Two all-time greats, but which one was better? If Ty Cobb > Honus Wagner and Honus Wagner > Lou Gehrig, then surely Ty Cobb > Lou Gehrig. But is that necessarily the case?
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Lou Gehrig vs. Ty Cobb
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I chose Ty Cobb and I suspect he should win pretty easily."(Shoeless Joe Jackson's fall from grace is one of the real tragedies of baseball. I always thought he was more sinned against than sinning." -- Connie Mack
"I have the ultimate respect for Whitesox fans. They were as miserable as the Cubs and Redsox fans ever were but always had the good decency to keep it to themselves. And when they finally won the World Series, they celebrated without annoying every other fan in the country."--Jim Caple, ESPN (Jan. 12, 2011)
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Great as Gehrig was, and an argument could be made straight face that was the third greatest hitter of all time, he is no match for Cobb. Cobb is one tick above Gehrig, traveling in the circle of Ruth, Mays, Wagner and perhaps Bonds, Williams and/or Mantle for the greatest or top 5 MLB position player. Gehrig is in the next group that shoudl include Aaron, Musial and Speaker. Not bad company either way.
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If the only thing you look at is OPS+, then Gehrig beats Cobb, 179 to 168. This, of course, conveniently ignores the facts that:
Cobb played CF, for the most part pretty well, while Gehrig played 1B and struggled with his defense.
Cobb stole bases, and keeping in mind that there were a lot of CS in Cobb's time, he still seemed to be very good at it. Gehrig had decent speed when he was young, but his SB:CS ratio was 102:100.
Cobb played over 900 games more than Gehrig, and lost some of his OPS+ edge by having a seven-year decline phase from ages 35 to 42. Gehrig had a short, tragic decline phase, basically occurring in 1938.
I agree with the last poster - for me, Cobb is ranked second all time as a player, behind a certain teammate of Gehrig's. Lou seems to fit in somewhere around #7, around guys like Wagner, Williams, and Aaron.
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I'm gonna go with Cobb. Gehrig's only real argument is his power and higher OPS+. That being said first base is a more eminent position for power and hitting.Owen
Die-hard Mets fan. Also root for the Pirates and Indians amongst other teams I enjoy watching.
Favorite Players of All-Time (in no order): Tom Seaver, Mike Piazza, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Max Carey, Stan Musial, Harmon Killebrew, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Leo Durocher, Willie McCovey, Bob Feller, Joe Dimaggio, Ernie Banks
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I voted Cobb, but Gehrig was better than Cobb at total bases plus walks plus stolen bases, and that is a fairly significant point that goes in Gehrig's favor.
If I was building an all-time team, Cobb would be somewhat irreplaceable. Sure you could put Speaker of Oscar Charleston in Cobb's place and get almost as much value out of CF, but it wouldn't be quite the same level of intensity or batting average.... Gehrig could be much more easily replaced with Buck Leonard or Albert Pujols without skipping a beat
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I voted Cobb, but Gehrig was better than Cobb at total bases plus walks plus stolen bases (per season), and that is a fairly significant point that goes in Gehrig's favor.
If I was building an all-time team, Cobb would be somewhat irreplaceable. Sure you could put Speaker or Oscar Charleston in Cobb's place and get almost as much value out of CF, but it wouldn't be quite the same level of intensity or batting average.... Gehrig could be much more easily replaced with Buck Leonard or Albert Pujols without skipping a beat
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Originally posted by 3and2Fastball View PostI voted Cobb, but Gehrig was better than Cobb at total bases plus walks plus stolen bases (per season), and that is a fairly significant point that goes in Gehrig's favor.
If I was building an all-time team, Cobb would be somewhat irreplaceable. Sure you could put Speaker or Oscar Charleston in Cobb's place and get almost as much value out of CF, but it wouldn't be quite the same level of intensity or batting average.... Gehrig could be much more easily replaced with Buck Leonard or Albert Pujols without skipping a beatMy top 10 players:
1. Babe Ruth
2. Barry Bonds
3. Ty Cobb
4. Ted Williams
5. Willie Mays
6. Alex Rodriguez
7. Hank Aaron
8. Honus Wagner
9. Lou Gehrig
10. Mickey Mantle
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Originally posted by GiambiJuice View PostTy Cobb is without a doubt in the top 3. Lou Gehrig is arguably in the top 8.Lou Gehrig is the Truest Yankee of them all!
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Originally posted by leecemark View Post--You can make a reasonable argument for Cobb as the best player ever. You can not make such an argument for Gehrig.Lou Gehrig is the Truest Yankee of them all!
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Originally posted by GiambiJuice View PostI think Willie Mays could replace Cobb quite nicely.
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Originally posted by White Knight View PostCan you with his projected disease-free stats? .330 BA, 650 home runs, 3,800 hits, 2,800 RBI, 3,000 consecutive game streak. I think so.
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