The Goat: Ask 10 Fans Who, You Get 10 Different Answers

The greatest of all time. That question gets asked in sports so many times. And you ask any 10 fans who is the greatest, you will get 10 different answers. Younger fans usually base their answer on players they have seen. Older fans tend to stick to who was the best in the era they associate with. The stat geeks go to the stats, and then dissect everything and re-evaluate, then make what they consider a solid choice.

Perhaps the wisest choice is to judge players by the era they played in, since today’s game in no way looks the same as it did when the Brooklyn Atlantic’s played in the 1890’s. Perhaps the easiest way is to just go by the decade. Some players dominated for longer than others. I mean it is not logical to compare the Hall of Fame career of Sandy Koufax, to Steve Carlton or Randy Johnson.

Then you have the PED era, which skewed stats, and generally turned some fans off completely to the game. Think about it, the first man to hit 70 homers in a season, is not in the hall, neither is the only man to hit 60 three times. McGwire and Sosa. When 500 homers guaranteed you a spot in the Hall, that is not the case now. Then there is the conundrum that is Barry Bonds. Bonds was a great ballplayer. And he holds the record for the most HRs in a season and career. But even the suspicion of his PED use, has kept him out of the Hall, and tarnished his accomplishments.

PED’s are not the only factor. Gambling has kept two of the greatest to ever play the game out of Cooperstown, Shoeless Joe, and Charlie Hustle. Jackson and Rose both could have been first ballot Hall of Famers. The all-time hit leader, and a guy who averaged .356 in his career.

For the sake of argument, let us stick to the game from 1900 on. The NL formed in 1890. But then, pitchers still threw underhanded. So we will stick to the game from 1900 on.

From 1900to 1910 probably the best hitter in the majors was Honus Wagner. The Pirate great hit .352 over that time with 51 homers. Of course, this was the dead ball era, so HRs were rare. His AL counter part was Napoleon Lajoie. Lajoie hit .346 over that period. The best pitcher, hands down was Christy Mathewson of the Giants. 236-112 1.98 ERA. Cy Young in the AL was close, 230-146 2.12 ERA.

From 1910 to 1919, the Georgia Peach was baseball’s best hitter. The dead ball was still a factor, but Cobb hit .387 with just under 2000 hits in the decade. Closest hitter to him was Tris Speaker, who hit .344 in that decade. Walter Johnson led all pitchers with 265-143, and a minuscule ERA of 1.59 and 2,219 strikeouts. Grover Cleveland Alexander was a distant second with 208-100. Alexander lost almost the entire 1918 season while serving in the Army in WWI. During his service, he was gassed. It affected him the rest of his life as he suffered from epilepsy, and periods of dizziness.

In the 20’s, Babe Ruth came to prominence. He was the most prolific HR hitter of all time up to that point, but Ruth also hit for high average with a .355 average during the decade. He also hit 467 homers. But the best hitter? NL HOFer, Rogers Hornsby. Hornsby only hit .382 in the decade. He also clubbed .250 homers. Indeed, the power numbers were increasing. The best pitcher was Dodger great, Dazzy Vance, who won 147 games and lost 90. Dazzy posted a 3.10 ERA and struck out almost 1500.

Babe Ruth was fading in the 30’s and Ty Cobb retired, so Ruth’s Yankees teammate, along with Jimmy Foxx, ruled the hitters in the 30’s. Foxx had a .336 average and clubbed 415 homers. Gehrig hit .343 with 347 bombs. Lefty Grove ruled the mound with a 199-76 mark and a 2.91 ERA. There were other great hitters playing then, Hank Greenburg, Mel Ott, and Dizzy Dean was the other hurler who had a pretty good decade, 147-80 2.96 ERA.

The 40’s are hard to judge since many of the main players lost years to military service. The prime example being Ted Williams, who even though he lost three years in his prime, was probably the best pure hitter in the majors. Ted had a .356 avg and hit 234 homers. DiMaggio was not far behind at .346 and 146 bombs. DiMaggio also served in the military for three years. Big difference was, he played ball a lot of the time he was in, Williams was a Marine aviator, and trained pilots. In the Korean War, he would fly jets in combat missions. The best pitcher was Tiger great, Hal Newhauser. 170-118 2.84, then Bob Feller, 137-82 2.90 ERA. Johnny Mize was right behind Williams in homers with 217. Newhouser did not serve, but Feller, like Williams, lost three years in his prime to military service.

The 50’s. The 50’s were mostly about the Yankees-Dodgers annual World Series meetings with the Braves and Giants winning the 4 times the Dodgers did not and the Phillies once. And it was all about the three center fielders who played in New York, Mantle, Mays and Snider. Snider played the entire decade, while Mays and Mantle came up in 1951. Mays lost one year to military service, and Mantle tore up his knee, and was never really the same player he would have been had he not been injured. But it was a Cardinal star, Stan Musial who was the top hitter in baseball. He had a .330 average with 266 homers. Mantle hit .311 with 280 long balls. Mays, .317 with 250. But the home run king of the 50’s, Duke Snider, who crushed 326 to go with a .306 avg. Warren Spahn was the top pitcher with 202-131 mark. Averaging 20 wins a year. Mantle won the MVP award in back-to-back years, 56-57. He won the triple crown in 56. But, his teammate, Yogi Berra, won it three times, 51-54-55. Dukes Dodger teammate, Roy Campanella, won the award three times too, beating out Duke in 1955 when they finished 1-2.

The 60’s were filled with stars, and every player on the top 10 list is in the Hall. Best average in the decade went to Roberto Clemente. The Pirate great hit a solid .328 and added 177 homers too. Harmon Killebrew hit 393 homers in the 60’s, 18 more than runner-up, Hank Aaron. Koufax threw four no-hitters and won three Cy Young awards, and he had the lowest ERA in the decade, despite retiring after the 66 season. Juan Marichal had the most wins, 191 and Bob Gibson struck out 2,071 batters.

The 70’s. The 70’s brought us multi-purpose stadiums, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia. Knit uniforms with no belts, the rise of the Reds, and the A’s, and the return to prominence of the New York Yankees. It also brought free agency which allowed the players to get out of the old one-year at a time contracts. Stars could now take their services to the highest bidder. But came after the Curt Flood decision. The A’s would win 3 World Series in a row. Pittsburgh would have the We are family team in 79, and Clemente’s last games in 71. The Reds and Yankees won the other four series in the decade, two apiece. It was the Big Red Machine, the Swinging A’s, and the return of the Bronx Bombers led by Reggie Jackson.

There were afros and big moustaches as ballplayers once again started having facial hair. The best hitter for average during this time was Rod Carew of the Twins. A slap hitter with little power, Carew was a lot of fun to watch. He did nothing but hit. His average over the decade was .343. Willie Stargell of the Pirates led all hitters with 296 long balls. Bench and Jackson were the only other sluggers over 290. Tom Seaver was dominant in the NL, but you could make a case that the best pitcher was Jim Palmer. More wins, 186 to Seavers 178. A lower WHIP and ERA. But Gaylord Perry won more than Seaver too with 184. Pete Rose hit over .300 and had 2,045 hits on his way to 4,000.

Ahh, the 80’s. I probably went to Dodger Stadium more often in that era than any other. Missed most of the 60’s being in the Army. Took a while to get settled when I got out in 74. But I went to the ballpark as often as I could.

Best hitter hands down in the 80’s average wise was Wade Boggs. George Brett was not far behind. Boggs hit .352 and had over 1500 hits. Brett hit .311. Mike Schmidt was the he-bull in homers. Schmitty hit 313 bombs, only other player over 300, Dale Murphy. Schmidt also had 929 ribbies. But the RBI leader was Eddie Murray of the O’s with 996, Jack Morris led the pitchers with 162 wins, Nolan Ryan added 122 wins and struck out 2,167.

In the 90’s, a different kind of player began to emerge. More athletic guys who could run and field their positions very well. The player with the highest BA over the decade though was a catcher, Mike Piazza hit .328 in the 90’s. Most homers came off of the bat of Mark McGwire who hit 405. Most RBIs went to Ken Griffey Jr. Jr. racked up 1091 to beat out second place finisher, Barry Bonds, who had 1076. Frank Thomas, the Big Hurt, had the second highest BA at .320. Greg Maddux was the winningest pitcher of the era with 176 wins and 88 losses. He also led in ERA and WHIP. Tom Glavine was second with 164-87.

2000-2010. Hitters began dominating the game. Pitchers threw less and less complete games as the pitching specialists became more prominent. Unlike some of the decades prior, there were several players who averaged well above .300 for the decade. Pujols and Suzuki were above .330 at .334 and .333 respectively. Bonds and Vlad Guererro over .320. Rodriguez, and Jeter over .300. The best pitcher of the era was reliever, Mariano Rivera with his sparkling 2.07 ERA and 397 saves. Johnson, Halladay and Santana were the best starting pitchers. Suzuki had the most hits, 2,030, and Rodriguez the most RBIs, 1243.

2010-2023. Baseball faced some very tough challenges as the game kept evolving. Relief pitching is one of the more important aspects of the game. And the three true-outcome player becomes a huge part of the game. Strikeouts now have less importance and launch angle is taught by hitting coaches. And the big arms who can throw 97 plus become more prominent.

Since there has not been an update on the stats for the last decade, I had to dig a little deeper and find some of the stats I was looking for. Unlike some previous decades, there are numerous players who could garner the GOAT label.

Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera won the triple crown in 2012, first time that had been done since 1967 when Yastrzemski did it. It hasn’t been done in the NL since Ducky Medwick in 1937. He also won back-to-back MVP awards. Mike Trout of the Angels has been considered by many as the best in baseball for years. Trout just passed Joe DiMaggio on the all-time HR list. Throw in his great defense and usually batting for a high average, and he is a 5-tool player.

But Miggy and Nelson Cruz are the sluggers with both over 400 in their careers. Miggy went over 500 last season. You have players like Aaron Judge, who hit 62 homers last year setting a record for a Yankee. And now with the DH in both leagues, there are plenty of guys with mediocre glove skills who can hit a baseball on the rosters.

MLB listed their all-decade team and it looked something like this, Posey, C, Cabrera, 1B, Altuve, 2B, Beltre, 3B, Lindor, SS, Trout, Betts, and McCutcheon in the outfield. Cruz, DH, Kershaw, Verlander, Greinke, Scherzer and Sale as the starters. Kimbrel the closer, with Aroldis Chapman. Most of the players on the second team were pretty good too.

I am pretty sure most of our posters would have alternates for any of these guys. New talent has emerged in both leagues. Teams are tapping into the Asian and other markets. Shoei Ohtani is going to be one of the most targeted free agents ever. He can pitch, and he can hit. He has in some ways, been compared to Babe Ruth.

But the debate over who is the GOAT will continue. Personally, I think with the way the game has changed, it is an impossible debate to win. I can only judge players I have seen, and there have been many. I still think Willie Mays was the best all-around player I ever saw play. I saw Musial and Williams at the end of their careers. But Willie in his prime.

I saw Gibson and Koufax, Johnson and Kershaw. Gibson was the most intimidating. He just wanted to beat you. I saw the Bash Brothers, and Willie Stargell. Stargell is still the only player to hit a ball completely out of Dodger Stadium twice. You cannot judge greatness simply by the numbers anymore. If you did, you would be missing some really tremendous players.

There are a lot of what-ifs involved. Williams surely would have cleared the 600 mark in homers had he not missed 5 prime seasons. Feller and others who lost years to the war, including DiMaggio, would have had padded their stats. Joltin Joe would have easily had closer to 500 than where he ended up.

Some still consider Babe the GOAT based on his high BA, number of homers and RBIs, and his pitching prowess early in his career. He was not the greatest hitter. But he was perhaps the most recognizable star MLB ever had. And he most likely single handedly saved the game after the Black Sox scandal. But it is up to fans to make their own choices.

I often see posters saying this player or that one there, belong in the Hall of Fame. The Hall has opened it’s doors to some iffy choices over the years. Players are now being elected when their stats just do not add up to prior stars. The all-time hit leader, Pete Rose, and the homer leader, Barry Bonds, are not in. Neither is the only player to hit 60 or more home runs three times, Sammy Sosa. The PED era skewed some players stats, and they are paying the price for that. Eventually Bonds will probably get in. But Rose will most likely, like Shoeless Joe before him, never make it.