AGMVC : Pujols is king, but who's tops at second?
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by user Steaksammich
The voting for first basemen fell off the main page pretty quick, so we didn't get as many voters as I would have liked, but we did manage to match the 8 that we got for catchers.
Albert Pujols was the obvious and unanimous choice for the best active firstbasemen, but the rest of the list was all over the place. Mark Teixeira, who came in second, was voted as high as 2nd and as low as 7th. Two voters put Carlos Delgado as high as second, but one voter didn't think that he was even worthy of being in the top ten. Paul Konerko got a 2nd place vote, but he also got two 10th place votes. Todd Helton was ranked as high as third, but he didn't even make it onto 4 ballots. And Ben Broussard is actually worthy of a top ten vote in the eyes of one voter.
The full results can be found here.
And now, following the pattern, it's time to vote for the top ten active second basemen. You can do so, here.
While the AGMVC puts in their vote for the active guys, let's take a look at the top ten second basemen of all time.
1. Eddie Collins - Collins's numbers don't look as good as Hornsby's, but when you take a look at the context, they are just as good and maybe even better. Collins's career was winding down when offenses exploded in the 1920's while Hornsby's was just about to begin. He also had better defense and a better attitude than Hornsby. He had an OBP of at least .400 in 17 of the 19 years that he was a regular player.
2. Rogers Hornsby - He has more home runs than any other second baseman in the history of the game other than Jeff Kent. He won the triple crown twice and hit at least .370 eight times (3 times he hit .400 or more). He's known as one of the biggest jerks to ever play the game, but he's also one of the best hitters.
3. Joe Morgan - He may not be a smart broadcaster or columnist, but he was a smart player who had great spead and good power for a middle infielder. Over the course of his career he walked 850 more times than he struck out. Add in his great defense and you have a player with no real weaknesses.
4. Nap Lajoie - The guy was so good that in 1903 the Cleveland team changed their name to the Naps, in his honor. His name is all over the all-time career leaderboards. He gets bonus points for being from Woonsocket, RI, my home town.
5. Jackie Robinson - He's mentioned so often for breaking the color barrier that sometimes it's easy to forget that he was such a great ballplayer. He played in just 10 seasons, but he was very good defensively no matter where he was playing, had speed, a good eye, good contact, and moderate power. He was a great all-around player.
6. Roberto Alomar - His career nosedived after the 2001 season, but he put together a lot of excellent seasons before he turned 34. He had great speed, decent power, and a glove that we saw on the highlite reels nearly every night. Even with his mediocre seasons at the end of his career, he finished with a career .300 AVG.
7. Jeff Kent - He is the best power hitting second baseman of all-time. Only Roger Hornsby has a higher SLG. He's a legimate middle-of-the-order threat and his defense is better than many give him credit for, but compared to the first six on this list, his AVG and OBP are low and his defense, while decent, isn't great.
8. Craig Biggio - Bill James calls him the 5th best second baseman and the 35th greatest player of all-time because of his ability to do all the little things. The things he really excelled at (getting hit by pitches and not grounding in to double players) didn't show up in the boxscores, but over the course of the season they really helped his value. I don't know if I'd go as far as to call him the 35th greatest player of all-time, but he is a very good player and one of the more underrated ones of our time.
9. Ryne Sandberg - Power, speed, and defense, this guy had it all. Only Roberto Alomar has more Gold Gloves at second than this Cubs legend.
10. Charlie Gehringer - He hit for a great AVG, stole bases, and had a little bit of power. His final game was nearly 40 years before I was born, so I obviously never got to see him field, but he has a good defensive reputation.
Date
Fri 05/26/06, 7:58 am EST
