FanNation - The Republic of Sport

After the previous nine articles breaking down the greatest at all the other positions; we can now move on to ranking those players for where they should be overall in the history of the great game we call baseball.  In order to be on the overall list, a player had to be ranked at a position, so that means the players who were honorable mentions or will/may be didn't make the cut.

Keep in mind; active players (or players not officially retired like Bonds, Clemens or Pedro) were not eligible to be ranked at their respective positions, so they will not appear on this list. 

There ended up being 74 ranked players, so we started at number 74 and are working our way up to number 1.  We looked at numbers 74-51 two weeks ago, numbers 50-26 last week and now on to the best of the best, the Top 25. 

I will list the players overall rank, their name, their position used for the position rankings, their ranking at that position and the stats used to compare them to others.  I will also give a brief explanation of my feelings regarding each player and their place in history.

For these rankings, stats play a part in determining where a player was ranked.  However, these rankings are for overall greatest baseball player, so other factors also came into play such as but not limited to; did the player play multiple positions well, was their talent balanced between offense and defense and/or what was their overall importance to the game.

Determining exactly where all 74 players fit wasn't easy.  Basically, I decided to come up with a "draft board" of where I would be willing to take each player if I was drafting a new team.  I'm hoping I was able to get each player within three spots of where most people would rank them for numbers 74 - 51, within two spots for numbers 50 - 26 and within one spot for the Top 25.

Deciding who made the Top 25 was easy; placing them in order wasn't.  These are the best of the best in history and each have their arguments for being placed higher; and sometimes the difference of being placed three spots higher or lower was very slim.  I firmly believe you could get ten different people to rank these twenty five players and you wouldn't get two identical rankings.  So, keeping that in mind, here's who I believe the Top 25 players in baseball history are.

25.   Joe Morgan (2B #2): HOF, 2 MVPs (and 2 other top-5 finishes), 10 time all-star, 5 Gold Gloves, 1 Silver Slugger, 2649 games, .271 batting average, .392 OBP, .427 Slugging %, 268 HRs, 1133 RBIs, 2517 Hits, 1865 BBs and 1015Ks.

-          Morgan was the first true power hitting second basemen (for the time); he hit over 250 HRs, almost 450 doubles and almost 100 triples.  He was one of the best players at stealing bases (success rate was greater than 80%) and was a fantastic fielder.  Also, he was the first second baseman in National League history to win the MVP in back-to-back seasons.

24.   George Brett (3B #2): HOF, 1 MVP (and 3 other top-5 finishes), 13 time All-Star, 1 Gold Glove, 3 Silver Sluggers, 2707 games, .305 batting average, .369 OBP, .487 Slugging %, 317 HRs, 1595 RBIs, 3154 Hits, 1096 BBs and 908Ks.

-          One of four players in MLB history with over 3000 hits, 300 HRs and a career .300 batting average (the others being Aaron, Mays and Musial).  Brett won a batting title in three different decades (only player to ever accomplish this).  One of the best pure hitters in baseball history.

23.   Carl Yastrzemski (LF #4): HOF, 1 MVP (and 1 other top-5 finish), 1 AL Batting Triple Crown, 18 time All-Star, 7 Gold Gloves, 3308 games, .285 batting average, .379 OBP, .462 Slugging %, 452 HRs, 1844 RBIs, 3419 Hits, 1845 BBs and 1393 Ks.

-           The last player to win a Batting Triple Crown (1967).  One of the finest defensive left fielders in history.  First player in American League history to amass 3000 hits and 400 HRs solely in the American League (since matched by Cal Ripken Jr).  Yaz is the Red Sox franchise leader in almost all batting categories (trailing Ted Williams in HRs).

22.   Greg Maddux (SP #5): 4 Cy Youngs (and 5 other top-5 finishes), 2 top-5 MVP finishes, 355 wins, .610 Win %, 740 Games Started, 109 Complete Games, 35 Shutouts, 5008.1 Innings Pitched, 3.16 ERA, 132 ERA+, 1.143 WHIP, 3371 Ks, 999 BBs, 3.37 K/BB Ratio, 6.1 K/9 Ratio, 8 time All-Star and 18 Gold Gloves.

-          Maddux is arguably the greatest pitcher of our generation.  Not known for being a power pitcher, Maddux still managed to strikeout over 3000 batters solely on control and intelligence.  Won four consecutive Cy Young awards (first pitcher in history to so, since matched by Randy Johnson) and won at least 15 games in 17 straight seasons. Maddux was also one of the best defensive pitchers in history.

21.    Ernie Banks (SS #2): HOF, 2 MVPs (and 2 other top-5 finishes), 11 time All-Star, 1 Gold Glove, 2528 games, .274 batting average, .330 OBP, .500 Slugging %, 512 HRs, 1636 RBIs, 2583 Hits, 1305 Runs, 763 BBs, and 1236 Ks.

-          "Mr. Cub" was the first African-American player for the Cubs.  Ernie was always wanting to "play two".  His love and desire to play the game of baseball is legendary.  First shortstop in National League history to win the MVP in back-to-back seasons.  Held the record for most HRs by a shortstop (277, later broken by Cal Ripken Jr.) when he retired.  Played more games at first base, but will always be known as a shortstop.

20.   Tris Speaker (CF #5): HOF, 1 MVP (and 1 other top-5 finish), 2789 Games, .345 batting average, .428 OBP, .500 Slugging %, 117 HRs, 1529 RBIs, 3514 Hits, 1381 BBs and 220 Ks.

-           Speaker is one of the best overall hitters in the game.  While he didn't put up the HR totals that other outfielders have; he rarely struck out, had a high batting average, a high OBP and a high Slugging %.  He was also a fantastic defensive player; playing shallow in center allowing him to get unassisted double plays at second on line drives/shallow pop ups and would also take part in routine double plays by the infield.

To see the rest of the TOP 25, click here.