. So if you get 98% one year and someone else gets 98.5%, tough luck. It would be a huge event because of its rarity and selectiveness.

just my 2 cents. :twocents:

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

I'm going to put 4 position players and 4 pitchers:

Babe Ruth
Ty Cobb
Willie Mays
Honus Wagner

Walter Johnson
Pete Alexanbder
Cy Young
Lefty Grove
(No Clemens because he hasn't retired)

A vote should be conducted and a BBF Pantheon should be made. If no one starts one, I'll gladly host it either in here or in the HoF forum. If I were to, I would use rules similar to the Hall, but a 95% vote must be obtained by the BBF public.

[RuthMayBond]

The Pantheon is the elite of the elite. They are the players that are a step up from even the greatest players of all time. The players that rank a little below the Pantheon are still all-time greats, they are just not quite in the class of the pantheon. Who is in your Pantheon? There will be several categories.

For career value

<1. Overall players>

Ruth, not sure what to do with Bonds, Cobb, Mays, Aaron, Wagner, Speaker, Musial, Ted Williams

<2. Hitters>

Something like Ruth, not sure what to do with Bonds, Gehrig, Ted Williams, Cobb, Mantle, Hornsby, Aaron, Mays, Musial

<4. Fielders by position>

P-Maddux, Carl Mays, Mathewson, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Tommy John, Lemon, Glavine, Walsh, Dauss
C-IRod, Bench, Carter, Zimmer, Berra, Pena, BBoone, Hartnett, Pop Snyder
1B-Hernandez, Tenney, Konetchy, Grace, Power, McCormick, Helton, Connor, Beckley
2B-Maz, McPhee, Collins, Lajoie, Fox, FWhite, Doerr, Grich, Gehringer
3B-Brooksie, Schmidt, JCollins, Bell, Gaetti, Wallach, Kamm, CBoyer, Nettles
SS-Smith, Ripken, Maranville, Aparicio, Boudreau, Doolan, Wagner, Concepcion, Tinker
LF-Bonds, Veach, RHenderson, LGonzalez, Sheckard, Roy White, Yaz, Clarke, Billy Williams
CF-Mays, Speaker, AJones, Flood, Ashburn, Carey, Blair, DOM DiMaggio, Devon White
RF-Clemente, Ott, Barfield, Callison, DwEvans, Hooper, LWalker, Aaron, PO'Neill

<6. Starting pitchers>

I suspect Paige belongs at the top, Young, WJohnson, not sure what to do with Clemens, Alexander, Maddux, Grove, Mathewson, Nichols, Seaver

<7. Relief pitchers.>

Rivera, Wilhelm, Gossage, LSmith, Quiz, Franco, Tekulve, Hoffman, Sutter. Wagner will probably replace Sutter soon

[AstrosFan]

You don't need to go nine deep at the by position categories or any others, so if you want to trim it down, you can. If you'd rather not, that's fine too, though nine is probably pushing it in what I would define as the Pantheon.

[nerfan]

<1. Overall players>

Mays, Speaker, Wagner, Lajoie (interpreted this as hitting + defense)

<2. Hitters>

Ted Williams, Ruth, Bonds, Cobb

<4. Fielders by position>

P-Maddux
C- Bench
1B-Hernandez
2B-Mazeroski
3B-Brooks Robinson (honorable mention for Clete Boyer)
SS-Ozzie
LF-Yazstremski
CF-Mays
RF-Dwight Evans

<6. Starting pitchers>

Maddux, Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, Pedro Martinez (peak junkie)

<7. Relief pitchers.>

Hoyt, Mo, Goose, Wags

[AstrosFan]

<1. Overall players>

Mays, Speaker, Wagner, Lajoie (interpreted this as hitting + defense)

I mean overall, as in greatest or most valuable. Not best all-around. Also, you don't have to limit yourself to one fielder per position.

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

Would anybody mind if I started a BBF Pantheon?

[Sultan_1895-1948]

What is the true definition of Pantheon? If we are to take everything into account, DiMaggio might well belong on the list, given his road numbers. And to Bonds, I don't think he belongs anywhere near this discussion naturally. All-time great, sure. Top 15, sure. But if Pantheon means best of even the best of the best....no dice.

[Victory Faust]

What is the true definition of Pantheon? If we are to take everything into account, DiMaggio might well belong on the list, given his road numbers. And to Bonds, I don't think he belongs anywhere near this discussion naturally. All-time great, sure. Top 15, sure. But if Pantheon means best of even the best of the best....no dice.

I totally agree.

[CTaka]

When I think of a baseball pantheon, this is what comes to mind:

Position players:

Ruth
Wagner
Cobb
Mays

Pitchers:

Walter Johnson
Lefty Grove
Greg Maddux
Cy Young

Many other great players, but this is my cream of the crop.