For the final piece of my three part series on generational players, I want to discuss the possible omissions and castoffs that were left of the my lists. I understand that people have their varying opinions on what constitutes or defines a baseball player as “generational,” so I will do my best to think outside my box and try to look at this third piece from the prospective of others. While I am Mr. Armchair, I do respect other people’s opinion on matters and enjoy the constructive dialog baseball and sports brings.
For a quick review, a generational player is a player that comes along once in a lifetime and are not only great on the field, but carry with them a flair that makes them larger than life. They are not only admired by baseball purest, but capture the hearts of the average fan. For my list of old-time generational players, I had cited Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Bob Gibson, and Sandy Koufax. Now I know that not all of these players played in the same “generation” or era of baseball, but for the purposes of this blog, any baseball played before 1975 is considered one generation. So this may lead you to ask, where is Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, and the rest of the turn of the century players. Well, I can’t really speak too intelligently about those players because not only did I never see them play, there is limited footage or highlights available on these players. Hell, there aren’t even many people still alive that can recount seeing these players play. Ty Cobb didn’t even have a number for the Detroit Tigers to retire because he played in an era where players didn't have jersey numbers. So for those purposes, I left that generation off this blog. At least with the old-timers I named above, while I never saw them play as well, I can at least watch a large sample size of footage and highlights of these players, as well as read literature, and listen and hear people recount how great they were.
So besides the first generation of players being omitted, there was one omission that I left off that needs to be added: Hank Aaron. “Hammerin’” Hank Aaron captured the nation when he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, a record that was later broken by a player who is on the list of generational players from my era, Barry Bonds. While Hank Aaron is soft spoken and generally stays out of the limelight, he still has a presence about him that quiets a room, just like any of the other players on the old-timers list would. And just like this blogger did, whenever there is even a discussion about the best baseball players of all-time, Hank Aaron is rarely mentions. Has anyone looked at his overall numbers, and not just the fact that he broke the home run record? Hank Aaron has a career batting average of .305, 755 home runs, 3,771 hits, and 2,297 runs batted in. Folks, he is second all-time in home runs, top five in career hits and runs, and hold the Major League Baseball records for runs batted in and extra base hits. He's a 25 time All-Star, three time Gold Glove winner, and one MVP award. While some feel that his numbers are inflated because his career was so long (23 years), there is nothing wrong with consistency. If Hank Aaron is so forgotten, then does he qualify within our definition of a generational player? Maybe not. But I can't ignore these numbers and he did become a household name during his pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record, even if it was negative attention.
Another omission which is obviously, but I will define my position for leaving him off, is Jackie Robinson. I realize what Jackie Robinson did for baseball may constitute him being labeled as a generational player, but I think it’s safe to say that Jackie Robinson is bigger than that. You can argue, and I would love to someday write a blog, dissertation, thesis, whatever on this topic, that Jackie Robinson is the most important person is American History. I know that is saying a lot, but think long and hard about it. And for him to simply make my old-time generational player list, I feel is somewhat disrespectful to his honor. Jackie belongs on a list that includes the likes of Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, maybe FDR, and the Founding Fathers. He was that important to American History, let alone Baseball.
I actually feel pretty comfortable with my list of generational players stemming from the 80’s, 90’s, early 2000’s, and future. Those players include: Cal Ripken Jr. (80-90’s), Ken Griffey Jr. (90’s), Mark McGwire (90’s), Barry Bonds (90’s), Nolan Ryan (80-90’s), Roger Clemons (80-90’s), Derek Jeter (90-00’s), Alex Rodriguez (90-00’s), Albert Puljos (00’s), Randy Johnson (90-00’s), Mariano Riveria (90-00’s), Even Longoria (future), Troy Tulowitzki (future), Tim Lincecum (future), Ichiro Suzuki (future), Stephen Strasburg (future), and Bryce Harper (future). All these players deserve the title of being labeled as a generational player. I would have probably moved Puljos from the 2000’s list to the future’s list and move Ichiro from the future’s list to the early 2000’s list (a mistake I caught and tried to cover up), but otherwise I’m confident in these players. The only two omission that I would consider are the three headed monster that was the Atlanta Braves starting pitching, with Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine, and Tony Gwynn. Together, the three headed monster (Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine) were unstoppable and dominate, winning division title, after division title. However, you can argue that for how dominate they were, they only won one World Series, and only went there three times. As a collective whole, the three headed monster started the movement that we are starting to see more of today; having a starting rotation with three aces. Individually however, of the three, Greg Maddux would probably be the only one I would consider adding to the list.
Tony Gwynn was a hitting machine. Our generations Ted Williams, Gwynn had a baseball swing that was so mechanically tuned and pure that he could hit a baseball into a bucket 200 feet away in the opposition field. However, as exciting as it is to see him hit singles up the middle and doubles down the line, unfortunately it doesn't translate to popularity amongst the average fans. And this was evident during his final season. Gwynn retired from baseball the same season as Cal Ripken Jr., and he even announced it shortly after Ripken did. However, Ripken was paraded around the league and was given standing ovations in every ballpark Ripken played in during his final season. Stadiums were sold out so that the average baseball fan to see him play one last time. Gwynn however, didn't receive the same fan fare. Maybe it was because he had the misfortune of retiring the same year as a true generational player as Ripken, but I'm sorry to say that I don't think that was the case. I love Tony Gwynn and I think he was a great baseball player, but just not a generational player.
I want to end on this note. I want to point out a glaring omission from my future’s list. If you notice, I don’t have any Yankees players. This is because the Yankees don’t home grown their players anymore. In the era of free agency and the almighty buck, the Yankees are built off of other teams not being able to keep their high priced free agents and possible generational players. The one exception that I also put on the list of future generational players was Robinson Cano. He may be the last great home grown Yankee to amount to anything. Robinson Cano could potentially be, when it’s all said and done, the greatest hitting second baseman of all-time. But unfortunately, playing next to possibly the greatest Yankee of our generation, and the high priced, purple lip gloss of A-Rod, Robbie Cano gets overlooked. He missed coming up in the era of the Yankee big 4 (Jeter, Petittie, Riveria, and Posada) and got over-shadowed by the high price acquisition era of A-Rod, Jason Giambi, C.C. Sabathia, and Mark Teixeira. So while Robbie Cano is great, the 8-year old fielding grounders at second in Lytton, Iowa has no clue who Robinson Cano is.
Well, here ends this series on generational players and I thoroughly enjoyed writing about the topic. I had a lot of fun researching stats and debating about which players to add. While the list of generational players is short, that doesn't mean that there aren't great baseball players. The game throughout its history has seen a lot of great players play its game. But there are just those who have played this game or are playing now, that make it extra special.
Mr. Armchair Speaking
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