The Greatest All-Time Cardinal Hitter?

by thegashousegang on Dec 7, 2008 7:30 PM EST Comment 54 comments

I recently had a debate with a friend over who was the greatest hitter in Cardinal history. I maintained it was Stan the Man while he pushed for Rogers Hornsby. Well, to muddle it up another friend came in and picked Albert Pujols. Man, all three are great and we had a great chat about them all.

So, I thought I would just post here asking your opinion. Here are some stats to compare the three.

Yrs. Player total yrs. H HR RBI BA SLG OBP OPS OPS+

41-63 Musial 24 3630 475 1951 .331 .559 .417 .976 159

15-37 Hornsby 23 2930 301 1584 .358 .577 .434 1.011 175

01-08 Pujols 8 1531 319 977 .334 .624 .415 1.049 170

I included quite a few different stats to compare and to add to the comparisons. Also for some stats mean more to one person than another. RBI's don't mean that much to me, but to some it does mean a lot. The numbers of these three are stunning and I am impressed. The thing that struck me is that if Pujols continues on this pace and plays 23 to 24 years like Musial and Hornsby his numbers are going to be unbelieveable. Of course, along the way he will inevitably have a off year, slow down due to age or (and lets hope it never happens) have an injury. So, it is all projections right now.

I was struck that for a few years Hornsby played in the deadball era and I wonder if he had played his entire career with the livelier ball that came in the 20's how much better his numbers may have been, especially in Home Runs.

Some of the numbers surprised me such as the OPS and OPS+ stat totals for the three players. Stan the Man finished third! Hornsby also wins the OBP and BA.

Hornsby did put up some incredible numbers, Pujols is doing so and Stan the Man numbers are incredible as well. So, vote, comment and share your thoughts.

The numbers and stats come from baseball reference.com just ot give them credit.

Poll

In your opinion, who is the greatest hitter in the history of the Cardinals?

Stan the Man Musial

85 votes

Rogers Hornsby

44 votes

Albert Pujols

80 votes

209 votes | Poll has closed

3 recs | Comment 54 comments

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Comments

Well...take a look at this...

An article was posted at Bird Land sort of about this. I like at the very bottom it asks four questions. Who led the NL in SLG v. lefties and v. righties, and who led the NL in OBP v. lefties and v. righties in 2008?

The first three answers are Albert Pujols and the fourth answer was Berkman, with Pujols in second. Are you kidding me? Really!? That’s good.

by stlfan on Dec 7, 2008 8:45 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

very interesting!!!

Thank you for sharing this! Pujols puts up unbelieveable numbers and I am sure looking forward to seeing what he does in 09.

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 8, 2008 6:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Vaguely on this topic: was anybody else annoyed by the "mt. cardsmore" voting?

I remember ozzie and have a soft spot for him. But it would be hard to argue for why hornsby shouldn’t go many spots before ozzie on the list of great cards. no problem with the other three choices, but Hornsby and Brock would immediately come to mind as better all-time cards than ozzie.

Is there an explanation beyond the obvious sentimental explanations and the fact that Ozzie is in the recent memories of cards fans?

by tom s. on Dec 7, 2008 9:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

generations I think

I think it is a generational thing among the voters. Ozzie was to me as a kid what Pujols is to today’s generation and since most of the voters are of a similar age to me I think that got into it quite a bit. Also I think it was trying to spread the wealth among the generations, though the early era Cards of which Hornsby could represent were left off.

"People call me El Hombre," Pujols said. "But only Stan is the Man."

by StLHugo on Dec 8, 2008 8:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

Ozzie was an idol. And maybe he wasn’t as good of a player, no doubt about it, but he was extremely fun to watch.

by wizardofozzie on Dec 8, 2008 12:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Dude did a back flip every game

That was worth coming early to see and sitting in the bleachers I got a good view of a few flips he did right in front of us. He was a great SS and just a fun guy to watch. I really wish he and TLR would work together since it just feels wrong that the Wizard and Big Mac have little to nothing to do with the club right now.

"People call me El Hombre," Pujols said. "But only Stan is the Man."

by StLHugo on Dec 8, 2008 3:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Albert, if healthy,

will surpass Musial’s and Hornsby’s hit totals in fewer years than it took them to get there. And look at that career SLG!

by spants on Dec 7, 2008 9:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

However

I have my doubts that Albert will be healthy enough for a 20 year career. I would LOVE to be wrong about that, though.

by spants on Dec 7, 2008 9:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That seems to be the question....

can he stay healthy? If he does he will literally rewrite the record books. I personally hope he does for won’t it be a ton of fun to watch it happen!

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 8, 2008 6:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, totally.

He’ll end up being among the top 5 hitters ever if he stays healthy. [fingers crossed]

by spants on Dec 8, 2008 7:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Another fun thing to look at

Is comparing the players vs. their peers.

Hornsby is obviously a great, great hitter, but was he as far ahead of his peers as Pujols seemingly is vs. his?

That’d be the best way to look at it in my opinion.

by mtalken on Dec 7, 2008 9:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Since Pujols'

career is still relatively young, it’s impossible to know. We can look at how they stack up from ages 21-29.

Hornsby 186 OPS+

Pujols 170 OPS+

Musial 164 OPS+

Even then its not quite that easy because the broader talent base from the integration of african americans and later the broader scouting and development of Caribbean and other areas around the world.

Acquire Boof Bonser. I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.

by Dave Barry on Dec 7, 2008 10:16 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

And also, part of the argument for Musial is going to be the absurd longevity.

Probably the central part. He was #2 in all-time hits to Ty Cobb for a really long time.

They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...

by Valatan on Dec 7, 2008 11:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Nice comparison

I’m so used to thinking that Pujols is some kind of freak that I had forgotten exactly how incredible Hornsby and Musial had been. One take-home message from the stats shown above is how Albert can’t afford to taper off too much if he intends to stay ahead of Hornsby and Musial in terms of OBP and SLG and OPS+. And how do his counting stats from ages 21-29 compare to the other two? At first blush, he looks like he’ll eclipse the other two in hits, HR, and RBI….but we have to assume he’ll taper down in his 30’s, just like the other two almost certainly did.

Games and plate appearances for each:

Hornsby: 2259 G, 9475 PA

Musial: 3026 G, 12712 PA

Pujols: 1239 G, 5382 PA

So although Pujols has only played 1/3 of the seasons the others did, he’s already amassed more than half the games and PAs of Hornsby, and something like 40% of Musial’s. If he only matches Musial in PAs, he’ll have to not taper down too much in H and RBI totals; he’s got a pretty chance at beating him in HRs though, within the same PA limit.

Bottom line: Stan the Man was one heckuva player!

by siddfynch on Dec 8, 2008 1:14 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

This is why I enjoy VEB so much.....

Dave Barry and you both posted some really interesting information about all three players to compare! So much information… so little time!

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 8, 2008 6:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I voted for Hornsby

and was quite surprised he was 3rd place in the voting, especially considering the position he played

this line is dedicated to '09

by Cards Fan in Chitown on Dec 8, 2008 2:03 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Well, he was considered a bit of an iron glove at 2b as well, though

though I guess you should factor in that he was a player-manager, too.

They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...

by Valatan on Dec 8, 2008 3:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Because of the Iron Glove..

I don’t think Hornsby could be considered a better ballplayer than either Musial or Pujols. Hornsby didn’t sustain his excellence beyond 1929. Rogers didn’t spend his fine 1927-1929 seasons with St. Louis. Musial had more quality seasons as a hitter than anyone in Cardinals history. Because of longevity, I voted for Musial as the best hitter in Cardinals history.

That Pujols guy can hit pretty well, too. If he has about 10 more seasons like he’s had already, I’ll give him the nod. Until then, Musial’s my guy.

"The big possum walks late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on Dec 8, 2008 12:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Some great points!

All three were and are great players. That was my point to my friends was that Musial did it longer than anyone and most of the times better. Hornsby is no pushover, what a great player! Pujols is putting up numbers that if I didn’t see happen I would be in disbelief. If he can keep doing it (and I believe he can and will) he will become the greatest Cardinal hitter of all-time. But, till then Stan the Man is also my choice.

By the way MemphisCubFan I was sad to see Santo not get voted into the Hall. That is a crying shame for he was one excellent player!

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 8, 2008 6:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Santo and Pujols

I’m too young to remember when Santo played. I know there a lot of people out there that think he should be in the Hall. I have been a big admirer of Pujols since his brief stint in Memphis in 2000. I’ll never forget that home run he hit into the right field stands against Salt Lake to win the PCL championship for the Redbirds at AutoZone Park. It’s a shame that the Redbirds haven’t made the playoffs since then.

"The big possum walks late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on Dec 9, 2008 12:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The Rajah was simply the greatest 2B ever

Stan and Albert are outstanding HOF players, but I dont believe anyone else at his position was better than Hornsby.

Proud sponsor of the Official 2009 StL Cardinal theme song:

by gocards62 on Dec 9, 2008 10:39 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I voted Stan the Man

Once Pujols plays for 10-12 seasons I may be ready to name him the best Cardinal hitter of all time but right now you can’t compare him to Stan IMO. Hornsby was good but the game was different back then too, I beleive that was still the time of thin gloves which meant less balls were caught especially line drives.

"People call me El Hombre," Pujols said. "But only Stan is the Man."

by StLHugo on Dec 8, 2008 8:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I used to play catch when I was a kid with one of those old baseball gloves.....

and it is nothing like today’s big basket gloves. You had to use two hands and snaring a line drive would be pretty hard and with the much smaller glove area you were less likely to touch it. If you could touch it knocking it down was more likely than snaring it like you could with today’s glove.

My dad still owns that old glove, for he bought it new when he was just a kid on the farm. The glove is at least 70 years old and every once in a while I pull it out and my dad and I talk about old time baseball. Fielding was definitely a lot different back then. I wonder how much it added to a player’s batting statistics with those old gloves and the livelier ball in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 8, 2008 6:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting.

Hadn’t considered glove size before.

by spants on Dec 8, 2008 7:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I Picked Moosial...

…but it’s tough to go against Hornsby – between 1921 – 1925 he AVERAGED .402 over a 5 year period. With almoost 30 HRs a year. In the end, I had to go with Musial’s longevity, both overall and with the club.

by The MooCow on Dec 8, 2008 1:28 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I picked Hornsby

But I’ll hold my breath that Albert will go down as the best hitter in Cardinals history before it’s all said and done.

Musial had the longevity, but Hornsby was better at his peak — and considering the title said “hitter”, I’m not valuing defense.

"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller

by fourstick on Dec 8, 2008 3:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I should've clarified the post...

I was indeed looking at offense only. Thanks for bringing it up so I could indeed clarify. :)

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 8, 2008 6:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

What amazes me

is the fact that the Cardinals have had three players who were the unchallenged Best Hitters in the National League during their respective peak years. No one could touch Hornsby in the ‘20s, or Musial in the ’40s-early ’50s, and Albert is hands down the best non-juiced hitter of the 21st century so far. How many franchises can boast of that? Probably only the Yankees in the AL. Ruth was certainly the best in his era, and Mantle in his (remember we’re talking AL, so Mays doesn’t count). You could argue that Gehrig and DiMaggio were BOTH the best of the mid-late 1930s, but Ted Williams outhit DiMag during the latter part of the Clipper’s career.

"The Detroit Tigers' biggest obstacle to a championship will be keeping a straight face. The Tigers in three. (OK, make it four.)"
- Bob Nightengale's World Series prediction in USA Today, Oct. 20, 2006

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 9, 2008 4:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I am also amazed

Not many fans could have this debate about thier team. Perhaps the Red Sox with Williams, Yaz and Boggs?

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometime it rains.

by garden nome on Dec 9, 2008 6:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The Giants with Mays, Bonds and McCovey, one would think (though McCovey is clearly #3)

There’s probably not an obvious ‘all time greatest Dodger hitter’, and though they have awesome guys, I can’t think of anyone quite on the level of the above guys.

They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...

by Valatan on Dec 9, 2008 7:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

McCovey didn't dominate his era...

the way Hornsby & Musial did theirs, and the way Albert is his. Willie had some good years, but his only arguably great one was his MVP year of 1969. Aaron was pretty dominant throughout Stretch’s early years (Mays still was too, come to think of it), then Bench took over (briefly) in the early ’70s.

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 9, 2008 7:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hard to include Yaz...

among all-time greatest hitters, though I may be in the minority with that opinion. If he ranks as the best of his era in his league, it’s only because the AL was utterly depleted of hitting talent in the late ‘60s-early ’70s (which led to the DH), with the exception of slap-hitting Rod Carew. In a 23-year career, Yaz topped .300 only six times (Tony Oliva did the same in 15 seasons) for a lifetime batting average of .285. He hit 40 or more HR three times – Harmon Killebrew did it eight times in the same era. Yaz was possibly the most well-rounded hitter in the AL of his day, taking into consideration his standout seasons of ’67 and ’70 – but sprinkled throughtout even his best stretches were paltry BAs of .255 (’69), .254 (‘71) and .264 (’72). Musial didn’t sink that low until very late in his career. Hornsby hit for high average throughout his career, the only exceptions being his rookie year of 1915 and his second-to-last, 1935. He had fewer than 60 ABs in each of those seasons. Albert… well, we all know how amazing he is.

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 9, 2008 7:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If not Yaz

what about Manny for the Red Sox?

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometime it rains.

by garden nome on Dec 11, 2008 5:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Manny's a strong candidate

but any claim he has of “Unchallenged Best Hitter in the American League” is, at best, debatable, mainly due to A-Rod. And during Manny’s early years it seemed everyone in the world was calling Ken Griffey Jr. the best. He very well may have been. Frank Thomas was a formidable contender for that title in those days as well.

Hornsby’s and Musial’s utter dominace in their respective heydays in the NL was irrefutable. Albert has a few challengers, but over the past eight years who has been so consistently at or near the top in all of the major offensive categories – with two (shoulda been 3) MVPs to boot? (Bond’s four faux-nomenal years in the early 2000s, of course, remain in question, thereby disqualifying him from this discussion IMHO.)

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 15, 2008 12:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, there are guys that were kind of in the same neighborhood as Hornsby

this guy, for example. Or this guy. None quite had his peak or his power, but, they were comparable ball players.

They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...

by Valatan on Dec 15, 2008 11:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fine players,

but they were never threats to move in on Hornsby’s real estate. Wilson’s BA/OPS+ was .307/144, and Big Poison Waner’s was .333/134, which would locate them somewhere on the outskirts of Hornsby’s very exclusive neighborhood. Hornsby’s BA/OPS, as pointed out at the top of this engrossing thread, was a massive .357/175.

Props to Hack for one of the best offensive years ever in 1930 (56/191/.356, 178 OPS+ …all career highs), but check this out: from 1921-25, Hornsby’s OPS+’s were 191, 208, 188, 222 and 210! And I won’t even mention his obscenely high batting averages.

For the record: Hornsby’s career OPS+ is 4th best all-time (1st among righties), Pujols is tied for 7th (2nd among righties), Musial is 15th, Hack Wilson’s tied for 50th, and Paul Waner’s 113th. I know my original point has to do with dominance during peak years, but I don’t have the stats broken down for that. Suffice it to say that career OPS+ figures likely give us a pretty good idea of how these guys would stack up against each other peak-wise.

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 16, 2008 12:00 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Wow! Amazing how good Rajah was isn't it?

Waner and Wilson both were great players, but its like Hornsby is on a different planet from these two. I’m not disregarding how great they were, but its amazing how much better Hornsby was. I can’t imagine what a pitcher felt when the Rajah strolled up to the plate!

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 16, 2008 12:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

something like this:

About 1924 Rogers Hornsby, the
greatest right-hand hitter in the history of baseball, was at the plate.
There was a rookie pitcher on the mound, and the rookie was quite
reasonably petrified. The rookie threw three pitches that he thought were
strikes, right on the edge of the plate, but the umpire said, “ball one,
ball two, ball three.” The rookie got flustered and shouted in, “Ump,
those were strikes.” The umpire took off his mask, looked out at the
pitcher and said, "Young man, when you throw a strike, Mr. Hornsby will let
you know.

link

They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...

by Valatan on Dec 16, 2008 12:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

LMAO.... I bet he would let ya know!

Its amazing that anyone would ever want to trade a player like this. But, then again, from what I remember he wasn’t exactly a easy guy to get along with. I remember reading he caused some friction with the Redbirds while there.

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 16, 2008 12:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

OK, I did some numbers crunching,

comparing the OPS+ of each player’s 8 best consecutive seasons – since Albert has only been in the Bigs for 8 years (and they’ve all been excellent). Hornsby’s 8 were as a Cardinal – he continued to have great years after being traded. Also included are contemporaries, or near-contemporaries of Hornsby & Musial. Duke Snider was the closest I could think of for Stan, since there was simply no NL player even close to The Man from the mid ’40s-early ’50s timeframe. Mays is thrown in strictly as a point of reference.

HORNSBY, 1919-26 162.13
Cy Williams, 1920-27 135.38
Hack Wilson, 1926-33 146.5

MUSIAL, 1943-51 173.9
Duke Snider, 1950-57 149.9

Willie Mays, 1955-62 162.13

PUJOLS, 2001-08 170

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 16, 2008 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry! BIG typo...

Hornsby’s 1919-26 OPS+ was 184.8
- NOT 162.3!

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 16, 2008 4:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pujols is putting up a better OPS+ than ...

Willie Mays best 8 years?!!!! Wow! We are watching what could turn out to be one of the greatest hitters in Major League history if he keeps it up!

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 16, 2008 4:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Revised OPS+ totals

including the Hornsby correction:

HORNSBY, 1919-26 184.8
Cy Williams, 1920-27 135.38
Hack Wilson, 1926-33 146.5

MUSIAL, 1943-51 173.9
Duke Snider, 1950-57 149.9

Willie Mays, 1955-62 162.13

PUJOLS, 2001-08 170

Yes, Pujols is besting Willie at this point… but keep in mind Mays had additional great years, up to 1965. His ’54 season was nothing to sneeze at, either, but I had to draw the line at 8 years for our purposes.

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 16, 2008 5:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Also keep in mind that Albert’s best years may be yet to come!

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 16, 2008 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

But wait! There's more...

The only NL contemporary of Albert’s I could come up with who has 8 or more good years under his belt was Lance Berkman, whose ‘01-’08 OPS+ is 150.4. Not even close to AP’s 170. Going back a bit, tho his peak years predate Albert’s, Jeff Bagwell’s best 8 consecutive (1993-2000) produced a tally of 164.63. Stretching things a bit further (e.g., allowing for alleged use of cork & certain chemicals), Scammin’ Sammy Sosa’s 1996-2003 added up to a mere 149.12.

Another amazing thing about Albert is that he’s finished in the NL’s top ten (actually the top 7) in BA every year of his career. But what Hornsby & Musial achieved was even more amazing. The Rajah finished in the top seven 10 consecutive years as a Cardinal, 12 consecutive overall. Stan the Man accomplished this feat a phenomenal 16 years in a row, 17 overall!

by StLouisSwifties on Dec 17, 2008 1:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Those are phenominal numbers!!!

It will be interesting to see how close Albert can come to Rajah and Stan the Man. It will also be fun to watch! :) Thank you for doing all this research and sharing these numbers with us. I know I appreciate it very much! :)

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 17, 2008 2:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

“Best hitter in the MLB” has a much better ring than “best hitter in the NL,” IMO :)

Musial still seems amazingly underrated, but Ted Williams was a monster.

by astrostl on Dec 9, 2008 10:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

(I don’t think Hornsby “losing” to Ruth counts as a loss, and he seems better-known than Musial)

by astrostl on Dec 9, 2008 11:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Remember too that Rajah

wasn’t a Cardinal for his entire career (10 full years out of 22, plus a couple of brief cameos early and late). Stan the Man was, and I strongly hope that AP will be. Until he actually signs the deal to finish his career in town, however, I’ll go with Stan as the answer to this one.

by StanTheManFan on Dec 9, 2008 9:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I love Albert

and always admired Hornsby, but you cannot ignore the fact that when Stan retired he owned virtually every NL hitting record. The only way to compare players of different eras is by how each dominated his respective era. Gotta be Stan.

Those Pilgrims ain't lookin' so proud now...

by giveml on Dec 10, 2008 11:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Well...

Hornsby owned virtually all the NL hitting records when he retired too, so you’re only discounting him because he was a generation younger than Musial. Hornsby also dominated his league in the 20’s like nobody else, and if we’re talking about only his years as a Cardinal, that’s probably the most dominant period by a hitter in Cardinal history.

I guess I just think about this a little differently: Instead of looking at how long a player was dominant, I like to take the best 7 consecutive years of a player’s career to see how good they were at their peak because I think that measures how good that player actually was when he was playing his best. Musial has better career numbers, but Hornsby’s peak was as good as any other hitter in the history of the game outside of Ruth. You also have to take into account that the only player hitting like Rogers in his era was Ruth, and that pretty much everyone else was quite a ways down the slope.

It’s possible that 2006 was the beginning of Albert’s peak, so he easily could top this list after the next 4-5 seasons.

"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller

by fourstick on Dec 11, 2008 2:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I enjoyed your insights and thoughts about this....

I would take any of the three anytime! Rajah was one tough cookie at the plate and put up some unreal numbers. I wish I could’ve seen him play. I just missed being old enough to remember Musial, but I sure am glad I get to see Pujols!

If your right about Albert hitting his peak it will be fun to watch won’t it?

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Dec 11, 2008 4:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs