I caught a bit of Cold Pizza this morning. They had a baseball stats guy (Alan Schwartz) on. He was asked the question: "If you were starting a baseball team and could have the pick of any player in history to build that team around, who would you pick?" I'll give his answer later. Don't give it away if you saw it. The real question here is this: who would YOU pick?
It's hard to compare old school players with today. But, assuming they were just as dominant today as they were back in the day, you have to go with Cy Young. - 511 - 316 record - He pitched in 906 games, started 815 and threw 749 complete games - A career ERA of 2.63 - He won 36 games one year - In 22 years of pitching, he only allowed 138 home runs (just more than 6 a year and only one every 6.5 games) - In one stretch in 1904, Cy threw 33 innings over multiple starts allowing no runs, and striking out 23. And, he threw 24 consecutive NO-HIT innings in that stretch (including a perfect game). These stats go on and and. The man was the most dominant pitcher ever, by a long shot.
Not that it really matters, but I should have phrased my question a bit more exactly. This guy's topic was hitting, so that is his answer which I will reveal this evening. If you want to, go ahead and name a pitcher <b>and</b> field player (that's a hint for you!) as your cornerstone(s).
Well what kind of a hint is that. You might as well have thrown a Baby Ruth in our face. In my mind it's a tossup between Babe and Bonds. Can't go wrong with either of them.
Hank Aaron! His overall stats might not live up to some of history's great players...but his character (along with baseball skill) make him the absolute greatest!!! What he had to endure during his homerun drive was absolutely ridiculous and the fact that he did it with such dignity and poise only shows how much of a great human being he is. Side note...props to you Hammerin' Hank!!! Even if Bonds breaks your all-time homerun record...you're still the man. You did it fair and squre with the weight of the world on your shoulders!!!
I saw his picks, so I'll go with someone else. I'll pick the Babe. In this day of age he'd be getting the intentional walks Barry gets today, plus I'd let him pitch every 5th day.
I'm leaving for the afternoon, but just so you know... no one has named the field/positional player that this guy did. Hey, it's just one guy's opinion! Somebody did name his second choice.
Babe Ruth is the best player ever when you factor in his pitching. But since we're going for hitting, I would say Ted Williams. The man lost a lot of prime years to military service and still put up great numbers. I would rank Ruth next and then Bonds.
i'm just guessing he said A-Rod. production like that out of a guy who can field a middle infield spot is unheard of. for my money...ruth. all you can do is compare players with their peers. no one was as dominant as ruth. no one.
