My Initial Predictions for the GOAT


Gehrig, Speaker, Cobb, and Ruth
Gehrig, Speaker, Cobb, Ruth
Gehrig, Speaker, Cobb, Ruth

What are my predictions?

Before starting, I figured that we would see

The usual suspects

(in no particular order):

  1. Ty Cobb – Highest Lifetime Batting Average
  2. Babe Ruth – The quintessential Power Hitter against whom all are measured
  3. Ted Williams – Possibly the best “Eye” in history
  4. Lou Gehrig – The Original Ironman and often in the shadow of The Babe
  5. Willie Mays – The Say Hey Kid had a fabulous combination of power, speed, and longevity
  6. Mickey Mantle – Also, speed, power, and spectacular long-distance clouts
  7. Hank Aaron – Unmatched in power, consistency, and longevity
  8. Barry Bonds – The all-time leader in home runs
  9. Tris Speaker – The Gray Eagle is still the all-time leader in doubles
  10. Honus Wagner – The Flying Dutchman was considered the greatest at the turn of the century
  11. Jimmie Foxx – Double XX had years of great power
  12. Mel Ott – Got started young and finished in the Top 10 all-time in homers
  13. Stan Musial – Stan the Man was a steady, perennial all-star
  14. Carl Yastrzemski – Yaz was a contemporary great
  15. Eddie Collins – Almost as good a hitter as Cobb and a great fielding second baseman to boot
  16. Nap Lajoie – It was said that Lajoie with Cobb’s speed might hit .500!
  17. Frank Robinson – A contemporary superstar
  18. Joe Jackson – Shoulda, woulda, coulda
  19. Cap Anson – The first superstar
  20. Joe DiMaggio – The Yankee Clipper and 3-time MVP lost 3 peak years to WWII
Goose Gossage, Ozzie Smith, Rollie Fingers, Wade Boggs, Juan Marichal, Phil Niekro

Along with some newer folks:

  1. Rickey Henderson – Arguably the greatest leadoff hitter of all time
  2. Eddie Murray – Arguably the greatest switch hitter of all time
  3. Albert Pujols – Better than Gehrig?
  4. Miguel Cabrera – The last Triple Crown winner and maybe the next 3000 hit, 500 homer man
  5. Derek Jeter – 6th all-time in hits
  6. Alex Rodriguez – 3000 hits, almost 700 homers… jeez
  7. Ken Griffey Jr.– Had a 10-year string where his hit 400 dingers
  8. Rod Carew – No one hit like him in the 70s
  9. Mike Schmidt – Redefined what was expected at third base
  10. Ichiro Suzuki – Combined with his Japanese League stats, well over 4,000 hits, including a season-record 262

And with some young upstarts:

  1. Mike Trout – as of this writing, has never finished below 4th in MVP voting
  2. Troy Tulowitzki – While in Colorado, he was spectacular
  3. Andrew McCutchen – He’s tailed off some but was solid through 2015
  4. Josh Donaldson – MVP in 2015
  5. Jacoby Ellsbury – Pretty solid before the injuries

And Some folks whose playing talents I have often not fully appreciated:

  1. Wade Boggs – Knew how to hit and could take a walk
  2. Pete Rose – Well, 4,256 hits… nuff, said
  3. Reggie Jackson – Mr. October hit a lot of home runs when it wasn’t that easy to do so
  4. Cal Ripken Jr.– Hits, homers, and always in the lineup
  5. Robin Yount – 2-time MVP and over 3,000 hits
Image result for kenny lofton

And some guys who I thought might be surprises:

  1. Kenny Lofton – How is he not in the Hall of Fame?
  2. Tim Raines – He could hit and steal bases like nobody’s business
  3. Lou Brock – He stole bases when nobody else did
  4. Eddie Matthews – Overshadowed by Hammerin’ Hank
  5. Roberto Clemente – No decline phase

For a total of 45. I am very curious as to how it will all play out. Please join me for the fun.

Tim Bruno

Tim has been a baseball fan for most of his life and has played a great deal of baseball and softball over the years. Although his playing days are long behind him, he remembers back when he was an extremely fast catcher with an extremely bad arm. He has been playing Strat-o-Matic baseball since he was 14. Tim is currently living in southwest France and writes A LOT about coffee at Procaffeination.com. He has also written Procaffeination: A Coffee Lover's Dictionary, which will be available soon. You can find out more about Tim's writing at TimothyBruno.com and if you want to contact him about the tournament, drop him an email at Tim@BaseballsGreatestPlayerPlayoff.com

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