Watching Yanks-Cards yesterday, the announcers were obviously talking about Jackie Robinson and his accomplishments despite starting his career at 28(and other obstacles).

So, as baseball lends itself to thought due to pace, I started thinking about who is the best player for teams. Since this forum is dead as hell(Tebow gets the most play), maybe this could lead to some discussion. As a Yankee fan, I'll do the AL East. Feel free to do another division, just a team or tell me why I'm wrong.

Yankees - Ruth. Too easy.
Orioles - Ripken. Also easy. I'd have taken Frank Robinson but just a tiny portion of his career was in Baltimore and, since this is GOAT for each team and not GOAT in MLB, it has to be Ripken.
Blue Jays - I guess it's Carlos Delgado because the team is relatively new in baseball terms. Not many options.
Red Sox - Meh, Yaz. Tempted to simply ignore these bastards but I think it's probably Yaz.
Rays - Can't think of one. Again, "new" team.

I'd probably go Ted Williams over Yaz.

Good list but lacks pitchers . How about a pitcher & positional guy?

Yanks add Ford (how about Guidry?, the forgotten one)
Orioles add Palmer
Blue Jays add Halladay but I'd go with Alomar
Rays Price and Longoria
Red Sox add Martinez (though a certain Cy Young could be there too and I agree with Yaz, a good argument for Williams could be made)


Twins Blyleven and Killebrew
Tigers. Cobb and Newhouser
Indians Feller and Tris Speaker
Royals Brett and Leonard
White Sox Walsh and Collins

I'll take a shot at the NL East:

Mets: Seaver and Wright (?)
Phillies: Carlton and Schmidt
Braves: Maddux and Aaron
Nationals (Expos): either Rogers or Strasburg, and Carter
Marlins: ? and Stanton

Posted by aginor on 4/16/2017 9:19:00 AM (view original):
Good list but lacks pitchers . How about a pitcher & positional guy?

Yanks add Ford (how about Guidry?, the forgotten one)
Orioles add Palmer
Blue Jays add Halladay but I'd go with Alomar
Rays Price and Longoria
Red Sox add Martinez (though a certain Cy Young could be there too and I agree with Yaz, a good argument for Williams could be made)


Twins Blyleven and Killebrew
Tigers. Cobb and Newhouser
Indians Feller and Tris Speaker
Royals Brett and Leonard
White Sox Walsh and Collins

The Twins are also the original Washington Senators. So it's gotta be Walter Johnson over Blyleven.

Senators had two versions (one is now the Twins & the other is now the Rangers). If you combine those two: Johnson and how about Frank Howard?

How about Hernandez for the Mets ?

You can't combine the two Senators teams because they are two separate franchises.

Posted by tecwrg on 4/16/2017 9:51:00 AM (view original):

Posted by aginor on 4/16/2017 9:19:00 AM (view original):
Good list but lacks pitchers . How about a pitcher & positional guy?

Yanks add Ford (how about Guidry?, the forgotten one)
Orioles add Palmer
Blue Jays add Halladay but I'd go with Alomar
Rays Price and Longoria
Red Sox add Martinez (though a certain Cy Young could be there too and I agree with Yaz, a good argument for Williams could be made)


Twins Blyleven and Killebrew
Tigers. Cobb and Newhouser
Indians Feller and Tris Speaker
Royals Brett and Leonard
White Sox Walsh and Collins

The Twins are also the original Washington Senators. So it's gotta be Walter Johnson over Blyleven.

Johnson was better but I doubt most Twin fans would associate him with the Minnesota franchise. I'd go Blyleven or Puckett for the Twins.

NL West

Dodgers - Koufax (wouldn't be surprised if Kershaw takes this spot eventually)

Giants - Bonds (Mays is also an option)

Padres - Gwynn

Diamondbacks - I guess Randy Johnson but Mariners fans would claim him first.

Rockies - Todd Helton

NL Central:

Reds: Bench and ?
Cubs: Banks and Jenkins
Pirates: Wagner and ?
Brewers: Yount and ?
Cardinals: Musial and Gibson

Posted by tecwrg on 4/16/2017 11:07:00 AM (view original):
You can't combine the two Senators teams because they are two separate franchises.

Good point. Still most today don't even know the history of the twins or rangers.

So for the Senators/Twins. You have Johnson & Killebrew

Senators/Rangers...Howard & .... But I don't know about a Pitcher???

Posted by bad_luck on 4/16/2017 11:28:00 AM (view original):
NL West

Dodgers - Koufax (wouldn't be surprised if Kershaw takes this spot eventually)

Giants - Bonds (Mays is also an option)

Padres - Gwynn

Diamondbacks - I guess Randy Johnson but Mariners fans would claim him first.

Rockies - Todd Helton

I'd do Mays for the Giants over Bonds, as Bonds' career was split between Pittsburgh and SF.

I was gonna do pitchers another day.

For "my" Oakland (not KC or Philly) A's, I've gotta say Rickey and Catfish.

Posted by all3 on 4/16/2017 1:02:00 PM (view original):
For "my" Oakland (not KC or Philly) A's, I've gotta say Rickey and Catfish.

For the Phil/KC/Oak franchise, Rickey might still be the guy. With Eddie Plank.