Wednesday, April 12, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 7
Author names top 100 baseball players
By Jim O'Malley
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
Who are the best baseball players of all time?
Baseball writer Bill James gave his answer to an audience of about 60 people last night at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. Sandra Welchert, community relations coordinator for the library, introduced James as a Lawrence resident. Kansas graduate and the author of more than 20 books and many articles about baseball. The speech was part of the library's celebration of National Library Week
So who is the best player of all time?
babe Ruth, of course, James said. Anyone who thinks otherwise is doing something wrong.
But James is annoyed about the attention the best player of an er gets. He said the No. 2 guy was 90 percent as good but only got half the attention, while the No. 3 player got half the attention No. 2 got.
He said he was working on a revision of his "Historical Baseball Abstract" to try to tell the stories of some of the those players whose accomplishments have been forgotten. The project was taking a while, he said, because it had become a book on the 100 best players at each position. The book should be out sometime in the near future.
old baseball books." he said.
"I spend most of my time reading
James put two Negro League players in his Top 10 list, and 12 in his Top 100.
"I didn't do it out of political correctness," James said. "I did it because they belong."
He said in their last few years, right after World War II, the Negro Leagues produced five truly great major league players including Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. So it stands to reason that the best Negro Leagues players before Jackie Robinson were great players.
James rated Negro League player Oscar Charleston as the fourth-best player of all time. Few people have heard of Charleston, James said, but many people who saw him play in the 1920s and 1930s said he was the best they had ever seen.
Charleston had the best features of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, James said. He was built like Babe Ruth, and was an aggressive, and sometimes frightening, player.
"There are some people who, if you look at a picture of them, you say, 'Oh, I get it,'" James said. "Charleston was like that."
James rated Barry Bonds 18, the highest rating of any current major leaguer, ahead of everyday players like Rickey Henderson (26), Mark McGwire (31), Craig Biggio (35), Jeff Bagwell (45), Cal Ripken (48) and Ken Griffey Jr. (73).
James has developed statistical
methods to compare players, and he used them to defend rating Houston second baseman Biggio higher than Griffey, Griffey hits more home runs, James said, but Biggio is better in everything else.
"I'm not knocking Ken Griffey Jr.," James said. "He's a great player. Craie Biegio is just better."
He rates Rogers Hornsby 22, much lower than other baseball experts. James said that in rating players, in addition to statistics, he considered subjective factors like leadership or disruptioniveness.
And Hornsby is on his three-player list for biggest horse's ass in baseball, along with Dick Allen and Hal Chase, who beat out legendary horse's ass Ty Cobb. Hornsby was unfriendly to his teammates and didn't even leave the team to attend his mother's funeral. James said.
James also said baseball's punishment of Pete Rose was too harsh. The case that Rose bet on games is weak, and even if it were true, it shouldn't justify a lifetime ban from baseball.
James said Rose did some dumb things. He associated with enough neer do wells to fill an Elmore Leonard novel or a Bill Clinton campaign, but banning him from baseball for life made about as much sense as banning Frank Sinatra from the entertainment industry.
Bill James' Top 100 Baseball Players
51. Sandy Koultz
52. Smokey Joe Williams
53. Rachel Rohrmeyer
54. Tony Gwynn
55. Roy Mountain
56. Bobby Feller
57. Reggie Jackson
58. Ryan Lindsey
59. Ryne Särdberg
60. Charlie Gehringer
61. Eddie Mumy
62. Johnny Mize
63. Andy Brewbrow
64. Rod Carew
65. Buck Leonard
66. Joe Jackson
67. Cristobal Tortora
68. Willie McCovey
69. Willie McCovey
70. Home Run Baker
71. Al Simmons
72. Mike Cochrane
73. Roberto Clemente
74. Frank Thomas
75. Cool Papa Bell
76. Ernie Banks
77. Mia Plizza
78. Roberto Atoma
79. Tim Raines
80. Brad Wilson
81. Three Finger Brown
82. Paul Wauer
83. Minnie Minoso
84. Willie Wells
85. Ron Santo
86. Richard Fish
87. Al Kaline
88. Paul Molitor
89. Brooks Robinson
90. Greg Maxdus
91. Carl Hubbell
92. Martin Dígito
93. Robin Roberts
94. Canton Fask
95. Ed Delahanty
96.百垒 Bill Williams
1. Babe Ruth
2. Honus Wagner
3. Willie Mays
4. Oscar Charleston
5. Ty Cob
6. Mickey Mantle
7. Ted Williams
8. Wade Wilson
9. John Gibson
10. Stan Musial
11. Tris Speaker
12. Hank Aaron
13. Joe Sauer
14. Lou Gehrig
15. Joe Morgan
16. Barry Bonds
17. Satchel Pallor
18. Edwin McMurray
19. Levy Grove
20. Peter Alexander
21. Mike Schmidt
22. Rogers Hornsby
23. Frank Robinson
24. Steven Stearns
25. Rickey Henderson
26. Pop Loyd
27. Kyle Korp
28. Jimmie Foxx
29. George Brett
31. Mark McGwire
32. Jackie Robinson
33. Stephen Curry
34. Eddie Mathews
35. Craig Biggio
36. Warren Spain
37. Carl Yastrzemski
38. Tom Seaver
39. Jason Abbott
40. Nap Lajoie
41. Yogi Berra
42. Christy麦森
43. Mike Sutterts
44. Jeffrey Johnson
45. Bagwell Jeb
46. Bob Gibson
47. Kid Nichols
48. Cal Ripken
49. Tim Kenseth
50. Duke Sander
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