Best Left Fielder of All Time

[Chris M.]

Poll coming.

Note that Babe Ruth's games played between LF and RF are almost even. Ruth will be included in the right fielder poll if he doesn't win this one.

[wesgemm08]

no frank robinson? he split time between RF and LF.

[startBBtoday]

williams, i think of ruth as more of a rf

[QuikTrig]

i honsetly don't know who to vote for. all these OF polls are going to be pretty tough.

[fightinirish217]

Some awesome players in this poll. The Babe rules all but he played RF too. Teddy Ballgame is one of the greatest ever, Stan "The Man" Musial was also a hell of a ballplayer. Tough one.

[bigmike]

I will take Barry Bonds because I'll vote for Ruth in right field. Bonds and Ruth are near twins in total wins above replacement and war/season. So nuts how close together they are.

Edit: the fact that corner outfield may hold 4 of the top 5 players ever is nuts to me: Bonds, Ruth, Williams, and Musial.

[more heart]

Too many big names to decide on.

[QuikTrig]

I will take Barry Bonds because I'll vote for Ruth in right field. Bonds and Ruth are near twins in total wins above replacement and war/season. So nuts how close together they are.

Edit: the fact that corner outfield may hold 4 of the top 5 players ever is nuts to me: Bonds, Ruth, Williams, and Musial.

whose the other? cobb? mays?

[The Summer Ends]

Tough between Stan Musial, Ted Williams, and The Babe. Went with Babe Ruth.

[SSLYBY]

As a cardinals fan I'll go with Stan Musial. Ted almost got my vote.

[bigmike]

whose the other? cobb? mays?
I haven't looked, but I'd guess Mays.

Edit: What i've always found so interesting is how positions evolve over the years. In the 1950's/1960's CF was the position of the best players in the game and was incredibly deep. Late 1990's, SS. Now, Catcher is really starting to pick up while SS's sustained and CF is getting back on the map. Love stuff like that. I play on buying the WAR database from Sean Smith (http://baseballprojection.com/) ($25) so I can take a look back at the top 10 players at each position for the Tigers. I love learning about old history of baseball.

[Chris M.]

Went with Bonds because of his superior defense over Williams. So close though.

[CarouselBoy]

outfield is so tricky because of how much people move around, and because there were so many good outfielders. I went with Ted even though I hate the red sox. Dude was a sick hitter. I'll vote for babe for RF

[newfoundmichael]

Tough between Stan Musial, Ted Williams, and The Babe. Went with Babe Ruth.

it took me 5 minutes to decide between these three as well. I went with Ruth also, but Teddy Ballgame was damn good too.

[QuikTrig]

can we do multipolls where we can choose more than one? might work better to do top 5 OF's of all time, or top 3 at each position, or something like that. outfield is such a stacked position.

[bigmike]

Yeah, i agree. You can make the polls multi-options when you make the next one. That'd help. I'd like to see the collective AP All MLB History team when this is done, as well.

[poppa Q]

Wow. What a loaded position. It's crazy how Stan the Man is one of the (10? 5?) greatest players of all-time, yet could easily be considered the third or fourth best at his position.

Musial: 24 all-star games, 3 MVPs, 7 batting titles, second all-time in total bases, fourth all-time in hits.
Ruth: highest all-time slugging percentage, second in on base percentage, third in home runs, second most RBIs.
Bonds: 14 all-star games, 7 MVPs, third most runs scored, first in home runs, fourth in RBIs.
Williams: 19 all-star games, 5 MVPs, highest all-time on base percentage, second highest all-time slugging percentage, 2 Triple Crowns.

Honestly, it really depends what the beholder values the most. I'd probably rank them 1) Williams, 2) Bonds, 3) Musial, and 4) Ruth. Again: wow.

[QuikTrig]

Wow. What a loaded position. It's crazy how Stan the Man is one of the (10? 5?) greatest players of all-time, yet could easily be considered the third or fourth best at his position.

Musial: 24 all-star games, 3 MVPs, 7 batting titles, second all-time in total bases, fourth all-time in hits.
Ruth: highest all-time slugging percentage, second in on base percentage, third in home runs, second most RBIs.
Bonds: 14 all-star games, 7 MVPs, third most runs scored, first in home runs, fourth in RBIs.
Williams: 19 all-star games, 5 MVPs, highest all-time on base percentage, second highest all-time slugging percentage, 2 Triple Crowns.

Honestly, it really depends what the beholder values the most. I'd probably rank them 1) Williams, 2) Bonds, 3) Musial, and 4) Ruth. Again: wow.

the babe as the fourth best from that list? what do you value most? body weight?

[J.C.]

Going Bonds here because I consider Ruth a rightfielder.

[Chris M.]

can we do multipolls where we can choose more than one? might work better to do top 5 OF's of all time, or top 3 at each position, or something like that. outfield is such a stacked position.

I might do backups for certain positions after we go through the lineup. Like a 1B/3B poll, 2B/SS, 2 OF.

[fightinirish217]

Stan Musial, 24 all star games, wow!

[fightinirish217]

1,000th post right here. Nice.

[IAmNietzche]

"The third hitter is Stan Musial. There is no advice I can give you about him."