Prime 9's All time Top Leftfielders of all time

[Jeffy25]

Min requirements.

Had to play in the modern era
Had to play at least 900 games in left

9. Raines
8. Kiner
7. A. Simmons
6. Yaz
5. Manny R.
4. Rickey Henderson
3. Stan Musial
2. Barry Bonds
1. Ted Williams

My order
Kiner
Simmons
Raines
Manny R
Yastrzemski
Rickey Henderson
Ted Williams
Stan Musial
Barry Bonds


First three are interchangeable.

[200tang]

Jason Bay - #1

[HoustonGM]

My top 9 when I did this a year or so ago:

1. Ted Williams
2. Stan Musial
3. Rickey Henderson
4. Ed Delahanty
5. Carl Yastrzemski
6. Tim Raines
7. Jesse Burkett
8. Al Simmons
9. Fred Clarke

Bonds would be first. Manny would be somewhere around Raines/Burkett.

[metsguy234]

Jason Bay - #1

Troll.

[President]

Rickey Henderson is the best leftfielder of all time if Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, and Stan Musial did not exist

[200tang]

David Nied wants a word with all of you.

[dickay]

Min requirements.

Had to play in the modern era
Had to play at least 900 games in left

9. Raines
8. Kiner
7. A. Simmons
6. Yaz
5. Manny R.
4. Rickey Henderson
3. Stan Musial
2. Barry Bonds
1. Ted Williams

My order
Kiner
Simmons
Raines
Manny R
Yastrzemski
Rickey Henderson
Ted Williams
Stan Musial
Barry Bonds


First three are interchangeable.

how far back does this era go???

[FloydtheBarber]

how far back does this era go???

Modern Era generally means post-1901

[dickay]

Modern Era generally means post-1901

thats always been my understanding too. some on HGM's list threw me off.

[HoustonGM]

thats always been my understanding too. some on HGM's list threw me off.

My list was all-time, sorry.

[dickay]

curious where you all rank Shoeless in this discussion. i havne't looked at this closely, but for the life of me i can't see how shoeless would be below raines.

[HoustonGM]

curious where you all rank Shoeless in this discussion.

I did my rankings of the Hall of Merit inductees and they have Jackson listed as a right fielder (584 games in left, 145 in center, 559 in right) and I ranked him 13th there:

1. Babe Ruth
2. Hank Aaron
3. Mel Ott
4. Frank Robinson
5. Paul Waner
6. Pete Rose
7. Al Kaline
8. Sam Crawford
9. Reggie Jackson
10. Roberto Clemente
11. Tony Gwynn
12. King Kelly
13. Joe Jackson

Left field has less competition. If I ranked him with the left fielders, I'd put him in the Raines/Manny/Burkett class.

[dickay]

I did my rankings of the Hall of Merit inductees and they have Jackson listed as a right fielder (584 games in left, 145 in center, 559 in right) and I ranked him 13th there:

1. Babe Ruth
2. Hank Aaron
3. Mel Ott
4. Frank Robinson
5. Paul Waner
6. Pete Rose
7. Al Kaline
8. Sam Crawford
9. Reggie Jackson
10. Roberto Clemente
11. Tony Gwynn
12. King Kelly
13. Joe Jackson

Left field has less competition. If I ranked him with the left fielders, I'd put him in the Raines/Manny/Burkett class.

i assume he's getting a rather large deduction due to lack of longevity? I think 13 seasons are enough to merit him along with the others. Are you considering longevity, or performance on average? I can't see how someone like Gwynn for starters would rank higher...unless of course thats merely because he played longer.

[dickay]

one could even argue that taking Shoeless's total career and matching it up against Rose's best 12-13 years would be an easy pick of shoeless.

[HoustonGM]

i assume he's getting a rather large deduction due to lack of longevity? I think 13 seasons are enough to merit him along with the others. Are you considering longevity, or performance on average? I can't see how someone like Gwynn for starters would rank higher...unless of course thats merely because he played longer.

I rank based on a combination of career and peak value.

Jackson didn't really play 13 seasons. He played IN 13 seasons. He played 9 full seasons. In the other 4 seasons, he didn't play more than 20 games in any of them.

I'd rank Jackson above Kelly if I redid this. He's close enough to Gwynn that I wouldn't quibble with anybody that ranked him over Gwynn, but I think having just 9 full seasons, albeit great, keeps him out of the top 10 (of right fielders. Of left fielders, I think he's in the top 10).