Yeah, that bat crack. the aroma of just mowed lawn. Snacking on Cracker Jack while attempting to stay out of the way of the enormous drink that the drunken fan seated behind you is barely holding onto. The national pastime of the United States, baseball, says summer like nothing else. It’s conceivable that your great-great-grandfather could easily follow a modern game if he were magically placed in the stands. Baseball’s long history and general constancy over decades contribute to its place in the American consciousness. I’ll be trying to compare athletes from very various eras here, although it is a little bit easier because of this history and consistency than it is for other sports. See you later.
Roger Clemens
Roger Clemens was the third-most strikeout thrower of all time with 4,672 strikeouts during his remarkable 24-year career. He also collected a record seven Cy Young Awards as the best pitcher of the year in the American or National League. He was one of the few starting pitchers to win the league MVP title in 1986 after leading the Boston Red Sox to a 24–4 record, 2.48 earned run average (ERA), and 238 strikeouts. Additionally, he was doing all of this at a time when many opposition batters were using steroids, which at the time was producing extremely high offensive statistics. Then why is he not higher? That being said, it’s highly likely that Clemens used steroids himself, thus his achievements aren’t quite as amazing.
Honus Wagner
A number of modern fans probably know Honus Wagner best as the subject of the most-valuable baseball card in history, the rare 1909–11 T206 Wagner card that was produced by the American Tobacco Company. The scarcity of the card is a big reason why it can fetch upwards of $2 million in a sale, but it wouldn’t be nearly as valuable if the person depicted on it was just a run-of-the-mill player and not one of the best to have ever stepped on a diamond. “The Flying Dutchman” (god, they came up with such good nicknames back in the day) led the National League in batting average eight times over the course of his career and retired with a stellar .328 average despite having played during the offense-killing “dead-ball era.” At the time of his retirement in 1917, he had tallied the second most hits (3,420), doubles (643), triples (252), and runs batted in (1,732) in major-league history, and all of these totals still rank among the top 25 of all time. A measure of Wagner’s greatness is found in the 1936 balloting for the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame, where he was one of the five players selected for that honor among the thousands who had played the game up to that point
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Stan Musial
“Stan the Man,” who is arguably the greatest individual on this list, was both a historically good player and a perfect citizen. The cherished St. Louis legend is the most closely associated player with his hometown having spent his whole 22-year career with the Cardinals. In addition to winning three World Series victories (1942, 1944, and 1946), Stan Musial amassed a lifetime of accomplishments including three MVP trophies (1943, 1946, and 1948).Batting average of 331. As a 41-year-old who began in the outfield for the Cardinals, Musial’s greatest single-season strikeout total was a pitiful 46 (in 505 plate appearances), demonstrating his exceptional eye for the ball. (Even so, he hit.330.
Ty Cobb
And this is arguably the biggest decline in humanity in the history of list items. Ty Cobb was the nasty troll under the bridge who threw rocks at kids walking by, whereas Musial was the handsome prince from a fairy tale. Cobb was an extremely gifted player with the highest lifetime batting average in major-league history (.366), despite being an unrepentant bigot who once assaulted a fan in the stands and often sharpened his spikes to maximize potential injury to opponents on hard slides. Throughout his 24-year career, he led the American League (AL) in hitting average a crazy 12-times, although he was by no means a singles player.
hitter, as he also led the AL on eight separate times in slugging percentage—a metric used to gauge a hitter’s ability to produce power. In addition to setting batting average records, he retired in 1928 as the all-time leader in hits (4,189), runs scored (2,246), and stolen bases (892), all of which were not surpassed until the late 20th or early 21st centuries. He batted over.400 in three seasons (1911,.420; 1912,.409; and 1922,.401).
Walter Johnson
The flaming For many years, dominating pitching was defined by the generational talent Walter Johnson. Over the course of his 21-year career, he led the AL in strikeouts 12 times, demonstrating his exceptional skill. “Big Train” pitched for the Washington Senators his whole professional career, compiling 110 complete game shutouts, a record that will never be surpassed in major league history. (As of this writing, Clayton Kershaw is the active leader with 15 games played in eight and a half seasons.) 1913 saw him
won 36 games to earn the Chalmers Award, which is the equivalent of the modern MVP, with a 1.14 ERA and an astounding 0.78 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched; a WHIP below 1.00 is regarded exceptional). In 1924, he won a second MVP award after leading the Senators to their first World Series victory. Johnson’s record of 3,509 career strikeouts stood for 56 years, and his 417 wins are second only to Cy Young’s 511.
Hank Aaron
Hank Aaron, who held the title of “Home Run King” for a generation, is most commonly remembered as a fantastic power hitter—possibly the greatest of all time. But “Hammerin’ Hank”‘s 755 career home runs—a record he held for 33 years—are only the beginning. Of course, his famous power is evident in his all-time high 2,297 runs batted in and 6,856 total bases, but he also had a respectable career.305 batting average and was awarded three Gold Gloves for his outfield play.
For 21 consecutive years, Aaron—who was always excellent—was chosen for the All-Star Game. In 15 of those seasons, he hit at least 30 home runs. In 1976, Aaron concluded his career with the second-highest number of hits (3,771) and runs scored (2,174) in major league history, in addition to his standing records.
Ted Williams
Ted Williams has long been called “the greatest pure hitter who ever lived.” His .482 lifetime on-base percentage is the highest of all time, and he ranks in the top 20 in total runs scored, home runs, runs batted in, and walks despite having missed almost five full seasons of his prime to military service. ”The Splendid Splinter” (see what I mean about the nicknames?) was renowned for his uncanny eye, which helped him post the last major-league season with a .400 batting average (.406 in 1941). Overall, the Boston Red Sox icon led the AL in batting average 6 times, slugging percentage 9 times, and on-base percentage 12 times in his 19-year career. Not content with simply being the best hitter ever, Williams has also been called both the best fisherman and best fighter pilot ever. Despite all the accolades (or perhaps because of them), he had a notoriously prickly relationship with the public. But as famed author John Updike put it when Williams refused to come out for a curtain call after hitting a home run in his final career at bat: “Gods do not answer letters.”