Giants/Rays
Please see I’m
Just Sayin…for what is going on with our posts for the next month or so.
The Giants have a very storied history. I am choosing to put
aside the alleged PED use by Barry Bonds and include him in this list. His
numbers are amazing. He also ranks as my most favorite player to boo at a game.
Fortunately, that wasn’t his brother sitting in front of me and Greg in Atlanta
that time. How do I know? Because we’re still here to write about it.
Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Christy Mathewson, Mel Ott
Willie Mays
William Howard Mays, Jr.
More commonly known as the Willie Mays, and is widely
thought to be the best all around player of all time. That's over 32 clubs, and
150 years of organized baseball. Imagine how many players over 150 years (or
more) of baseball that excludes. As a young man, Mays played in the Negro
Leagues himself. Being scouted while with Birmingham Black Barons, Mays was
signed in 1950 to the New York Giants. Rolling through the minor leagues with
the Giants, Mays got his first start in 1951. It was an auspicious being to his
storied career, going 0-12. His 13th at bat? A home run off of none other than
Warren Spahn. His numbers over that season improved, and by the end of 1951
Mays won his first Major League accolade, Rookie of the Year.
In 1952 Mays was drafted by the Army. Mays returned to
baseball in 1954. His MVP season saw him bat .345 and hit 41 home runs. His
over-the-shoulder catch in Game 1 of the World Series off the bat of Vic Wertz
is an iconic image in baseball. Mays later scored the winning run in that game,
and the Giants went on to sweep the Indians. He batted right, threw right, and
was probably the best outfielder in the game for many of his years with the
Giants. Over the next 22 years Mays would electrify baseball with his amazing
talent. Mays made everything look easy, but there is nothing easy about these
feats:
- 24 All-Star Appearances
- World Series Championship 1954
- 12 Gold Gloves
- 1951 Rookie of the Year
- 2-time NL MVP
- Roberto Clemente Award 1971
- The first and only Giant to hit four home runs in a single game
- 660 career home runs
- Career .302 batting average
- 3,283 hits
- 7095 putouts tops the list for outfielders
Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds. No. 25. A bad bad man with a bat in his hands. No.
24 Barry Bonds came over from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993. Once he signed,
Bonds adopted No. 25 as the Giants had already retired Barry's Godfather's No.
24. The No. 25 was a nod to his father, who wore the same number as a Giant. Bonds
became one of the most disciplined and feared hitters of all time. But lest we
forget, Barry in his prime could field as well. Just take a look at the eight
Gold Gloves sometime. Barry's approach at the plate put the pressure on the
pitcher. His eye was so good, Bonds would make a pitcher break down and come
inside, and that's when he had you. It got to the point where opposing managers
would put on an over shifted infield, loading up the right side with fielders.
It didn't help much. It got worse for opposing teams, they soon decided not to
come inside at all to Barry, and started walking him whenever the game was
close. Which was often three or four times a night in his later years. Let's
take a look at Barry's feats over the years:
- 14-time All Star
- 8 Gold Gloves
- 12 Silver Slugger Awards
- 7-time NL MVP
- 3 Hank Aaron Awards
- MLB record 232 walks in a season (inspiration for the rubber chickens at AT&T Park)
- MLB Slugging record .863
- Only member of baseball's 500/500 club (500 homers/500 steals)
- Single Season Home Run record, 73 HRs
And finally in 2007, on August 7 to be exact, Bonds hit a
3-2 pitch off Nationals' pitcher Michael Bacsik and drove it 433 feet. On this
pitch, Barry Bonds stood alone as the all-time Home Run King of Major League
Baseball.
My favorite Bonds moment: (He was the left fielder throwing
the ball home)
Christy Mathewson
Christy Mathewson, after more than 100 years of baseball, is
still considered the second best Giants player of all time. Imagine that kind
distinction. What kind of player does that take? Especially where we are now,
in an ERA where sports medicine and sports science can elevate and prolong a
player's game. That is one hell of a body of work to stand over a century and
still argued as possibly the best Giant ever. Christy Mathewson made his Major
League debut with New York Giants on July 17, 1900. With a new century, came a
new star. Pitching a fastball with alarming yet pinpoint accuracy Mathewson
also employed a new pitch called a 'Fadeaway'. The fadeaway became later known
as the screwball, and Mathewson used it like no one else.
The right handed pitcher played 17 years, almost exclusively
for the New York Giants. What he has accomplished during that time will forever
list among the greatest pitchers of all time.
- His 373 career wins is still ranked third of all time
- His career ERA of 2.13 is fifth all time
- Over 17 years he led the league five times in ERA
- He pitched a record of three shutouts in five days, leading to a World Series victory in 1905
- He pitched four consecutive seasons with an ERA under 2.00
- He won 20 games 13 times in his career, four of those seasons were 30 wins or more
- His 80 shutouts ranks third of all time
- His 2500 strikeouts is still a franchise best
- His 1.059 career WHIP is fifth of all time
- He won two NL Triple Crowns for pitching
- He has two career no-hitters
Mel Ott
Mel is one of the best hitters of all time. Ott first
appeared on the scene in 1926 as a New York Giant. He would play 21
awesome seasons for the Giants. His 511 career home runs once ruled the
roost, it has since been bested, but has anyone put together year after year of
elite hitting?
Ok here we go, in no particular order: Six-time NL home run
leader. How about 18 seasons leading the Giants year after year in home runs?
Twelve consecutive All-Star appearances, yes, 12. A World Championship in 1933,
and two more appearances in '36 and '37. The youngest player to reach 100 home
runs, and the first NL player to surpass 500 home runs.
Mel Ott's reign of terror as a player ended in 1947. I'm
quite sure there was a collective sigh of relief echoing around league. His was
inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951. It sure didn't take them long. Mel Ott's
retired No. 4 can be seen on display at AT&T along with other Giant greats.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/447458-the-top-100-giants-players-of-all-time/page/101
Honorable Mention:
Will Clark, Jeff Kent, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Willie
McCovey
Rays
The Rays (Devil Rays) have not been around too long to the
choices are few. Wade Boggs gets on the list because of his career stats. He
just wasn’t good enough for the Red Sox list or Yankee list but he needs to be
on a list somewhere.
Wade Boggs, Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton
Wade Boggs
Career highlights and awards
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Boggs
Evan Longoria
Stat Line (four-plus years): .276/.362/.516, 117 HR,
27.8 WAR
Longo lead the team in their amazing postseason run in 2008,
blasting six homers and 11 RBI to help the Rays reach the World Series. Longoria
is in the top-three among Rays franchise leaders in pretty much every
statistical category. He's a three-time all-star, a Rookie of the Year
award-winner, a two-time Gold Glover, a Silver Slugger and a two-time top-10
finisher in the MVP voting. Defensively, Longoria is simply the best third
baseman in baseball. His talent with the glove—and arm—is absolutely
ridiculous. He owns an incredible career UZR of 50.8 and a DRS of 73. He's
clearly on pace to be the best Rays player of all time.
Carl Crawford
Stat Line (nine years): .296/.337/.444, 409 SB, 104
HR, 36.8 WAR, 1480 H
He is the franchise's all-time leader in every major stat,
besides home runs, OBP and slugging percentage. Crawford excelled in every part
of the game; hitting, base-running, driving in runs and fielding. He was
arguably baseball's biggest threat on the bases for many years, leading the
league four times in that category and even reaching 60 steals one year. Although
he did not have a very good arm, his unbelievable speed helped him snag fly
balls that normal human beings could never reach. Crawford's DRS rating was
great year-after-year, while his UZR was Gold Glove caliber. His accolades
include four all-star game selections, an All-Star Game MVP award
(2009), a Silver Slugger (2010), a Gold Glove (2010) and a top-10 finish in the
MVP voting (2010). Crawford may have left Tampa on a bitter note, but no Rays
fan should ever forget how amazing he was in those nine long years.
B.J. Upton
Stat Line (eight-plus years): .256/.340/.413, 95 HR,
214 SB, 20.5 WAR
This one's another no-brainer, as B.J. Upton is indisputably
the best center fielder in Rays history. He broke into the majors as a
shortstop, but finally found his real home in center field in 2008. He's
amongst the most valuable Rays of all time, and is capable of providing 80-plus
RBI and 40-plus stolen base type seasons. He's a 20/20 club-type player, and
was one of a select few to collect 20-plus homers and 30-plus stolen bases last
season. Upton's speed not only gives him a big boost on the base paths, but it
also makes him a pretty good center fielder. He covers a lot of ground with
ease in the outfield, and has a cannon for an arm as well. Upton has maybe
failed to reach his high expectations over the past few years, but nobody
should forget his incredible playoff run in 2008, when he hit seven home
runs and 15 RBI. (Now a Brave!)
bleacherreport.com/articles/1237729-tampa-bay-rays-all-time-25-man-roster
Well, well, well... I knew if we did this long enough you'd mess up big time. Barry Bonds over Willie McCovey on a Giants list? Willie McCovey, the man Bob Gibson called "the scariest hitter in baseball"? Do you know what Bob Gibson would have done to "Giants" Barry Bonds? He would have broken him. Don't get me wrong, Bonds might be on my list of Pirates... because he was a great player back then. With the Giants he was a one tool player who wore body armor when he was at the plate. I just hope that if you ever meet Willie McCovey you have the guts to tell him what you have done here today. Good day, sir. I said good day!
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, I stand by my belief that that WAS his brother in front of us at that game in Atlanta. And I also think Bonds could hear us booing from the cheap seats...
ReplyDeleteOne last thing... We over at I'm just sayin... still recognize Hank Aaron as THE Home Run King.
ReplyDelete