Blowout's All-Time Best- Crown the best SS

[Hollywood42]

The current Blowout's Best series was well received, and I actually had a few requests to run a similar series with the best players at each position of all time, so here we are.

For the sake of clarity, each poll will be for who the best player of all time is at each position- not necessarily the most well known, best person, or most recent great.

Players that played at a variety of positions may not appear in the poll you expect. While looking at the best players of all time, there's inevitably going to be some players that are hard to place as a 2B vs. a 3B, for example. I'll do my best to only include a specific player at one position, but it may not always be at the position you may expect. I'll include them where it makes most sense to me and hope others agree. You can always write in a vote as well.

Blowout polls only have allow a maximum of 10 choices, and 1 of them will always be "other" for this series, meaning I'm limited to listing only 9 players at each position, so I'm sure there will be times where you may not want to vote for a player listed. It's going to be really, really difficult to list everyone that deserves to be in the discussion for best at a position. In instances where someone you had in mind didn't make the cut, vote for the "other" option and write in your vote in the comments. I'll try to pick the 9 players that make the most sense to include, but when looking at the entire history of the sport, there's invariably going to be times where I'm unable to include everyone that I'd like to.

Each poll will be open for 10 days, but no limit to how long the discussion can continue. After all polls are up and voting is closed, I'll post a thread with the results from everything for additional discussion.

Poll coming shortly!

[Ray27Ray52]

Honus Wagner

/thread

[Hollywood42]

Several guys that really deserved to make the poll here, which I could have a few more options

[SethMurphy]

Curious why Alex Rodriguez appears on both the 3B and SS poll? I know he played a lot of games at both, but didn't this come up in earlier positions as well? Don't players just get voted at one spot?

[Ray27Ray52]

Originally Posted by SethMurphy

Curious why Alex Rodriguez appears on both the 3B and SS poll? I know he played a lot of games at both, but didn't this come up in earlier positions as well? Don't players just get voted at one spot?

Meh, I just ignore him either way. He doesn't even exist.

[3AND4]

Hans nuff said

[Hollywood42]

Arod's the one guy I feel like you can make a legitimate argument for at multiple positions. Maybe Babe as a pitcher too, but he only really had a few great seasons. Arod played about 1,200 games at both 3B and SS and I think you can make a case for him to be among the best at either, so I'll include him at both. I don't think anyone else has the same type of argument

Originally Posted by SethMurphy

Curious why Alex Rodriguez appears on both the 3B and SS poll? I know he played a lot of games at both, but didn't this come up in earlier positions as well? Don't players just get voted at one spot?

[yanksfan0134]

It’s hard to give a guy the crown that played part of his career in the 1800s. The game was SO much different then than it is now and the level of play isn’t even close. On top of that, he didn’t even average 5 home runs a year. I know his WAR is way higher than the next best player, but part of me wants to give it to cal

[Hollywood42]

It's really not fair to compare players cross era. You have to judge them in the context of their own time

Originally Posted by yanksfan0134

It’s hard to give a guy the crown that played part of his career in the 1800s. The game was SO much different then than it is now and the level of play isn’t even close. On top of that, he didn’t even average 5 home runs a year. I know his WAR is way higher than the next best player, but part of me wants to give it to cal

[yanksfan0134]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

It's really not fair to compare players cross era. You have to judge them in the context of their own time

It’s kind of hard not to, though. I’m just basing it off of overall talent, and I think most of these guys were naturally better than Wagner.

[Zauron]

I honestly would go with ARod. People hate on him, but as a SS he was the best I've ever seen.

[Cubsfanp]

Yes - i voted for Ernie and I totally admit homerism in my vote. Dude was legit. Dominated in his era, and i feel he has the best overall numbers for a steroid free SS.

If i wasn't excluding people for PEDs, i would go for Arod.

[diamondthief6]

Jeter by far. Yes, I am a Yankees fan

[lawrencedc1]

Originally Posted by Cubsfanp

Yes - i voted for Ernie and I totally admit homerism in my vote. Dude was legit. Dominated in his era, and i feel he has the best overall numbers for a steroid free SS.

If i wasn't excluding people for PEDs, i would go for Arod.

This ^ AROID is a joke

[JrFinest]

Originally Posted by yanksfan0134

It’s kind of hard not to, though. I’m just basing it off of overall talent, and I think most of these guys were naturally better than Wagner.

To be fair a lot of todays pampered premadonna's wouldn't have survived the dead ball era. The human body hasn't changed very much over time. Just the conditioning.

It goes both ways. Todays players would have to compete on their level. Same training etc. for a fair comparison.

Pitch more than 2 innings? , doctored baseballs. Work in the off season?, Bad pay?

[Cubsfanp]

Originally Posted by diamondthief6

Jeter by far. Yes, I am a Yankees fan

While Jeter has some nice numbers, he has some facts that hurt his case. I could go into a lot, but the main items are that he never won an MVP, and has a negative career dWar.

The best arguments for him are the 3465 Hits and the 4 World series rings. Really consistent - but IMO not the GOAT

[diamondthief6]

Originally Posted by Cubsfanp

While Jeter has some nice numbers, he has some facts that hurt his case. I could go into a lot, but the main items are that he never won an MVP, and has a negative career dWar.

The best arguments for him are the 3465 Hits and the 4 World series rings. Really consistent - but IMO not the GOAT

I agree. My love of Jeets aside, I would go probably with Wagner. But I had to vote for the captain

[Hollywood42]

You could fairly easily argue Jeter shouldn't be top 3, perhaps even top 5. Obviously he was the face of the game for awhile being the guy everyone knew on the Yankees, but when you look at the stats alone, others could easily be before him

[NinjaJohnny]

Honus Wagner seems far and away the choice here.

Not interested in Rodriguez among the modern players. Give me Captain Clutch instead, 5 time WS champion. And a great leader.

[Peties Army]

Interesting fun fact, Yount was a sure fire HOF with 3100 hits, 77 WAR, 2 MVPS but only made 3 all star teams. In fact didn’t make one in his second MVP season.

#FunFact

No clue who to vote for.

[Peties Army]

Seems to me discussion is for second best.

If you don’t want ARod I get it but on this list it’s JR. He was a dominate player for over a decade.

[jmscoggin]

Originally Posted by Ray27Ray52

Honus Wagner

/thread

This, without a doubt. Anyone that voted for Jeter ( 8 people as of right before I posted this) needs to have an electrified keyboard installed on their computer.

[yanksfan0134]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

You could fairly easily argue Jeter shouldn't be top 3, perhaps even top 5. Obviously he was the face of the game for awhile being the guy everyone knew on the Yankees, but when you look at the stats alone, others could easily be before him

If you take into account his post season play and overall ability, he can definitely be discussed as a top 5. SS has statistically always been a rather weak position, and not until recently has it been a big offensive position. Jeter was so consistent throughout his entire career. I wouldn’t say he’s the greatest ever, but definitely has to be up there for the discussion.

[yanksfan0134]

Originally Posted by jmscoggin

This, without a doubt. Anyone that voted for Jeter ( 8 people as of right before I posted this) needs to have an electrified keyboard installed on their computer.

I’m curious as to why you say this so confidently. Wagner was great, but he played the game during a statistically weak era. All of these other players listed (IMO) were more talented players.

[jmscoggin]

Originally Posted by yanksfan0134

If you take into account his post season play and overall ability, he can definitely be discussed as a top 5. SS has statistically always been a rather weak position, and not until recently has it been a big offensive position. Jeter was so consistent throughout his entire career. I wouldn’t say he’s the greatest ever, but definitely has to be up there for the discussion.

The thread title isn't 'who are the top 5 SS's of all time', it is "who is the all time best SS", Jeter shouldn't even have his name mentioned in that discussion. I get hommerism, I do but try to be honest for one second, had Jeter played his entire career for the Milwaukee Brewers, would people be voting for him in this poll?