Sorry it's taken me a week to finally finish this post about the All-Star Game, but here goes.
Last Tuesday's game ranks up there with the greatest All-Star Games of all time, but for my money, I'd choose the first All-Star game of 1961 as the greatest ever. You can read my blurb about the game here. (Remember, back then they played two All-Star Games per season, in a pathetic attempt to generate more revenue for baseball.)
If you're interested in reading more about the All-Star spectacle, I'd suggest The Midsummer Classic by David W. Vincent, Lyle Spatz, and David W. Smith, SABR members all. You can get it used for $1.01 from Amazon.com.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
More All-Star Game stuff
Yesterday I started a long comment about the All-Star Game, wondering if this year's was the greatest ever. In surveying the field, I didn't actually answer the question, but I'll get to that soon.
First, I want to finish my survey of All-Star Games to focus on the greatest games before 1950. In my next post, I'll compare them and let you know which one I think was the greatest.
1941: AL 7, NL 5
In the midst of one of the greatest baseball seasons of all time came a great All-Star Game. The NL held a 5-2 lead with two outs in the eighth inning, but then Dom DiMaggio drove in his brother Joe with a single to make it 5-3. In the ninth, Joe D. drove in a run on a groundout to bring the Americans within one. Then Ted Williams came up with two on and two outs and slammed a three-run jack against Claude Passeau for the game-winner.
1936: NL 4, AL 3
Rookie Joe DiMaggio came to the plate with the tying run on second base, but Lon Warneke got him to fly out to end the game.
1934: AL 9, NL 7
It ended up a wild slugfest, but it started out with one of the greatest pitching performances of all time: in the first inning, NL hurler Carl Hubbell struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Foxx in succession, then followed that up by striking out two more future Hall of Famers, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin, the next inning. After Hubbell was replaced, the AL batters teed off and scored all nine of their runs in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings.
1933: AL 4, NL 2
The highlight of the first All-Star Game came when the aging Babe Ruth smacked a two-run home run to give the AL a 3-0 lead in the third.
First, I want to finish my survey of All-Star Games to focus on the greatest games before 1950. In my next post, I'll compare them and let you know which one I think was the greatest.
1941: AL 7, NL 5
In the midst of one of the greatest baseball seasons of all time came a great All-Star Game. The NL held a 5-2 lead with two outs in the eighth inning, but then Dom DiMaggio drove in his brother Joe with a single to make it 5-3. In the ninth, Joe D. drove in a run on a groundout to bring the Americans within one. Then Ted Williams came up with two on and two outs and slammed a three-run jack against Claude Passeau for the game-winner.
1936: NL 4, AL 3
Rookie Joe DiMaggio came to the plate with the tying run on second base, but Lon Warneke got him to fly out to end the game.
1934: AL 9, NL 7
It ended up a wild slugfest, but it started out with one of the greatest pitching performances of all time: in the first inning, NL hurler Carl Hubbell struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Foxx in succession, then followed that up by striking out two more future Hall of Famers, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin, the next inning. After Hubbell was replaced, the AL batters teed off and scored all nine of their runs in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings.
1933: AL 4, NL 2
The highlight of the first All-Star Game came when the aging Babe Ruth smacked a two-run home run to give the AL a 3-0 lead in the third.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Was that the greatest All-Star Game ever played?
Last night's game featured key home runs and dramatic strikeouts, top-notch defensive plays and ugly errors, great pitching and great hitting, and extra, extra innings. You probably already know how it ended. If right field had been manned by a strong-armed outfielder, they might still be playing. Instead, Corey Hart's rainbow-like throw arrived a split-second late to nail Justin Morneau at the plate and the American League had its 11th straight victory (not including the infamous tie of 2002).
How does it stack up against other great All-Star Games? Well there's a lot to choose from, but here are some other great games going back to 1950 and their highlights:
1994: NL 8, AL 7 (10)
Fred McGriff smacked a one-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth against closer Lee Smith to tie the game, then the Nationals won it in the 10th on a run-scoring double by Moises Alou.
1987: NL 2, AL 0 (13)
A classic pitchers duel with no runs scoring until Tim Raines hit a triple to drive in both NL runs.
1979: NL 7, AL 6
A bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth to Lee Mazzilli drove in the winning run, but Dave Parker was the star with two outfield assists -- one at home in the 8th, the other at third in the 7th.
1972: NL 4, AL 3 (10)
Joe Morgan drove in the winning run on a single in the bottom of the tenth after the Nationals tied it in the 9th.
1970: NL 5, AL 4 (12)
The AL entered the ninth with a 4-1 lead, but a homer, three singles, and a sacrifice fly by the NL tied the score and sent the game to extra innings. The game stretched to the 12th, when three consecutive 2-out singles gave the NL another victory.
1967: NL 2, AL 1 (15)
The longest game in All-Star history, a tense pitchers duel in the midst of a great pitchers era. Tony Perez slammed the game-winning homer in the top of the 15th and 22-year-old rookie Tom Seaver shut down the AL in the bottom of the inning.
1961 (1st): NL 5, AL 4 (10)
A wild one at Candlestick Park. The famous moment came when Stu Miller committed a wind-aided balk in the 9th.* The AL trailed 3-1 in the 9th, but tied it up thanks to Miller's balk and an error by 3B Ken Boyer. The AL took the lead in the top of the 10th on Boyer's second error, but in the bottom of the tenth, the NL struck back with two runs courtesy of the four best outfielders of their generation: Hank Aaron singled, Willie Mays doubled him home, Frank Robinson was hit by a pitch, and Roberto Clemente singled in Mays for the winning run. How awesome would it have been to be there!
*He was not "blown off the mound," as you read in some accounts. A gust of wind came up and caused Miller to move a bit, and the umpire called the balk. Here's what Miller said years later: "Before I threw a pitch, I went into a stretch position and then there was an extra gust of wind and I just wavered a bit." Read this story for more details.
1957: AL 6, NL 5
The AL scored three in the top of the 9th to make it 6-2, but the NL charged back to score three runs in the bottom of the inning. Gus Bell was thrown out at third base by Minnie Minoso for the second out of the inning, and Gil Hodges lined out to end the game with the winning run on second base.
1955: NL 6, AL 5 (12)
The Americans blew a 5-0 lead by allowing two in the 7th and three in the 8th. Stan Musial slammed a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th.
1950: NL 4, AL 3 (14)
Ralph Kiner tied the score in the top of the ninth with a home run, and Red Schoendienst homered in the 12th to win it.
(I'll tackle the greatest pre-1950 games later.)
How does it stack up against other great All-Star Games? Well there's a lot to choose from, but here are some other great games going back to 1950 and their highlights:
1994: NL 8, AL 7 (10)
Fred McGriff smacked a one-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth against closer Lee Smith to tie the game, then the Nationals won it in the 10th on a run-scoring double by Moises Alou.
1987: NL 2, AL 0 (13)
A classic pitchers duel with no runs scoring until Tim Raines hit a triple to drive in both NL runs.
1979: NL 7, AL 6
A bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth to Lee Mazzilli drove in the winning run, but Dave Parker was the star with two outfield assists -- one at home in the 8th, the other at third in the 7th.
1972: NL 4, AL 3 (10)
Joe Morgan drove in the winning run on a single in the bottom of the tenth after the Nationals tied it in the 9th.
1970: NL 5, AL 4 (12)
The AL entered the ninth with a 4-1 lead, but a homer, three singles, and a sacrifice fly by the NL tied the score and sent the game to extra innings. The game stretched to the 12th, when three consecutive 2-out singles gave the NL another victory.
1967: NL 2, AL 1 (15)
The longest game in All-Star history, a tense pitchers duel in the midst of a great pitchers era. Tony Perez slammed the game-winning homer in the top of the 15th and 22-year-old rookie Tom Seaver shut down the AL in the bottom of the inning.
1961 (1st): NL 5, AL 4 (10)
A wild one at Candlestick Park. The famous moment came when Stu Miller committed a wind-aided balk in the 9th.* The AL trailed 3-1 in the 9th, but tied it up thanks to Miller's balk and an error by 3B Ken Boyer. The AL took the lead in the top of the 10th on Boyer's second error, but in the bottom of the tenth, the NL struck back with two runs courtesy of the four best outfielders of their generation: Hank Aaron singled, Willie Mays doubled him home, Frank Robinson was hit by a pitch, and Roberto Clemente singled in Mays for the winning run. How awesome would it have been to be there!
*He was not "blown off the mound," as you read in some accounts. A gust of wind came up and caused Miller to move a bit, and the umpire called the balk. Here's what Miller said years later: "Before I threw a pitch, I went into a stretch position and then there was an extra gust of wind and I just wavered a bit." Read this story for more details.
1957: AL 6, NL 5
The AL scored three in the top of the 9th to make it 6-2, but the NL charged back to score three runs in the bottom of the inning. Gus Bell was thrown out at third base by Minnie Minoso for the second out of the inning, and Gil Hodges lined out to end the game with the winning run on second base.
1955: NL 6, AL 5 (12)
The Americans blew a 5-0 lead by allowing two in the 7th and three in the 8th. Stan Musial slammed a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th.
1950: NL 4, AL 3 (14)
Ralph Kiner tied the score in the top of the ninth with a home run, and Red Schoendienst homered in the 12th to win it.
(I'll tackle the greatest pre-1950 games later.)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The All-Star Game
Today is the All-Star Game, so it's time for a little history lesson:
Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward came up with the idea for the All-Star Game in 1933, just in time for an aging Babe Ruth to hit the first All-Star home run in a 4-2 AL victory played at Comiskey Park.
Baseball’s version is, I think, the best of all major sports’ all-star games, but it has had its share of controversy, most of which has involved the selection of players. For the first 14 years, all players were chosen in a poll of major league managers. In 1947, league officials decided to let the fans select the eight-man starting lineup (excluding pitchers) in league-wide balloting. But in 1957, a Cincinnati newspaper printed an all-star ballot with Reds players marked at every position and encouraged fans to mail it in, which resulted in the selection of seven Reds to the lineup (the other player was Stan Musial). The commissioner’s office became incensed at the abuse of its system, an abuse that was practically inevitable because the league had failed to put any controls on the voting. Two of those Reds were replaced with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, and thereafter the league decided to hand over the selection of all-stars to a poll of players, managers, and coaches.
In 1970, the league decided to return the vote to the group for whom the game is supposedly dedicated: the fans. Even so, every year complaints arise that “deserving” players have been left off the team while popular stars who have been injured, slumping, or otherwise “unworthy” are annually selected. But the point of the All-Star game is to select not the player who is having the best half of a season but rather the player who is a “star,” and part of being a star is being popular among fans. Sure, the voting could be modified a little bit to be more fair to great players who toil for bad teams with low attendance. But there’s no reason to get upset about these things.
This year, as King Kaufman pointed out, however, there is very little argument about the players. Maybe we're finally getting it right.
One fact that gets trumpeted every year around July is that the NL once had a stranglehold on All-Star Games, winning the Midsummer Classic 21 out of 23 tries from 1963 through 1985. The reason for the dominance can almost certainly be traced to the fact that the NL was the first league to really embrace black and Latin players. Think of the stars from the 1950s through the 1970s: from Robinson (both Jackie and Frank) to Mays to Aaron to Gibson to Morgan to Bench, with a little Mantle and Koufax thrown in there. Most of those players are black or Latin, and most played in the National League.
Over the last two decades, however, the AL has gotten more than even. In fact, beginning in 1986, the AL has won 17 All-Star games, the NL just four (with one tie).
This year, the AL is favored again, but it's impossible to make a prediction, so I won't.
Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward came up with the idea for the All-Star Game in 1933, just in time for an aging Babe Ruth to hit the first All-Star home run in a 4-2 AL victory played at Comiskey Park.
Baseball’s version is, I think, the best of all major sports’ all-star games, but it has had its share of controversy, most of which has involved the selection of players. For the first 14 years, all players were chosen in a poll of major league managers. In 1947, league officials decided to let the fans select the eight-man starting lineup (excluding pitchers) in league-wide balloting. But in 1957, a Cincinnati newspaper printed an all-star ballot with Reds players marked at every position and encouraged fans to mail it in, which resulted in the selection of seven Reds to the lineup (the other player was Stan Musial). The commissioner’s office became incensed at the abuse of its system, an abuse that was practically inevitable because the league had failed to put any controls on the voting. Two of those Reds were replaced with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, and thereafter the league decided to hand over the selection of all-stars to a poll of players, managers, and coaches.
In 1970, the league decided to return the vote to the group for whom the game is supposedly dedicated: the fans. Even so, every year complaints arise that “deserving” players have been left off the team while popular stars who have been injured, slumping, or otherwise “unworthy” are annually selected. But the point of the All-Star game is to select not the player who is having the best half of a season but rather the player who is a “star,” and part of being a star is being popular among fans. Sure, the voting could be modified a little bit to be more fair to great players who toil for bad teams with low attendance. But there’s no reason to get upset about these things.
This year, as King Kaufman pointed out, however, there is very little argument about the players. Maybe we're finally getting it right.
One fact that gets trumpeted every year around July is that the NL once had a stranglehold on All-Star Games, winning the Midsummer Classic 21 out of 23 tries from 1963 through 1985. The reason for the dominance can almost certainly be traced to the fact that the NL was the first league to really embrace black and Latin players. Think of the stars from the 1950s through the 1970s: from Robinson (both Jackie and Frank) to Mays to Aaron to Gibson to Morgan to Bench, with a little Mantle and Koufax thrown in there. Most of those players are black or Latin, and most played in the National League.
Over the last two decades, however, the AL has gotten more than even. In fact, beginning in 1986, the AL has won 17 All-Star games, the NL just four (with one tie).
This year, the AL is favored again, but it's impossible to make a prediction, so I won't.
Friday, July 11, 2008
MLB for iPhone: A Review
A few weeks ago I blogged about the new MLB At Bat application for iPhone. I promised a review when it came out.
It came out, and it's very cool.
I upgraded my existing iPhone with the new 2.0 software (which is free for all iPhone users), and immediately shopped the iTunes App Store to find MLB At Bat. It costs $4.99, which covers the service at least through the 2008 season and post-season.
What does it do? It gives you near-real-time scores of every baseball game, every day. But that's no big deal. The cool thing is that it gives you video highlights of every game, DURING the game -- usually a few minutes after the plays happen.
So in yesterday's Oakland-Seattle game, I was able to watch Jack Cust's and Kurt Suzuki's 9th-inning home runs within a few minutes of the events occurring. It was really awesome.
Now it's not perfect. I waited and waited for the program to pick up the highlights of Emil Brown's game-WINNING home run and they never did it. Also, the performance of the video left a lot to be desired. I thought I was in a pretty good Wi-Fi hotspot, but the videos kept starting and stopping. I don't know who's responsible -- MLB or the WiFi provider -- but it can get a little frustrating.
Also, I wish the program provided more than just scores -- ball/strikes, runners on, etc. -- would be helpful. And if you want to see a box score, you have to tap a little link that opens the box score in the Safari web browser.
I would imagine that those features will be added in a version 2 of the application. Even without those features, $4.99 is a bargain.
What about next year? Continuing major league baseball's proud tradition of screwing over its most loyal fans, I would imagine that the price will go up considerably next year. My prediction is that it'll cost $4.99 per month, or $19.99 per season, with the post-season costing extra.
Until then, it's my belief that MLB At Bat is a great deal and a great reason to buy yourself an iPhone 3G. Good luck getting one.
Link: Buy MLB At Bat in iTunes
It came out, and it's very cool.
I upgraded my existing iPhone with the new 2.0 software (which is free for all iPhone users), and immediately shopped the iTunes App Store to find MLB At Bat. It costs $4.99, which covers the service at least through the 2008 season and post-season.
What does it do? It gives you near-real-time scores of every baseball game, every day. But that's no big deal. The cool thing is that it gives you video highlights of every game, DURING the game -- usually a few minutes after the plays happen.
So in yesterday's Oakland-Seattle game, I was able to watch Jack Cust's and Kurt Suzuki's 9th-inning home runs within a few minutes of the events occurring. It was really awesome.
Now it's not perfect. I waited and waited for the program to pick up the highlights of Emil Brown's game-WINNING home run and they never did it. Also, the performance of the video left a lot to be desired. I thought I was in a pretty good Wi-Fi hotspot, but the videos kept starting and stopping. I don't know who's responsible -- MLB or the WiFi provider -- but it can get a little frustrating.
Also, I wish the program provided more than just scores -- ball/strikes, runners on, etc. -- would be helpful. And if you want to see a box score, you have to tap a little link that opens the box score in the Safari web browser.
I would imagine that those features will be added in a version 2 of the application. Even without those features, $4.99 is a bargain.
What about next year? Continuing major league baseball's proud tradition of screwing over its most loyal fans, I would imagine that the price will go up considerably next year. My prediction is that it'll cost $4.99 per month, or $19.99 per season, with the post-season costing extra.
Until then, it's my belief that MLB At Bat is a great deal and a great reason to buy yourself an iPhone 3G. Good luck getting one.
Link: Buy MLB At Bat in iTunes
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Back to the Hall of Fame
Continuing my discussion of the Hall of Fame, which inducts Goose Gossage and a bunch of old-timers later this month, I want to talk about Cooperstown, the small town in New York in which the Hall of Fame sits.
Cooperstown is supposedly the place where Abner Doubleday invented the game in 1839. We know now that the Doubleday Myth is a lie, but that shouldn’t detract from a fan’s appreciation of Cooperstown as a tourist attraction.
The place is named after its most famous resident, James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans. The story of how Cooperstown got the Hall of Fame is interesting because it illustrates once again (as if such illustration is necessary anymore) how the simple desire for money can affect history.
The idea belonged to a man named Alexander Cleland, who worked for a nonprofit foundation established by the heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Cooperstown had long been a resort community, but it, like the rest of the world, was hit hard by the Great Depression. Cleland suggested to the Clark Foundation, whose namesake lived in the town, that a museum based on baseball history would be a great way to attract tourists and spice up the local economy.
As author Bill James points out in his book Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?, Cleland projected that such an establishment could draw “hundreds of visitors a year.”
He was only off by a factor of a thousand.
With the backing of major league baseball and some money from the Clark Foundation, the Hall of Fame opened in 1939, steadily gaining in popularity so that today, 350,000 fans (well, about 300,000 fans and 50,000 bored spouses and children) pass through its gates. Which is no easy task, by the way, because the town is in a remote part of New York—at least four hours from New York City.
The Baseball Hall of Fame website makes it easy to plan your trip. Do it.
Cooperstown is supposedly the place where Abner Doubleday invented the game in 1839. We know now that the Doubleday Myth is a lie, but that shouldn’t detract from a fan’s appreciation of Cooperstown as a tourist attraction.
The place is named after its most famous resident, James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans. The story of how Cooperstown got the Hall of Fame is interesting because it illustrates once again (as if such illustration is necessary anymore) how the simple desire for money can affect history.
The idea belonged to a man named Alexander Cleland, who worked for a nonprofit foundation established by the heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Cooperstown had long been a resort community, but it, like the rest of the world, was hit hard by the Great Depression. Cleland suggested to the Clark Foundation, whose namesake lived in the town, that a museum based on baseball history would be a great way to attract tourists and spice up the local economy.
As author Bill James points out in his book Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?, Cleland projected that such an establishment could draw “hundreds of visitors a year.”
He was only off by a factor of a thousand.
With the backing of major league baseball and some money from the Clark Foundation, the Hall of Fame opened in 1939, steadily gaining in popularity so that today, 350,000 fans (well, about 300,000 fans and 50,000 bored spouses and children) pass through its gates. Which is no easy task, by the way, because the town is in a remote part of New York—at least four hours from New York City.
The Baseball Hall of Fame website makes it easy to plan your trip. Do it.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
More on Honus Wagner
In my last post, I rated Honus Wagner as the greatest Pirate in team history, and called him one of the top five ballplayers of all time.
Other than Babe Ruth, I don't know for sure who I would list among the other top ballplayers. Probably Willie Mays, Walter Johnson, and Barry Bonds. Or maybe Roger Clemens instead of Johnson. I don't know. There are dozens of ways to crunch the numbers and each would come up with a different result.
What I want to talk about here is, why Honus Wagner? He played so long ago, when the game was so different, that it seems odd to believe that a bow-legged shortstop from 100 years ago remains one of the greatest players of all time.
The way I look at it is, how much did he help his teams win and how much better was he than his contemporaries? And by that measure, Wagner is near the top of the list.
Let's take Wagner's best year, 1908, as an example. You can check out his stats at Baseball-Reference.com, but here are the highlights:
BA: .354 (1st)
OBP: .415 (1st)
SLG: .542 (1st)
OPS: .957 (1st, obviously)
Runs: 100 (2nd)
Hits: 201 (1st)
Total Bases: 308 (1st)
Doubles: 39 (1st)
Triples: 19 (1st)
HR: 10 (2nd)
RBI: 109 (1st)
Runs Created: 126
And so on, and so on.
You can see that, other than batting average and triples, none of the raw totals Wagner produced in 1908 would lead the league in 2008. But let's see what the league as a whole did in 1908:
BA: .239
OBP: .299
SLG: .306
OPS: .605
How much better than those averages was Wagner?
BA: 48% better
OBP: 39% better
SLG: 77% better
OPS: 58% better
Now let's see what a 2008 player would have to hit in order to match what Wagner did in 1908?
BA: To hit 48% better than the league average, a batter would have to hit .381
OBP: .457
SLG: .724
OPS: 1.181
I'm not saying that Wagner would reach those numbers if he were playing today (we can't know). I'm saying that his 1908 season is roughly equivalent to a batter today reaching those numbers. By comparison, those numbers are better than anything Albert Pujols has done, better than Alex Rodriguez, better than David Ortiz.
In fact, only a few players in history have achieved those numbers, people like Ruth, Gehrig, Hornsby, Williams, Mantle, and Bonds.
(And I haven't even factored in Wagner's stolen bases.)
Now, I cherry-picked Wagner's best season for this comparison, but his entire career is filled with seasons almost as good.
But regardless, what we have is one of the greatest offensive performers of all time, playing the best shortstop, on one of the best teams of his era.
It would take a lot of convincing before I would stop revering Honus Wagner.
Other than Babe Ruth, I don't know for sure who I would list among the other top ballplayers. Probably Willie Mays, Walter Johnson, and Barry Bonds. Or maybe Roger Clemens instead of Johnson. I don't know. There are dozens of ways to crunch the numbers and each would come up with a different result.
What I want to talk about here is, why Honus Wagner? He played so long ago, when the game was so different, that it seems odd to believe that a bow-legged shortstop from 100 years ago remains one of the greatest players of all time.
The way I look at it is, how much did he help his teams win and how much better was he than his contemporaries? And by that measure, Wagner is near the top of the list.
Let's take Wagner's best year, 1908, as an example. You can check out his stats at Baseball-Reference.com, but here are the highlights:
BA: .354 (1st)
OBP: .415 (1st)
SLG: .542 (1st)
OPS: .957 (1st, obviously)
Runs: 100 (2nd)
Hits: 201 (1st)
Total Bases: 308 (1st)
Doubles: 39 (1st)
Triples: 19 (1st)
HR: 10 (2nd)
RBI: 109 (1st)
Runs Created: 126
And so on, and so on.
You can see that, other than batting average and triples, none of the raw totals Wagner produced in 1908 would lead the league in 2008. But let's see what the league as a whole did in 1908:
BA: .239
OBP: .299
SLG: .306
OPS: .605
How much better than those averages was Wagner?
BA: 48% better
OBP: 39% better
SLG: 77% better
OPS: 58% better
Now let's see what a 2008 player would have to hit in order to match what Wagner did in 1908?
BA: To hit 48% better than the league average, a batter would have to hit .381
OBP: .457
SLG: .724
OPS: 1.181
I'm not saying that Wagner would reach those numbers if he were playing today (we can't know). I'm saying that his 1908 season is roughly equivalent to a batter today reaching those numbers. By comparison, those numbers are better than anything Albert Pujols has done, better than Alex Rodriguez, better than David Ortiz.
In fact, only a few players in history have achieved those numbers, people like Ruth, Gehrig, Hornsby, Williams, Mantle, and Bonds.
(And I haven't even factored in Wagner's stolen bases.)
Now, I cherry-picked Wagner's best season for this comparison, but his entire career is filled with seasons almost as good.
But regardless, what we have is one of the greatest offensive performers of all time, playing the best shortstop, on one of the best teams of his era.
It would take a lot of convincing before I would stop revering Honus Wagner.
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