Check all of the following players which you feel were great.

[Bill Burgess]

Which of these players do you feel was great, compared to all other position players of history? Check as many as you feel apply.

[csh19792001]

Which of these players do you feel was great, compared to all other position players of history? Check as many as you feel apply.

Mazeroski and Robinson get in for their fielding- they may have been the two greatest fielders in the history of the game.

And speaking of fielding and unhearlded greatness, I agree with Mark here (might be the only guy to agree) that Keith Hernandez WAS a great player and is very overlooked by most, for whatever reason.

I also think Garvey was a great, hardnosed player.. I know from watching ESPN classic and reading accounts that he almost single handedly got his teams to the world series several years with his hitting in the LCS- I think his postseason record speaks for itself. I think his record was actually far better (overall) than Reggie's, who is given all the accolades (and the moniker) as the hero of the postseason. He was also an outstanding fielder and incredibly reliable/durable, to boot. How many games did he play in consecutively?

I know he was a blow-dried jerk, and his OBP alone might leave him short of the HOF, but I still think he could be called "great" for the many other things he did well. Others would talk about the bad era (and parks) he played in for hitting, and the fact that it was harder to seperate one's self from the pack in those days, too. I'm not sure how strong the league was in that era, but I think almost certainly stronger than today's game.

How would he do playing post 1993, with today's parks, livelier ball, mediocre relief pitchers/expansion level pitching, and a game generally favoring hitters- as opposed to pitchers?

[Captain Cold Nose]

Mazeroski and Robinson get in for their fielding- they may have been the two greatest fielders in the history of the game.

And speaking of fielding and unhearlded greatness, I agree with Mark here (might be the only guy to agree) that Keith Hernandez WAS a great player and is very overlooked by most, for whatever reason.

I also think Garvey was a great, hardnosed player.. I know from watching ESPN classic and reading accounts that he almost single handedly got his teams to the world series several years with his hitting in the LCS- I think his postseason record speaks for itself. I think his record was actually far better (overall) than Reggie's, who is given all the accolades (and the moniker) as the hero of the postseason. He was also an outstanding fielder and incredibly reliable/durable, to boot. How many games did he play in consecutively?

I know he was a blow-dried jerk, and his OBP alone might leave him short of the HOF, but I still think he could be called "great" for the many other things he did well. Others would talk about the bad era (and parks) he played in for hitting, and the fact that it was harder to seperate one's self from the pack in those days, too. I'm not sure how strong the league was in that era, but I think almost certainly stronger than today's game.

How would he do playing post 1993, with today's parks, livelier ball, mediocre relief pitchers/expansion level pitching, and a game generally favoring hitters- as opposed to pitchers?

When he was playing in the seventies through the early eighties, Garvey was thought of as a surefire Hall of Famer. No player in my lifetime has had such a fall from grace, not counting Pete Rose. It seems like the very ones praising him to the skies while he was an all-star relish in tearing him down for being such a false "pretty boy".

[csh19792001]

When he was playing in the seventies through the early eighties, Garvey was thought of as a surefire Hall of Famer. No player in my lifetime has had such a fall from grace, not counting Pete Rose. It seems like the very ones praising him to the skies while he was an all-star relish in tearing him down for being such a false "pretty boy".

Yeah, that sounds about right, Cap'n Cold Nose.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Considering that all of the players mentioned are in the top 2% of all plyaers who have ever played...all of them were great. I will say it again, if you are better at your job than 98% of anybody who has ever done it, you are great at it, regardless of the field. Do all of these guys deserve Cooperstown? Of course not, but that does not mean they weren't great players relative to everybody who has ever picked up a glove. This is my defenition of greatness. I know most will disagree, but I don't care.

[Bill Burgess]

Final Talley: Who 29 Fever members voted as Great

Clemente -----27 votes - 93.10%
J. Jackson-----24
Crawford------22
Brett----------22
Simmons-------20
Kaline---------19
Yount---------17
Boggs---------17
Heilmann------14 - 48.28%
Murray--------14
B. Robinson---13
McGwire------13
F. Baker------12
Frisch--------11
Winfield-------9
Appling-------8
Molitor-------7 - 24.14%
F. Clarke-----6
Reese-------5
G. Davis-----5
J. Rice-------5
Mazeroski----5
Garvey------4
Maranville---4
Trammell----4
S. Rice------4
Hernandez---4
Al Oliver-----3
Maris--------3
Bresnahan---3
Rizzuto------2
Chance-----2

[538280]

Joe Jackson
Phil Rizzuto
Luke Appling
Rabbit Maranville
Dave Winfield
Frank Baker
Bill Mazeroski
Al Simmons
Sam Crawford
Al Kaline
Roger Bresnahan
Roger Maris
Jim Rice
George Brett

[SABR Matt]

PCA suggests that almost every player on that list is minimally a borderline candidate for the HOF...I checked a lot of boxes...I don't know if Bill made the votes public or not, but there were prescious few I didn't pick.

[Bill Burgess]

Thanks, Chris. Great. It still works. Thanks for participating.

I am very proud of you for not surrendering the fight on Morgan. Didn't back down, let anyone intimidate you, or run away. Stood your ground, kept your powder dry, and fought off the heavy incoming.

Great job, Chris! Test passed with flying colors! Welcome to Fever's Combat Zone. Just remember to keep your head down, let the incoming artillery shells explode over your head, and fire back with whatever you got. Good job!!

Uncle Bill the Kind

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Could someone explain to me, PLEASE, how Roberto Clemente--the modern-day, but inferior, version of George Sisler, with flashy batting averages but mediocre OBP's (.359 for his CAREER) because he was too much of a man to walk--plus a mediocre SB%, a very mediocre HR% which is not entirely the fault of Forbes Filed, and a TON of throwing errors.... Please tell me how THAT guy gets more votes for "great" than GEORGE F. BRETT?

Defense? Not clear Clemente has the edge, given all those errors, but so what, anyway? He was a corner OF and Brett was a 3Bman. Brett hit for nearly the same average in nearly as tough a home park, and hit the hell out of the ball. No comparison. Brett has a .10 edge in one of those categories, a .12 edge in the other, with 77 more HR's (despite cavernous Royals Stadium), 290 more RBI's and 167 more runs scored. And which one had Stargell batting behind him? McRae or Otis was a feared hitter, but no comparison rationally can be made between him and Otis/McReae.

While CLemente's career fielding % was 12% BELOW average for an OF of his time, Brett's was 4% below the average 3Bman of his time, and he had hugely superior "range factors" for 3Bmen. Both carried their teams to a world title, but I see no rational case, at least in the stats, for rating Clemente over Brett/.

BHN

[KCGHOST]

A much as I would prefer Brett to Clemente, Clemente is a legend. Mere greats do not outpoll legends. Brett was, in my opinion, the better offensive weapon, but Clemente was the better defender.

[AlecBoy006]

I said yes to Alan, Pee Wee, Shoeless, Scooter, Appling, Winfield, Murray, Brooks, Maris, Molitor, Brett, Yount, and last, but far from least, my favorite baseball player of all time- Wade Boggs!


EDIT: And Clemente

[Colorado Express]

It looks like there are some pretty "loose" interpretations of "great" out there.

[mwiggins]

It looks like there are some pretty "loose" interpretations of "great" out there.

How 'tight' is your interpretation of great? Top 10 players? Top 50? HoF worthy?

All of the players with more than 50% votes are easily top 100 players all-time, and I'd put 5 of them in the top 50 of all-time.

[538280]

I can't believe who I voted for on this poll! If I voted today I would vote completely differently.

Did I really ever think Jim Rice was a great player and Robin Yount wasn't? Yuck.