Some have better metrics at the position, but none come close to Willie Mays' combination of athleticism, arm strength, instincts, entertainment value and nickname. In two short weeks the Cleveland Browns will close the book on their disaster 2015 season. .356/.423/.517, OPS -- .940, Hits -- 1,772, HRs -- 54, RBIs -- 785, None other than Babe Ruth said Jackson was "the greatest natural hitter I ever saw." After winning the National League MVP in 2018 and finishing runner-up in 2019, Yelich slashed just . Don't think so. Players are evaluated on five criteria as the foundation of our rankings: We use Wins Above Replacement (WAR) as a basis for these calculations. He led that 1968 team in batting average, home runs and OPS, earning one of his four All-Star selections in the process. 2x All-Star (1980, 1985) 2x Silver-Slugger (1983 . His eight grand slams are also the most in franchise history, as are his 10 RBIs in a single game against the Yankees on Aug. 21, 2007. "The Great One" would be the first player who we would pay to watch play defense. 5) Dave Kingman. The ten time All-Star, eight time Gold Glove, led all second basemen in double plays turned for eight consecutive years from 1960 to 1967. The talented footballer was voted UEFA Men's Player of the Year. "The Cat" was nearly as quick as he was strong no catcher had a higher caught stealing percentage in MLB history and his ability to call games and handle pitchers was widely known. Bill Mazeroski became a baseball icon when he hit the first World Series winning walk off home run in history. His arrival helped turn a 90-loss team into a 103-win team. Wheat was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1959. He. Big numbers? That leaves half or just under half from his long peak (seven best seasons), short peak (three best seasons), and prime (five best consecutive seasons). He was world champion with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982 and a part of the Amazin' Mets of 1986. He was a six-time All-Star and won two Gold Gloves as a member of the White Sox, topping .300 in six seasons. And Williams never posted a .609 OBP. If only the world had seen more of Jackson, whose association with the Black Sox scandal cut short his career at age 32. Philadelphia A's (1908-09), Cleveland Naps ('10-14), Cleveland Indians ('15), Chicago White Sox ('15-20), Career stats Best Midfielders of All Time Andres Iniesta Xavi Lothar Matthaus Andrea Pirlo - One of the Best Midfielders of all Time Ryan Giggs Steven Gerrard Michael Laudrup (DEN) Paul Scholes - A Great Central Midfielder Didi Frank Lampard Joshua Kimmich - A Popular Name Among the Best Defensive Midfielders Diego Maradona - All-Time Best Midfielder (2:29), All-Time #MLBRank: The 10 greatest left fielders, The greatest lineups ever? Raines Sr. belongs in the Hall of Fame. The 20 Greatest Athletes of all Time Whiteland built a double-digit lead at the pivotal moment of the third quarter then hit just enough free throws in the game's final minute to secure a 47-45 victory over Shelbyville . Brock was at his best in October, hitting .391 -- second only to Pepper Martin (.418) in franchise history -- with 34 hits in 21 World Series games. Defense is why he flew into the Hall with ease on his first try (91.7%). -- Caple, When you look at combined value metrics like WAR or Jay Jaffe's JAWS, it might surprise you to find that after LF's all-time trinity of Williams, Bonds and Henderson, Yaz is the guy who doesn't quite rise to their level, but is far better than everyone else on this list. For this calculation, we use a replacement level on defense is the league average. Teams He led outfielders in assists five times and led right fielders in fewest errors committed seven times. The Hall of Famer leads all Expos/Nationals players in offensive WAR (48.2), runs scored (947), singles (1,163), triples (82), walks (793), runs created (1,047), stolen bases (635), stolen base percentage (85.7) and win probability added (38.9). Possessing a cannon for an arm, he terrified base runners with his pick off moves and laser throws to catch runners stealing. No player not even Mantle dominated on his level for the '50s and '60s when he roamed center for the Giants and racked up two MVP awards, four home run titles, four stolen base titles, and one batting title. Generally, a players Career Value is worth about 50-60% of the ranking score we assign him. But I wouldn't put him in the top 100 players. Maddux had his #31 retired by both the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves. Philadelphia A's (1924-32, '40-41, '44), Chicago White Sox ('33-35), Detroit Tigers ('36), Washington Senators ('37-38), Boston Bees ('39), Cincinnati Reds ('39), Boston Red Sox ('43), Honors The Big Puma ranks fourth in franchise history in games played; second in homers (326); third in runs scored (1,008), RBIs (1,090), doubles (375) and extra-base hits (727); and fifth in total hits (1,548). He spent the majority of his career with the Texas Rangers among other teams, but a one year stint with the Florida Marlins earned him a World Series title in 2003. And he pulled it off in only eight seasons as a regular. His defensive skills earned him the nickname The Wizard of Oz. During his 19 year career he appeared in 15 All-Star Games and earned 13 Gold Glove Awards. Teams: Chicago Cubs (1991-97), New York Yankees (1997, 2005), San Francisco Giants (1998), Kansas City Royals (1999-2001), Atlanta Braves (2001), Boston Red Sox (2002), New York Mets (2003), Seattle Mariners (2003), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2004). Eddie Rosario - Minnesota Twins Age 27 The 27-year old Rosario has been a steady 30+ doubles / 20+ home runs guy for the last. "The Wizard" is the all-time leader in dWAR. 344 views, 3 likes, 0 loves, 1 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Field of Dreams Navojoa: Aguerridas Vs Buhas. -- Caple, "Manny being Manny" wasn't merely the clownish contemporary riff on a Ruthian theme, his raw stats also wouldn't look out of place among the greats in whites-only era between the wars, even acknowledging his late-career suspensions for PEDs. -- Jim Caple, ESPN.com senior writer, Another whites-only era star, you can acknowledge that and then enjoy his being the Hall of Famer who never did stop putting his foot in the bucket at bat, as well as the key role he played as a guy with tremendous plate coverage starring for Connie Mack's last A's dynasty in 1929-31. Cincinnati Reds (1963-78, '84-86), Philadelphia Phillies ('79-83), Montreal Expos ('84). Teams: San Diego Padres (1978-81), St. Louis Cardinals (1982-96). Angels top 5 >, Key fact: His .959 OPS with the Astros is the second highest in franchise history, Berkman is one of the three greatest offensive players in Astros history, joining Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. Moore was installed as the Giants leadoff hitter by Bill Terry in one of his first acts after taking over for John McGraw in 1932. Pittsburgh Pirates (1986-92), San Francisco Giants ('93-2007), Honors Some might put an asterisk next to his name, but the performance was the best ever at left field or power production. William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 - July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. Midfielders may play an exclusively right back role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. That gets you all-county in high school; you don't do that in the major leagues. He spent his entire 18-year career with the Philadelphia Phillies where he was chosen as an All-Star twelve times and won ten Gold Glove Awards. He also had a .992 OPS over 29 postseason games with Houston. Tim Kurkjian, Eduardo Perez and Dallas Braden weigh in on who is the greatest left fielder in MLB history. He led all pitchers in assists in eleven seasons, range factor among pitchers fourteen times, and had three seasons in which he did not commit an error. Because we adjust for timeline and era, our rankings have fewer players from before 1941 than many other baseball player lists. Teams: Tampa Bay Rays (2006-14), Oakland Athletics (2015), Kansas City Royals (2015), Chicago Cubs (2016-19), Positions: Second base, shortstop, outfield. (Insider), Teams Marlins top 5 >, Key fact: Caught final out of 1969 World Series, One of the engines of the 1969 Miracle Mets, Jones hit .340 in 137 games that season, starting in left field for 119 of them. -- Tim Kurkjian, ESPN.com senior writer, For as much as we dwell on the video-arcade numbers from his final 10 seasons, sometimes we don't make enough of what he did in his first 12: .288/.408/.551, 374 HR, 417 SB, three NL MVP awards. A career .300 hitter with over 2,700 hits, he matches his prowess at the plate with solid defensive play in the middle infield. He deserves to be in the Hall of Defense at the very least. CAREER = career war. In 1977, he set what was then a rookie record with 56 stolen bases, and he batted .290 en route to a third-place finish in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. -- Lauber, The numbers defy sense. Greg Maddux is widely considered to be the greatest fielding pitcher of all-time. The Man of Steal swiped an astonishing 130 bags in 1982, which remains a single-season record in the Modern Era (since 1900), and became MLB's all-time stolen-base king in '91. His #6 was retired by the Detroit Tigers and in 1980 he was enshrined in Cooperstown as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Barry Bonds Bill Terry Gary Matthews Gregor Blanco Jo-Jo Moore John McGraw, Leo Durocher, Monte Irvin, Whitey Lockman. His #1 is retired by the St. Louis Cardinals and he's a Hall of Famer who helped win a World Series title in 1982. For all of his on field accomplishments, Bonds remains an underrated defensive player. Justin Upton can hit, but when he takes the field he can be a defensive liability. In his 16 year career, he had. Baseball's best left field players include some amazing legends of the game, with names like Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Carl Yastrzemski. The adequate fielding was a bonus. NAME. In baseballs rich history there have been many players that have excelled in the defensive aspects of the game. The calmness with. In Jo-Jo Moore and Gary Matthews we see the conventional wisdom about left field come to the fore. During his time with the ballclub, Keller was a five-time All-Star, four-time World Series. Despite these statistical shortcomings, we do know that he finished first among shortstops in fielding percentage four times, had the best range factor for shortstops four times, and led shortstops in putouts twice. Consistency, discipline, and work ethic are essential traits for a player to earn the coveted Gold Glove Award, awarded to elite fielders at the end of each season. 2 -- Philadelphia A's (1929-30), Career stats The Missouri men's basketball team is set for its final true road game of the 2022-23 season with a contest at LSU on Wednesday. Thats how confident the former prep school track-basketball star was in his speed, quickness and ups. FROM. Forgot how much ground he covered in his pre-roids days, didnt you? He won an NL batting title in 1918 en route to a career batting average of .317. Zack Greinke is the modern Greg Maddux, only with less range, surer hands (one error per 319 innings pitched) and a superior pickoff move.