Pyle of List

Last night, while I was wallowing in my bed with a sunburn that wouldn’t stop itching, I tried to distract myself. What that means is that my mind flips through memories and fantasies at an alarming speed. Kind of like when you’re trying to fin…you know what, nevermind. And lo and behold it landed on baseball. More specifically, Bret Boone.

I thought to myself, “Self, I know Bret Boone doesn’t measure up to the greatest 2B of all time, but what about the ones that I’ve actually seen play?”.

And thus it begun. Each week I will be looking at a different baseball position and sifting through memories and stats to try to figure out who was the beset at each position to ME, in MY LIFETIME. Sorry, but the caps is to try to derail all the ‘what about Jackie Robinson?!?!?!’ comments sure to fly in. So here are the rules:

• Must have been in their prime (we’ll use making the All-Star team as a measure) when I was intently following baseball (1993-present)
• Must have played 100 games at said position in 3 seasons
• Each position will have two categories, Best Hitters and Best Fielders (except for pitchers, which will be Best Starters and Best Relievers)
• Looking for top 5 in each category

Alright, on to the two baggers!
Best Hitters

Bret Boone - Cincinnati Reds/Seattle Mariners - To be honest, this one wasn’t mine. I read this Joe Pasnoski, whom I love, column over at SI and it made me realize how dominating Boone was in his prime. His 2001 season is simply phenomenal. Best season (2001) - .331/.372/.578, 37 HR, 141 RBI, 118 R

Ryne Sandberg - Chicago Cubs - Sandberg is a pretty easy one here. I mean, he’s in the hall of fame and won an MVP award (1984) so I’m not exactly going out on a limb here. But 10 All-Star game appearances and 9 Gold Gloves cannot be ignored! Best season (1990) - .306/.354/.559, 40 HR, 100 RBI, 116 R, 25 SB (although his 1984 MVP season is also very very good)

Roberto Alomar - San Diego Padres/Baltimore Orioles/Cleveland Indians/Toronto Blue Jays/New York Mets- Alomar is another of those ‘no duh’ picks for this list. I mean, the guy was on every Dream/All-Star team in every video game I’ve ever played. And from the stains in these sweatpants, that would appear to be a lot. Best season (1999) - .323/.422/.533, 24 HR, 120 RBI, 138 R, 37 SB

Jeff Kent - San Francisco Giants/Houston Astros/LA Dodgers - I know we’ve had some fun on this site at Kent’s expense, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the dude could hit. As much as his MVP may be undeserved, he still deserves to be on this list (100+ RBI in six straight seasons 1997-2002). Best season (2000) - .334/.424/.596, 33 HR, 125 RBI, 114 R

Craig Biggio - Houston Astros - This one was very very tough. I had to go through so many stats because Biggio and the runners up are all very close. But in the end I took Biggio because…well, I’m still not 100% sure why. Best season (1998) - .325/.403/.503, 20 HR, 88 RBI, 123 R, 50 SB

Runners up: Chuck Knoblach, Carlos Baerga, Alfonso Soriano

Best Fielders

Alomar - 10 Gold Gloves, most ever by a second baseman. Highlight

Sandberg - Right behind Alomar with 9.

Carlos Baerga - Hard to win Gold Gloves when you play in the same league as Alomar.

Biggio - Basically took over the NL Gold Glove business when Sandberg retired.

Boone - People forget that Boone could flash the leather due to his hitting. 4 Gold Gloves.

Runner up: Knoblach (if for no other reason than wrestling a Gold Glove away from Alomar in 1997)

Disagree? Got someone I totally didn’t think of? Go ahead and let me know if the comments.