at the All Star game. You may have seen it announced at the All Star game. The honorees were Aaron, Mays, Koufax, and Bench. No big quarrel with their selections... Aaron and Mays are certainly 1 &2 in no particular order (although I would take Mays in his prime over Hammerin' Hank). I think I might have selected Al Kaline over Johnny Bench. Kaline has always seemed underrated to me. If I were building a team, I would consider Mike Schmidt as well. He's still alive and kicking.

Koufax was great during his short stretch of dominance, but what about Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez, Whitey Ford, and Greg Maddux who also sustained long, dominant careers?

Somewhere Pete Rose and Barry Bonds weep of what could have been.

IS FRANK ROBINSON STILL ALIVE?

Good call. He is. So is Yogi Berra

I have no issue with Mays, Aaron or Koufax.  Bench was great but the only reason he was in there was because of the game being in Cincinnati.  I'd take Greg Maddux over any of the others - domination over a long period in the PED era speaks volumes.  Same could be said for Clemens - but he's such an ***...

I have no issue with Bench, as he may be the greatest catcher ever, living or dead.  Maybe not the greatest living player, but the greatest catcher ever.

Probably so, yes.  I was surprised with how good the picks really were, honestly.  I don't think you can say Bench was included because the game was in Cincinnati.  The honorees were chosen by 100% fan vote.  Based on how the ASG voting went, maybe we should be surprised George Brett didn't make it into the top 4...

Koufax is my favorite player of all time but based on longevity I would have to replace him with maddux....I would have to consider Schmidt over bench.

to barry bonds...that's what you get for having such a big head.

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/15/2015 5:15:00 PM (view original):
Probably so, yes.  I was surprised with how good the picks really were, honestly.  I don't think you can say Bench was included because the game was in Cincinnati.  The honorees were chosen by 100% fan vote.  Based on how the ASG voting went, maybe we should be surprised George Brett didn't make it into the top 4...

Good one dahsdebater, guess the Royals fans weren't stuffing that particular ballot box.

Why four? Why not five, or nine (as in a team) or ten? 

I do think Koufax was better than even the people we have seen named above - he was dominant when Gibson was pitching and Gibson became dominant when Koufax retired, not because he was not already amazing (see the 1964 World Series and All-Star Game) but simply because Koufax was even better. 

Better than Pedro for a simple reason - the game is 9 innings. Koufax is still on the mound pitching a shutout and Pedro's team needs to go to the bullpen. 

Better than Clemens because Pedro was already better than Clemens, and probably Maddux too. Maddux was very great but he too had some IP stamina issues and gave up a run every so often. Koufax is still on the mound pitching a shutout and that is without having any feeling left in his arm, and even if his curve ball is not working (see game 7 of the 1965 World Series). 

He would have been more dominant for more years but the Dodgers brought him up immediately so he did not get the training and coaching he needed in the minors first, so his weak early MLB years should have been AA and AAA years and a lot of pitchers would be happy to have had them, and had he continued to pitch after 1966 he would have still been the best in baseball for a long time. 

In 1981 the Dodgers were facing the Yankees in the World Series and they asked Koufax to pitch batting practice. He had not pitched on a mound in 15 years. Anywhere. He struck out the side deep into the batting order until they told him he was demoralizing the whole team's offense before the Series and asked him to please leave. 

If it's longevity and dominance that we seek on the bump, I pick Nolan Ryan over Koufax, Pedro, Maddux & Clemens.