There was this guy that played for Pittsburgh in the mid to late 80’s and then signed with the Giants and did well. You should check him out. His name is Barry Lamar Bonds.
I said all-around. Go look up him trying to throw out Sid ****ing Bream (dude made Bill Buckner look like Vince Coleman) from shallow LF to end Game 7 of the '92 NLCS. Here's the whole 9th inning:
So that one throw and he’s banished from your best all around player short list? That’s kinda harsh. Bonds had a really good arm and was a gold glover. He was 5 tool player all the way. He did not have a weakness other than being a selfish prick.
Jeter is a pretty wild claim for best all around, considering he's probably the most damaging defensive player in the history of baseball no? He's at -9.4 career defensive war.
True. Jeter was a below average defensive shortstop. He did have a clutch gene on defense as well as offense though.
I'm probably exaggerating when i say most damaging ever, but certainly one of the worst of the modern era. He did make one cool flip against the a's though, and he was smart enough to play for the yankees.
That throw was terrible for sure and his arm wasn’t great, but better than most think and the glove was amazing. Loved Ichiro - but no power and didn’t take a walk. Jeter didn’t have a lot of power and was a poor glove. It’s all subjective but Barry Bonds is by far the best overall baseball player I have seen.
Trout had a 7 year run where he was top 2 MVP 6/7 years and was pretty much elite at everything. Amazing hitter, power, great defender, speed.
Yes - Trout had an all time great first third of his career. Up there with guys like Mantle as far as dominance early. Mookie Betts is another one that quietly had an all time great first half of his career. Dale Murphy was pretty special for 2-3 years before he hurt his back.
Mattingly for 4 years, before chronic back issues, was amazing. Arguably the best hitter in baseball during that time. I thought he was the best during that time. He was also a damn good defensive 1B. I guess he wasn’t a fast runner though.
I have over 100 Mike Schmidt cards. I’d put him over anyone other than peak Bonds as an all around player in my lifetime.
He is by a long shot the best third baseman I have ever seen, and the best player from the 1980’s IMO. I didn’t see baseball from the 1970’s so I can’t say about that period.
He might be the best player from ‘74 through ‘84 and he was still top 5 ‘85 through ‘87. I think he won the MVP in ‘86 so probably a little better than top 5 lol weirdly his numbers dipped way down for one season in 1978. He played 145 games so probably a nagging injury.
