Best Baseball Player by Birth Year - 1968

[Cowtipper]

Here's another fun project idea I had - we are going to name the best baseball players by birth year. The rules are simple: Vote for who you believe to be the best player on the given list, with each player on that list sharing the same year of birth.

You are allowed to vote for a maximum of two players (because oftentimes it seems individuals prefer not to choose between batters and pitchers, rather choosing one of each).

A few of the early years are already taken care of for us, as there was only one person who played Major League Baseball born that year.

A couple notes about this project:

1) The lists are constructed using information from Baseball-Reference.com. They are rather arbitrarily made, however I think they will cover the top players from each year.

2) The lists will, at most, contain 20-25 names.

3) Only MLB players (including NA players) are being considered for this project. I am omitting Negro Leaguers, pre-Major Leaguers, Japanese guys etc. for the sake of ease.

4) Though I am including only major league players, for those who spent time playing in the pre-Major League era or the Negro Leagues (et cetera), you may take into consideration this peripheral playing experience. Weigh it as as you see fit.

5) The poll will stay open for one week.

Which of the following individuals was the best player? You may vote for up to two players.

Roberto Alomar
Pedro Astacio
Jeff Bagwell
Rod Beck
Scott Erickson
Pat Hentgen
Jeff Kent
Darryl Kile
Chuck Knoblauch
Curtis Leskanic
Ramon Martinez
Kent Mercker
Mike Mussina
Denny Neagle
Hideo Nomo
Jose Offerman
John Olerud
Mike Piazza
Paul Quantrill
Tim Salmon
Gary Sheffield
Sammy Sosa
Matt Stairs
Frank Thomas
Bernie Williams

Best players by birth year:

1831: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/berkena01.shtml"]Nate Berkenstock[/URL]
1832: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/carlle01.shtml"]Lew Carl[/URL]
1833: None
1834: None
1835: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/wrighha01.shtml"]Harry Wright[/URL]
1836: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pearcdi01.shtml"]Dickey Pearce[/URL]
1837: None
1838: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/birdsda01.shtml"]Dave Birdsall[/URL]
1839: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/barkeal01.shtml"]Al Barker[/URL]
1840: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reachal01.shtml"]Al Reach[/URL]
1949: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schmimi01.shtml"]Mike Schmidt[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reuscri01.shtml"]Rick Reuschel[/URL])
1950: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guidrro01.shtml"]Ron Guidry[/URL] (best batter: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/downibr01.shtml"]Brian Downing[/URL])
1951: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/winfida01.shtml"]Dave Winfield[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/blylebe01.shtml"]Bert Blyleven[/URL])
1952: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lynnfr01.shtml"]Fred Lynn[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dennyjo01.shtml"]John Denny[/URL])
1953: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brettge01.shtml"]George Brett[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/suttebr01.shtml"]Bruce Sutter[/URL])
1954: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cartega01.shtml"]Gary Carter[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/eckerde01.shtml"]Dennis Eckersley[/URL])
1955: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/yountro01.shtml"]Robin Yount[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/morrija02.shtml"]Jack Morris[/URL])
1956: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/murraed02.shtml"]Eddie Murray[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/welchbo01.shtml"]Bob Welch[/URL])
1957: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitalo01.shtml"]Lou Whitaker[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stiebda01.shtml"]Dave Stieb[/URL])
1958: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henderi01.shtml"]Rickey Henderson[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hershor01.shtml"]Orel Hershiser[/URL])
1959: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/raineti01.shtml"]Tim Raines[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/burnsbr01.shtml"]Burns[/URL]/[URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mooremi01.shtml"]Moore[/URL]/[URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/worreto01.shtml"]Worrell[/URL])
1960: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ripkeca01.shtml"]Cal Ripken, Jr.[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/valenfe01.shtml"]Valenzuela[/URL]/[URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/violafr01.shtml"]Viola[/URL])
1961: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mattido01.shtml"]Don Mattingly[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/keyji01.shtml"]Jimmy Key[/URL])
1962: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clemero02.shtml"]Roger Clemens[/URL] (best batter: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/strawda01.shtml"]Darryl Strawberry[/URL])
1963: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsra05.shtml"]Randy Johnson[/URL] (best batter: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/martied01.shtml"]Martinez[/URL]/[URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcgwima01.shtml"]McGwire[/URL])
1964: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsba01.shtml"]Barry Bonds[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/goodedw01.shtml"]Gooden[/URL]/[URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/saberbr01.shtml"]Saberhagen[/URL])
1965: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/biggicr01.shtml"]Craig Biggio[/URL] (best pitcher: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brownke01.shtml"]Kevin Brown[/URL])
1966: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/maddugr01.shtml"]Greg Maddux[/URL] (best batter: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkela01.shtml"]Larry Walker[/URL])
1967: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smoltjo01.shtml"]John Smoltz[/URL] (best batter: [URL="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/loftoke01.shtml"]Kenny Lofton[/URL])

[Blackout]

Matt Stairs

[rsuriyop]

Tough year. Went with Thomas, but Bagwell and Sheffield are real close IMHO.

[redban]

Mike Piazza is the easy choice for me.

[rsuriyop]

Mike Piazza is the easy choice for me.

Wow, I even forgot to mention Piazza. Yeah, this one's gotta be the toughest.

[redban]

Well, Piazza is the easy pick for me only because I was a Met fan. I loved Piazza when I was a kid.. I could see arguments for the others guys.

[Cowtipper]

Sockeye, you can only choose two.

[Cowtipper]

I went with Thomas and Mussina.

[willshad]

1968 has to be the best year of all time for giving birth to baseball players. I spot 8 guys with HOF careers, and at least 2 other near misses.

[Cap78]

there was nobody better, more intimidating that Thomas in his prime...hit for a huge average with a ton of power and a bunch of walks...I remember when he came up with the Sox, I had never seen anyone that big before (or at least it seemed)

[KCGHOST]

This is really a top flight group.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I have a soft spot for players born in 1968 because I was also born in 1968. Lots of great ballplayers were born in this year.

[fenrir]

I voted for Frank Thomas and Mike Piazza. 1968 produced a lot of talented ball players.