Who's now the greatest living MLB player?
- col-aaron-dorksen
- July 11, 2024
- 965
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
It was sad to learn of the passing of Willie Mays at age 93 on June 18.
I consider Mays the greatest five-tool player in baseball history. The former Giants and Mets center fielder could hit for average and power, field, throw and run as well as anyone who ever played.
Mays was long considered by most baseball experts as the greatest living player, ranking slightly ahead of his peer Hank Aaron, who passed away at 86 in 2021.
Before Joe DiMaggio’s death at 84 in 1999, the former Yankees’ outfielder had it in his contract that he had to be introduced at any public appearance as “the greatest living player.”
Ted Williams was OK being called “greatest living hitter” before passing away at 83 in 2002.
Babe Ruth is the greatest player ever. “The Great Bambino” could hit and pitch and was further ahead of his peers in home run hitting and popularity than anyone at any time in history.
Mays’ death got me thinking about a topic for debate that’s been reopened for the first time in many decades. Who’s now the greatest living MLB player?
The answer to this question will certainly be controversial and much, much harder to come up with a consensus.
If it wasn’t for the “steroid era,” the choice would be simple: Barry Bonds.
Bonds is the all-time leader in home runs (762) and fourth in RBI (1,990). He’s also among the all-time leaders in steroid shots and pills taken. I’m throwing his name out of contention, along with fellow busted dopers Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens.
After putting about a half-hour of research into this question, to check stats and make sure I didn’t miss an obvious choice, I narrowed my greatest living players to this 10-player group listed in alphabetical order: Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey Jr., Rickey Henderson, Randy Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Shohei Ohtani, Pete Rose, Albert Pujols, Nolan Ryan and Mike Schmidt. One also could make strong cases for Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera and Mike Trout.
When ranking all-time greats in any sport, how do you compare greatness over a short span like Koufax dominating from 1961-66 to a longer career like Rose or Ryan? That’s extremely hard to debate.
Ryan is the all-time leader in strikeouts (5,714) and no-hitters (seven), but his career record was just 324-292. Ryan never won a Cy Young Award while Koufax won three.
Rose is the “Hit King” (4,256) and was an All-Star at five different positions but has been banned from baseball due to betting. Henderson is the all-time leader in runs (2,295) and stolen bases (1,406).
Widely considered the best-ever at their positions are Bench (catcher) and Schmidt (third base). Griffey is seventh all-time in homers, and for many years, the center fielder was the most exciting player in baseball.
After weighing all the options, my pick as “greatest living player” is Mike Schmidt. The Phillies third baseman from 1972-89 ranks 16th with 548 homers, won three MVPs (1980, 1981, 1985), 10 Gold Gloves and was a 12-time All-Star. He led the Phillies to the 1980 World Series title.
Schmidt was a great all-around player, but I know there’s a lot of room for debate on this topic.
All-Star thoughts
It was great to see five Cleveland Guardians selected for the All-Star Game on July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Jose Ramirez (third base) and Steven Kwan (left field) will be starters, with Josh Naylor (first base), David Fry (utility) and Emmanuel Clase (closer) also selected.
Kwan led the AL with a .363 batting average as of July 9. The highest averages at the All-Star break in club history are Kenny Lofton (.378 in 1994), Sandy Alomar Jr. (.375, 1997), Earl Averill (.373, 1938) and Jeff Heath (.371, 1941).
Kwan is one of the best contact hitters in the game, striking out just 23 times while drawing 22 walks. Combine that with added power (nine home runs) and Gold Glove play in the outfield and he’s a joy to watch.
Parting shots
Triway alum Andrew Marcum has been one of the area’s best football and basketball statisticians for many years.
After his “go-to stat software” was discontinued, Marcum was left without a reliable solution to record stats. He tried all the options available, and none of them met his expectations. So what did Marcum do?
“I got to work, talked to other statisticians and built my own solution,” Marcum said.
Marcum has created PressBox Football Stats and wants to get the word out to other stat keepers who might be looking for solutions.
The new stat program created by Marcum includes a live GameCast with full stats and play-by-play for fans and media to follow along, fan notifications at key moments throughout their favorite teams’ games, preloading desired media contacts for instant report-outs after the game, and it’s an official MaxPreps Xport Enabled Stat Partner.
To learn more, visit www.pressboxstats.com/.
—Camp Fighting Scot returns July 14-17 at The College of Wooster and is open to boys and girls in fourth grade through 12th grade. Basketball campers will be separated by gender and grade level. The price for overnight campers is $490, and the commuter campers’ fee is $390. Register at www.CampFightingScot.com or email Wooster head coach Doug Cline at dcline@wooster.edu.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.