What Are Your Most Committed Baseball Opinions?
Mine are...
1. Had Oscar Charleston played in pro baseball, he'd be considered better than Willie Mays.
2. Mickey Mantle was the single, most talented ballplayer to ever play on the field.
3. Babe Ruth was the best player to play in pro baseball, period.
4. Honus Wagner is the best defensive shortstop, closely followed by Ozzie Smith. However, Honus Wagner is by far the greatest shortstop in the history of baseball. Nobody even compares.
5. Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher to ever live.
6. Bill James is the greatest statistician today, but a horrible writer. I like his blog-type approach, but authors and proffesors would consider it a sin.
7. Rickey Henderson is the greatest base stealer and leadoff hitter in history.
8. Christy Mathewson, Bob Gibson, and Nolan Ryan are not in the top five pitchers of all-time. Mathewson, who I have eighth, is the only one that is in the top ten.
9. Ron Santo is the greatest player turned down from the Hall of Fame, with Tim Raines closely following him, although there's a good chance he'll make it soon.
10. Sadaharu Oh would not be one of the top five players had he played in the MLB.
Josh Hamilton won’t get into crack / steriods like a lot of people think.
Babe Ruth would still be great if he played today.
Thats all I got lol.
Ted Williams is the best hitter that ever lived.
Ozzy Smith isnt even better than Omar Visquel defensively, I dont know much about Honus Wagner but nobody is better than Visquel defensively.
My most commited baseball opinion would ahve to be the Dodgers being the greatest franchise in all sports. They brought baseball to the West Coast taking the game of baseball to a whole other level. Not only that but opening the door for black players and later on hispanics and asians. Jackie Robinson, Fernando Valenzuela, Chan Ho Park, and Hideo Nomo were the faces of thier ethnicity and all started with the Dodgers.
The rest on your list dont click with me, the only one I can agree with is the Rickey Henderson being the greatest all time base stealers/lead off man.
1) The DH absolutely needs to go. Although it lengthens the careers of older players who can still hit, Baseball purists (like me) want it all. I want the strategy needed when its called for a double switch. Small ball it how we learned to play the game in the first place.
There was no “curse” for Boston before 2004, and theres no “Curse” against the Cubs either.
2) Pete Rose DOES belongs in the HOF. Gambling is an issue granted, however there was no implication he did it while playing. He is the all time hits leader. Im am a Reds homer granted but will have to live with such a crock as him not being a HOF’er. As soon as ONE roid player gets in the hall, all points against Rose will be moot.
3)Keep Wrigley and Fenway…period. Although I like the majority of the new ballparks. I need tradition. There are some old ballparks that needed to go, like Milwaukee County Stadium…boy what a dump.
4)Luxury tax needs to turn into a hard cap. The L Tax would work if the small market team owners were held accountable for their spending (or lack therof) Again being a Reds homer Im tired of seeing homegrown talent being auctioned off like cattle every year at the trading deadline to a big market team. Make the small market owners SPEND to keep their product at a minimally acceptable competitive level. I feel for the Marlins fans that every 6 years (were in the 6th year of the current cycle) they win the series, then dump their talent the next year. Salary Cap works for the NFL, generally considered teh best sports organization on the planet.
5) Everyone quit whining about the homer tv/radio announcers. Granted I cannot stand Sterling doing that silly A-Bomb from A-Rod, but Im sure Non Reds fans dont particulary care for Marty Brennaman, whereas I enjoy him immensley, he tells it like it is.
6)The 1975-76 Big Red Machine still top to bottom the best collection of players on one team Ive ever seen.
7) Leave the flood gates open allowing more and more international players to play in the majors if talent warrants.
9) Get rid of interleague play. Only time AL should play NL is all star game and World Series
10) Baseball is the most intellectually demanding game there is, nothing compares.
11) Best player Ive ever seen is Johnny Bench and think he is head and shoulders the best Catcher to have ever played the game.
Shoeless Joe Jackson should be in the Hall of Fame.
Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame
A lot of pitchers before the 1980’s used to scuff balls, use vaseline, etc., is this as bad as using steroids? (it was a competitive advantage)
The players who used illegal drugs should be banned from baseball once they are caught.No more second chances. (Steve Howe was given 7 or 8 second chances) what a crock. A person with a “real job” would be fired the first time.
There should be a salary cap so the Yankees don’t keep trying to buy pennants and causing the cost of going to games rise more then the average family can afford.
1. Joe Jackson was guilty. Too much proof to say he wasn’t, even the .375 average in the 1919 World Series doesn’t help.
2. Willie Mays made the best catch in baseball (TV) history. (Meaning that since TV, he has made the best catch I’ve ever seen).
3. 2005 was no fluke for the South Side of Chicago.
4. Rickey Henderson is the best base-stealer (and lead-off hitter……don’t want to seem like I am copying you).
5. Brett Pill is the nicest player ever to play professional baseball.
6. Pat Neshek is the most fan-friendly player to ever play professional baseball.
7. Baseball is overrated on the East Coast. What about the Midwest? Or the West?
8. Josh Gibson would have a less successful career in the bigs, but still a great career.
9. No travel baseball for kids.
10. The Big Hurt never took steroids.
11. I love this game.
1) Any player to play their career prior to 1960 cannot be considered one of the greatest players to play the game, simply because modern conditioning techniques have created ballplayers that far surpass their forebears.
2) Omar Vizquel is the greatest defensive shortstop to ever play the game. Not even Ozzie Smith comes close to him.
3) Performance Enhancing Drugs are an overblown media hype, and are not nearly the negative that people believe they are.
4) The greatest ballplayer to step onto the field was Barry Bonds. Steroids or not, he could hit for average and power, field at a Gold Glove level, steal bases, and is widely considered the most intimidating player to ever step up to bat.
5) Offensively speaking, Albert Pujols will eclipse Barry Bonds.
6) Catcher is the single most important position in baseball, and Johnny Bench was the greatest catcher to play the game.
Edit: Connor, I completely agree that my points are arguable. But they are my beliefs, and I can back them up with many points and love to debate them. I can certainly see conflicting opinions as valid, even if I don’t agree with them.
1. Pete Rose should never be allowed anywhere near the Hall of Fame, let alone be inducted into it. And that any fan who feels that gambling is not worthy of being declared “permanently ineligible” must not have a lot of respect for the integrity of the game.
2. That Nolan Ryan was a slightly above average pitcher who happened to have some big strikeout numbers.
3. That pitchers with high strikeout numbers are usually overrated. In the words of Crash Davis, “Strikeouts are boring, besides that, they’re fascist.” Give me a pitcher that can have an 8 pitch inning with 3 ground outs over one who takes 20 pitches to get 3 strikeouts.
4. That MLB umpires need to learn the strike zone. The strike zone is not meant to be “interpreted”, it is clearly defined in the rule book.
4 (a) as an aside to the above, MLB umpires also need to go back to trying NOT to be noticed. With the possible exception of their wives or parents, nobody goes to a ball game to see the umpire, and the best compliment an umpire can get from a fan is to go completely unnoticed. Shame that some of them feel the game is about them.
5. That World Series games should not begin at 8:30 eastern time.
6. That there is no conceivable reason why a 9 inning ball game, especially a low scoring one, can’t be completed in about 2 1/2 hours.
7. That the lefty-righty thing is way overdone. A team shouldn’t have to use 6 pitchers to throw a shutout.
8. That the Veteran’s Committee is nothing more than an “Old Boys Club” with absolutely no intention on ever voting a player in. Santo not being in is the best example of their reluctance to let deserving players in. I think their collective egos somehow feel their accomplishments will be diminshed by allowing other players into their small group.
9. That the DH needs to go. Statistics show that, despite its’ intention, it does not really add offense to the game. And rather than trying to add offense, perhaps baseball should instead try to teach the casual fan that a well played 2-1 ball game is better than a 12-10 game that is poorly played.
10. That a team’s past performance and history have absolutely nothing to do with the current season. While I appreciate the history of the Yankees, 26 Series championships mean absolutely nothing to do with the 2009 season. Likewise, the fact that the Cubs have not won a Series since 1908 also means nothing when discussing this year.
Good question.
Pete Rose should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame!!!!!!
First of all, where is Cy Young? Best hitter to ever live is Ty Cobb.
How can Ozzie Smith closely follow Honus Wagner but then nobody else even compares? You can’t have both things.
Barry Bonds was the biggest and most arrogant jackass to walk on the face of earth and the evidents that points him taking steriods further proves he is insecure of himself. He needs to cheat to tell everyone he was good.
tw
Anyone who thinks (and acts accordingly) that statistical innovation peaked in the early 1880s or thereabouts is committing the intellectual equivalent of fighting a 21st century battle with 19th century technology.
Which makes the outcome predictable and leaves the vanquished in a very unpleasant state.
1. Josh Gibson would have been the best catcher ever if he played in the Majors.
2. Willie Mays is the best all around player ever.
3. If Babe Ruth played today, he would be able to break the single season home run record by over 25.
4. The Cardinals trading Steve Carlton was the most foolish move in their history.
5. Mariano Rivera is the best relief pitcher to put on a uniform.