Orel at Sons of Steve Garvey pointed to…
…a one-of-a-kind Upper Deck piece featuring authentic signatures of Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Roy Campanella, Pie Traynor and Cy Young.
Yikes. Just out of curiosity, I did a little assembly of career stats:
| Pos | Name | Seasons | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Roy Campanella | 10 | .276 | .360 | .500 |
| 1B | Lou Gehrig | 17 | .340 | .447 | .632 |
| 2B | Rogers Hornsby | 23 | .358 | .434 | .577 |
| SS | Honus Wagner | 21 | .327 | .391 | .466 |
| 3B | Pie Traynor | 17 | .320 | .362 | .435 |
| LF | Ted Williams | 19 | .344 | .482 | .634 |
| CF | Ty Cobb | 24 | .366 | .433 | .512 |
| RF | Babe Ruth | 22 | .342 | .474 | .690 |
It’s hard to argue with that lineup. Check this out:
All-Time Career Batting Average (BA) Leaders
1. Ty Cobb
2. Rogers Hornsby
7. Ted Williams
9. Babe Ruth
17. Lou Gehrig
All-Time Career On Base Percentage (OBP) Leaders
1. Ted Williams
2. Babe Ruth
5. Lou Gehrig
8. Rogers Hornsby
9. Ty Cobb
All-Time Slugging Percentage (SLG) Leaders
1. Babe Ruth
2. Ted Williams
3. Lou Gehrig
13. Rogers Hornsby
But are they the best at each position? Adjusted OPS+, according to Baseball Reference is OPS “normalized for both the park and the league the player played in.”
Taking that, most of the guys still look pretty spiffy:
All-Time Adjusted OPS+ Leaders
1. Babe Ruth
2. Ted Williams
4. Lou Gehrig
5. Rogers Hornsby
10. Ty Cobb
30. Honus Wagner
Honus is pretty far down, but apparently the highest shortstop on the list. If the outfield wasn’t already crowded, Mickey Mantle would be a good alternative, #6 on the Adjusted OPS+ list. And that doesn’t even count certain active players, like Barry Bonds (#3) and Albert Pujols (#7).
Best ever? Maybe arguable position by position, especially defensively, but hard to find better stats as a complete lineup.
And that doesn’t even count the pitchers. :)
While I was about to applaud Upper Deck’s restraint in including only two Yankees in the lineup, I noticed there are also two Pirates.
Talk about two clubs that went in different directions.
Let’s see…
And Cy Young went into the HoF on the Cleveland Spiders — an awesome name that I wish hadn’t disappeared. What a debacle that was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Spiders
I have NYY 2, PIT 2, BOS, BRO, DET, STL…?
Cleveland Spiders sure sounds better than Cleveland Indians. How can you not love a team with players named Cupid Childs and Nig Cuppy?
Whoops, you’re right — I was too busy looking at numbers and not at letters. Plus I’m all verklempt about the Spiders. ;) I’m going to have to write an alternate history story where the Spiders survived.