With the loss of Willie Mays, who’s the greatest living ballplayer today?
The concept of ‘Greatest living ballplayer’ is fundamentally flawed since it’s a matter of opinion. From Joe Posnanski:
In 1903–04, there were several GLB references to Napoleon Lajoie. Then, it was Honus Wagner. Ty Cobb, around 1910, announced that he wanted to surpass Wagner and become the Greatest Living Ballplayer. and newspapers soon after began to refer to him that way. Cobb more or less owned GLB until his death in 1961.
Babe Ruth was never the GLB. Nor was Ted Williams, who was said to desire being known as ‘The best hitter who ever lived.’ A moniker that still might be true. After Ty Cobb passed away, Yankee great Joe DiMaggio sort of held the title of GLB until he passed away in 1999. But Joe Posnanski offered that there was not a real collective opinion on GLB from 1962–1969 when as Joe wrote about what happened in 1961:
“Everything changed with one vote. The Baseball Writers Association voted two teams — the Greatest All-Time Team and the Greatest Living Team. See if you can find the main point:
RHP: Walter Johnson (All-Time); Bob Feller (Living — died in 2010)
LHP: Lefty Grove (All-Time); Lefty Grove (Living — died in 1975)
C: Mickey Cochrane (All-Time); Bill Dickey (Living — died in 1993)
1B: George Sisler (All-Time); George Sisler and Stan Musial (Living)*
2B: Rogers Hornsby (All-Time); Charlie Gehringer (Living — died in 1993)
3B: Pie Traynor (All-Time); Pie Traynor (Living — died in 1972)**
SS: Honus Wagner (All-Time); Joe Cronin (Living — died in 1984)
LF: Ty Cobb (All-Time); Ted Williams (Living — died in 2002)
CF Joe DiMaggio (All-Time); Joe DiMaggio (Living — died in 1999)
RF: Babe Ruth (All-Time); Willie Mays (Living — died in 2024)
The Yankee Clipper
Joe D. probably was deserving of GLB right after the passing of Ty Cobb with only Ted Williams and Willie Mays as the top competition. Hank Aaron is notably absent from the above list which seems patently unfair.
It also means that Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio had a total of 30+ years of being introduced and feted as the GLB. Joe D. reveled in the title both modestly and gleefully. But after Joe D. passed away, Ted Williams was still around, as were Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays. Because Williams and Aaron played in smaller cities (Boston and Milwaukee/Atlanta), they were at a disadvantage since Willie Mays played on the grandest stage in front of the most people in New York City from 1951–1957 after which the Giants decamped for San Francisco. That contributed even more to an east coast/west coast bias toward the Say Hey Kid for GLB. But it wasn’t crystal clear since all three, Williams, Mays, and Aaron had rightful claim to the GLB title. Consequently, none of them ‘owned’ the title. It took Aaron’s passing in 2021 for Willie Mays to be the unequivocal GLB.
Pitchers are overlooked for GLB
Also unfair is that pitchers get short-changed when it comes to being named GLB. Sandy Koufax is the elder statesmen of greatest living pitchers, but Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, and yes Roger Clemens are all formidable candidates for Greatest Living Pitcher. But being named greatest living ballplayer is about a body of work and posting every day (as opposed to every fourth or fifth day) is a critical component in assessing GLB. It would take someone like Shohei Ohtani who does both at an extremely high level.
On bWAR alone, Barry Bonds has by far the highest number 162.5 of the living top 25 bWAR players. The godson of Willie Mays, Barry Bonds would be the obvious choice for GLB, and at only 59 years old, Barry would likely hold onto that total for many years but not the 30–38 years that Joe D. was able to have. WAR is however a cumulative stat that rewards longer careers. There was a point earlier in his career at which the Angel’s Mike Trout appeared to be ready to be the Greatest Living Ballplayer, while he was still playing! Alas, well-documented injuries have derailed that possibility although those injuries will not impact Trout’s candidacy for Cooperstown. No matter what Trout does for the rest of his career he will not approach Barry Bonds’ career bWAR total.
Tyler Kepner of The Athletic listed the living bWAR leaders:Living bWar leaders (all Hall of Famers, unless noted)
PLAYER LIFETIME BWAR
Barry Bonds 162.8*
Roger Clemens 139.2*
Alex Rodriguez 117.6*
Rickey Henderson 111.1
Mike Schmidt 106.9
Greg Maddux 106.6
Albert Pujols 101.4#
Randy Johnson 101.1
Carl Yastrzemski 96.5
Cal Ripken Jr. 95.9
Bert Blyleven 94.5
Adrian Beltre 93.5
Wade Boggs 91.4
Steve Carlton 90.2
George Brett 88.6
Mike Trout 86.2#
Chipper Jones 85.3
Fergie Jenkins 84.2
Pedro Martinez 83.9
Ken Griffey Jr. 83.8
Mike Mussina 82.8
Justin Verlander 81.4#
Nolan Ryan 81.3
Rod Carew 81.2
Tom Glavine 80.7
Source: Baseball Reference
* — have not been elected to the Hall of Fame
# — not yet eligible for the Hall of Fame
Ken Griffey Jr. was for a period, baseball’s best player. He too had an injury-filled, yet spectacular career, which should have him as part of the conversation for GLB. For those that automatically discount Barry Bonds as the torch bearer, they will probably then put A-Rod in that same category not including him in the discussion. Like him or not, ignoring Rodriguez’s long and excellent career makes no more sense than ignoring Barry Bonds who many feel was equally unlikeable. A component of being voted GLB means being likeable. Roger Clemens is second on the living player bWAR list at amazing 139.2 — for a pitcher! Nice! However, Clemens has the same PED associations but also appears to be no more likeable than Bonds or A-Rod.
Is it important to be named GLB?
The very notion of ‘Greatest Living Ballplayer’ is silly. It’s not as if players covet that title despite how much DiMaggio appeared to enjoy it. I can’t imagine Willie Mays ever threw down at other HOFers that he was named GLB. Having a cadre of Greatest Living Ballplayers does not diminish their accomplishments any more than Harold Baines being in the Hall-of-Fame cheapens the honor or diminishes other players who came before him or after.
88-year-old Sandy Koufax with a career bWAR of 48.9 is not on the list of top 25 living players rated by bWAR. Boo! Sandy was amazing for his too-short career and is one of the most likeable guys to ever play the game. I’d have no problem calling him baseball’s greatest living pitcher and don’t expect I’d get much argument.
Who would I choose as GLB if I had to?
Take Barry Bonds out of the equation and I land on Rickey Henderson. He checks off a bunch of boxes for me including revolutionizing the idea of a leadoff hitter (297 career home runs and I so wish it was three more!) and changing the game itself through his aggressiveness on the bases. Top that off with the fact that Rickey Henderson scored the most runs in the history of baseball. Scoring runs is very important, right?
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Here’s what I wrote about the Mets last week:
https://mlbreport.com/2024/06/the-last-hit-in-the-amazing-career-of-willie-mays/
https://mlbreport.com/2024/06/the-mets-might-be-both-buyers-and-sellers-at-the-trade-deadline/
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