JoPo: 10 best pure hitters in baseball..since 1947

[Deberg_1990]

Discuss...

10. Roberto Clemente
9. Paul Molitor
8. George Brett
7. Ted Williams
6. Hank Aaron
5. Pete Rose
4. Rod Carew
3. Wade Boggs
2. Stan Musial
1. Tony Gwynn

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ers/index.html

[Demonpenz]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

The main things to note are that he missed a huge hunk of time due to the Korean War during this period (and as you can see he missed 3 full seasons due to WWII. Someone noted that he would have had "about 600 hrs" if he hadn't done the wartime service.

It would've been alot more than 600. Even in that pre-steriod era, he was averaginga bout 35 home runs per year, and he missed something like 5 full yeasr, that's 175 lost home runs. Added to the 521 he did hit, and you get to 696. More than Mays and second only to Ruth until the advent of the changes in the rules to favor hitters, and the advent of the steroid era.

Check out the '47 and after on base percentages and slugging percentages. His OPS is remarkably consistent at 1100'ish every year 'til the back problems got him '59.

Unless by "pure hitters" you mean "guys who don't hit home runs", then there's no way you put the lightweights ahead of him that you have (Boggs, Gwynn, Carew).

ted's co pilot in korea was lance armstrong

[jAZ]

Why 1947?

[Demonpenz]

good place to show off the ted williams costume

[Demonpenz]

Originally Posted by jAZ

Why 1947?

lowered the mound

[wild1]

"There's nobody like Ichiro in either league—now or ever. He exists strictly within his own world, playing a game 100 percent unfamiliar to everyone else. The game has known plenty of 'slap' hitters, but none who sacrifice so much natural ability for the sake of the art. Maury Wills wasn't going to do anything but hit singles. Matty Alou wasn't a slugger in disguise. Ichiro, a man of wondrous strength, puts on impressive power-hitting displays almost nightly in batting practice. And he'll go deep occasionally in games, looking very much like someone who could do it again, often. Mostly, though, Ichiro is death by handkerchief. In the first inning, with lefty Mark Redman nibbling on the outside corner, Ichiro sliced a ground ball single between third and short. Next time up, with the A's perhaps leaning that way again, he singled through the other side of the diamond. The man lives for hits, little tiny ones, and the glory of standing atop the world in that category. Every spring, scouts or media types write him off, swearing that opposing pitchers have found the key, and they are embarrassingly wrong." - Bruce Jenkins in The San Francisco Chronicle (July 28, 2004)

"I wish you could put a camera at third base to see how he hits the ball and see the way it deceives you. You can call some guys' infield hits cheap, but not his. He has amazing technique." Detroit Third Baseman Brandon Inge in the New York Times (August 22, 2009)

Ichiro has 2,000 hits and he did it in under 8 full seasons, only one player has reached 2,000 hits faster.

He has had at least 200 hits for 9 years running. Pete Rose did this 10 times in 24 seasons.

And all of this started when he was 28, he wasn't playing in the US until then. If he plays until 40, which is definitely possible given that he's never missed more than 5 games in a season, he could get to 3,000 hits having gotten his first hit at age 28. That's incredible.

Most people don't like the idea, some people don't want to say it because power hitting is not what he is about. But he's the best pure hitter the game has ever seen. I don't think there's any question.

It's criminal for him to be off this list because he's right there with any of those guys. If Ichiro had began playing in the US when he was 21, this article would never have been written because he'd be so far ahead of these guys as to make it irrelevant.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Discuss...

10. Roberto Clemente
9. Paul Molitor 8. George Brett
7. Ted Williams
6. Hank Aaron
5. Pete Rose
4. Rod Carew
3. Wade Boggs
2. Stan Musial
1. Tony Gwynn

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ers/index.html

I was sitting on that one, man, I would've went off, had he not been on the list.

[penchief]

A healthy Don Mattingly was one of the best pure hitters I ever saw. Drove the ball hard to all fields. Hit for average and had good power in the pre-steroids era. He was nearly impossible to strike out. The most impressive thing was how hard he consistently hit the ball. He may also have been the best defensive first baseman to ever play the game. A bad back cut his career too short for the HOF, though.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by wild1

Ichiro has 2,000 hits and he did it in under 8 full seasons, only one player has reached 2,000 hits faster.

He has had at least 200 hits for 9 years running. Pete Rose did this 10 times in 24 seasons.

And all of this started when he was 28, he wasn't playing in the US until then. If he plays until 40, which is definitely possible given that he's never missed more than 5 games in a season, he could get to 3,000 hits having gotten his first hit at age 28. That's incredible.

Most people don't like the idea, some people don't want to say it because power hitting is not what he is about. But he's the best pure hitter the game has ever seen. I don't think there's any question.

It's criminal for him to be off this list because he's right there with any of those guys. If Ichiro had began playing in the US when he was 21, this article would never have been written because he'd be so far ahead of these guys as to make it irrelevant.

That shouldn't count for you, though, not hitting for power. He's a great, great hitter, but I just don't see how you can say he's a better "pure hitter" than Williams. There isn't one GM in the history of the game that would give up an outfield spot for Williams and put Ichiro there instead. I just think that had Williams wanted to get on base as his primary goal, and make sure he hit singles and walked to get on base his hit numbers and OBP would be higher, but the goal of the game is to score runs and he knew that. His job as a great hitter, as he viewed it, was to hit for average, but more than that- to take advantage when he could and drive the ball for power.
I don't see any way you could say Ichiro is a better than Williams. Because his hit totals were better? That's great, but overall, Williams was better.

[Buck]

Finally, #1 in something.

YES!

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

good place to show off the ted williams costume

That's just wrong....

[blaise]

Originally Posted by BuckinKaeding

Finally, #1 in something.

YES!

Tony Gwynn is also the #1 buffet hitter on that list these days.

[wild1]

Originally Posted by blaise

Tony Gwynn is also the #1 buffet hitter on that list these days.

You have to credit Gwynn because you know that he didn't beat those hits out on the ground.

[Demonpenz]

Gwynn wasn't slow for most his career, just fat,

[wild1]

Originally Posted by blaise

That shouldn't count for you, though, not hitting for power. He's a great, great hitter, but I just don't see how you can say he's a better "pure hitter" than Williams. There isn't one GM in the history of the game that would give up an outfield spot for Williams and put Ichiro there instead. I just think that had Williams wanted to get on base as his primary goal, and make sure he hit singles and walked to get on base his hit numbers and OBP would be higher, but the goal of the game is to score runs and he knew that. His job as a great hitter, as he viewed it, was to hit for average, but more than that- to take advantage when he could and drive the ball for power.
I don't see any way you could say Ichiro is a better than Williams. Because his hit totals were better? That's great, but overall, Williams was better.

Williams played 5 of his 17 productive years before 1947, including his .406 season, for the purposes of this discussion.

[RJ]

Originally Posted by jAZ

Why 1947?

Jackie Robinson.