Tidbit about Yaz from a Yankees fan... I visited Fenway in 1979. Sat along the LF line. Yaz, the 18 year veteran, went out to LF pre-game and practiced taking caroms off the Green Monster and firing strikes to the 2nd & 3rd base bags. Over and over and over. Yaz earned every single accolade he ever got.
Mays, he made it look easy, had incredible range, and charged every single making it a 50 - 50 proposition to score. He was the best defensive outfielder I ever saw. Second in center I would pick Paul Blair. Mays and Blair dared you to hit over their heads. At catcher I go with Bench.
Willie's 'the catch' in the 1954 World Series, is impossible to make now. No park can now. Hold that drive. What was equally amazing was he held the runners. One advanced to 3rd, nut did not score on a 440 foot drive. The runner on first stayed put. Willie says he was thinking about that as he chased the ball. Besides the incredible range and cannon arm, Willie's baseball IQ was off the charts
This was a very good list and the comments are very thoughtful and educated. A few really old timers who deserve an honorable mention would be jimmy collins at third base, hal chase at first base and bid mcphee. Mcphee did not use a glove for most of his career and still had good stats as a second baseman. When he finally started to use a glove, he was even better.
Wondered if Yaz would be the guy in Left. Awesome. Saw him play many timers and was at his very last game. He played Left Field that day at Fenway. He deserves the top left fielder’s spot.
@@user-co7fb6qe5w Oh, you mean like this clip? Brilliant. Try reading the heading. Ted and Albert Belle were offensive stars. And please don’t mention those two in the same sentence. Ted was the greatest hitter ever; Albert was good for his era.
@@user-co7fb6qe5w Ted was a very good outfielder and played The Green Monster well. But he was focused far more on hitting. Yaz was a great outfielder and exceptional all around player. I’m sure Ted would have been a great outfielder had he concentrated on it, like he did on hitting. As The Greatest Hitter That Ever Lived, he made the right choice, in my opinion.
For the record Gold Gloves were first awarded in 1957. In other words, defensive skills and awards were not as important as they are today. That's one of the reasons why basically nobody talks about great defensive players before the 1950's.
@@Mister8224 If he had range he would have played short stop. Second base was often the position of the everyman. The guy that was far from the most gifted athlete on the diamond. Guys like Billy Martin. In those days anyway.
@@ronniecozzi8385Maz's throwing motion was not that of a SS. He lacked power arm along with athletic range needed at SS. He is not up to the standards of more recent 2B greats
It is harder to measure and appreciate greatness in defense across time. Offensive numbers are easier to understand versus defensive metrics. Great plays are lost in time. It becomes more subjective to evaluate great defenders than great hitters. Therefore, great defensive players from the past will always suffer on these type of rankings because for the most part we didn't see them playing. We talk about Ruth, Gehring, DiMaggio, Cobb with familiarity. But seldom talk about the great defensive players of the past because the emphasis and record-keeping was offensive based.
Like the list, and unlike a lot of these RU-vid top ten or best of sports lists, who think sports began in the 21st century, a consistent list of recent and past players.
Mays also played centerfield in probably the toughest 2🎉 ballparks for dimensions and wind -- where did Jones play . ..it isn't close. Mays is still remembered for a catch that happened 70 years ago. ..I don't remember any catches or plays by Jones
I'm known as being a not so big fan of sabermetrics. That being said I really like your choices. I only disagree with one, and that position (catcher) is a tough one to judge. I also would have added a left handed pitcher, which in my opinion would be Jim Kaat. Overall, great video. It's about defense but you hit a home run.
Who was the BEST defensive third-baseman of all time??? Let's ask Johnny Bench!😮...... Anybody remember the 1970 World Series???? Need I say more?.....
Beginning the video with a quote by Willie Mays and NOT putting him on the team? Huh? Also, Johnny Bench was the original catcher who nobody ran on. Jim Kaat was also an excellent fielding pitcher.
The only one I disagree with is Catcher. Molina was great but Johnny Bench is the standard. Especially early in his career before his lung surgery in 1972. He said himself that he was never quite the same both offensively and defensively. As it is, he also won 10 straight gloves.
The DiMaggio family had three all time greats defensively. Dom and Joe each robbed the other with spectacular catches on occasion. Vince couldn't hit much...but he did hit 46 bombs for the KC Blues one year - the Yanks' top farm team at the time! And he didn't get a call-up to the Yanks!
Good list, I'm going with Bench (10 Gold Gloves) at catcher, Roberto Alomar (10 Gold Gloves) at 2nd, Mays (12 Gold Gloves)at CF , and I'm going with Bonds in LF (all-time leader in career putouts as a left fielder with 5,226) Also Bonds has 8 Gold Gloves to Yaz's 7 Gold Gloves as his speed gets him to more put outs also the green monster being a factor. I agree with everything else. If you can look back at Brooks Robinson and Clemente's era, then you can look at Mays and Bench.
Bonds had a average arm at best. Yazstremski one of the best. Bonds couldn't cut in Center with the Pirates because of his arm. Thus the change to left.
Therefore, his change to LF made him one of the best LFs in his generation winning the majority of the gold gloves in the 1990's. We are not talking about CF, that's either Mays, Griffey, DiMaggio or Speaker etc. Lots of players switch outfield positions like Babe Ruth played 1K games in RF, and also played over 1K games in LF. You are correct about the arm, but it's also about the glove and fielding percentage. So Yazstremski had a .982 fielding percentage at LF, while Bonds had a .984 at LF, so they both were great. But Yaz after a while moved to 1B some of the time, when Jim Rice came on the Sox and played LF. Or Yaz did benefit from the DH for over 400 games, while Bonds was in the NL, See
@@Mister8224 well I mean Dom and a Vince weee solid. I guess ai would go with Dom defensively, but obviously Joe with the offense. I wish there were highlights in color back then.
I didn’t know that Bonds even HAD an arm, let alone knew how to use it. He cost the Pirates the 1992 NL Championship by not being able to throw out Sid Bream in the 9th inning of game seven of the NLCS. Bonds should be great at throwing out first pitches at games, because at that job everyone just laughs when you have to bounce the ball five times to get it home. 🤦🏼♂️
Pretty good list; I actually agree with most of them. I'm glad you went with Andruw Jones over Willie Mays. Mays was spectacular and probably the best defensive OF of all time up until then but Jones was otherwordly. He made the impossible look routine. Also, as much as I love Dewey Evans, Clemente was the correct choice for RF. The three I disagree with are LF, 2B, and C. Molina is a very good choice at catcher. Others will say Johnny Bench, and they've got a good argument there too. Some will say Ivan Rodriguez and I understand that pick as well, but my pick would be Jim Sundberg. For the younger people, Sundberg was basically a worse-hitting version of Yadier Molina who played in the 70s and 80s. Somehow he "only" won 6 Gold Gloves despite setting numerous single season defensive records. He was the 1st catcher since WW 2 to record 100 assists in a season in 1975, then did it again 2 years later in 1977. He also caught 130 ShO in his career. Mazeroski is also a very good choice for 2B. You could also make arguments for Roberto Alomar, Ryne Sandberg or Frank White but I'm going to go with Bobby Grich. Grich won 4 Gold Gloves, but probably deserved more. The retroactive fielding stats don't favor him quite as much as Maz or White, but I still give Grich a slight edge. LF is the hardest pick for me. I understand you taking Yaz, but I feel the Green Monster helped him a lot and he wouldn't have been as good with any other team. Jim Rice, not exactly a great fielder, was enough for the Sox to move Yaz to 1B/DH almost a decade before the end of his career. There aren't a lot of great picks here as LF has historically been the position teams put their slow-footed, weak-armed sluggers in. Barry Bonds and Alex Gordon both have cases, but my pick is Brett Gardner. He may have only won 1 Gold Glove, but he was a CF playing LF and seemed to consistently get to balls no other LF could. He actually has the highest career DWAR as a LF despite Gordan taking most of the Gold Gloves during their careers.
GOOD LIST Personally I like Sandberg at 2nd and Mays in Center and hard to Bench off the list but, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. All of your picks are legit
I am not old enough to remember Maz, Yaz, Clemente, and Brooks. In their respective place, I would nominate: Alomor, 2B; Kwan, LF; Ichiro, RF; Arenado,3B. I agree with all other choices.
I gotta go with the Say-Hey Kid in centerfield and okay, I'm biased because he's my childhood hero, but Al Kaline is at least tied with Clemente in right field. He didn't have the same number of put outs because nobody ran on Kaline. If he was still around Mantle would back that up. And I don't give a sh*t, Ozzie Smith annoys the crap out of me. He did when he was a hot-dog player and he still does. If I had to pick a SS for my all-time team he would be in the minors. But that's me.
Fine list, but a few quibbles. As some of your readers note: 1. JIm Kaat, great-fielding pitcher, needs mentioning. 2. Clemente is right choice in Right field, but there's also Al Kaline, and I wouldn't make it too Right vs Left-specific. So I'd include Kaline over Yaz. 3. As for 2B I would at least mention Frankie Frisch, Jackie Robinson and Bobby Grich. 4. At First Base, I would at least mention Don Mattingly.
Kaline's skills were unsurpassed by anyone, in my opinion, but I would never put him in LF to overtake Yaz. You could just say Kaline-Yaz in AL, Bonds-Clemente in NL.
Bonds was a great defensive left fielder but I would take Yazstremski because of his arm. Barry was a defensive liability his last few years because of age & injuries.
I agree with all of them... except I might have gone with Jim Edmonds for center field. Amazing catching and also terrific at hitting. Besides that I like your list. 😊
He was great, but Aurelio Rodriguez IMHO was a little better. And still, the best I may have ever seen, although on a part-time basis was John Vukovich. I know...'who?'
@@bobbymunroe4363 I agree. But something about Brooks in the70 series, the Baltimore fans were used to that type of performance. It was definitely not out of the ordinary for him to field like that.
Thurman Munson was the greatest catcher. Better arm than Molina, better at handling pitchers. Andruw Jones over Willie Mays or DiMaggio? Paul Blair was better than Jones. Roy White and Billy Williams in left field. And Jim Kaat is beyond question the greatest defensive pitcher.
@@anthonytripp2251 Paul Blair was a very good defensive centerfielder for sure. I did not see him play as much being a Cardinals fan in the National League. For some reason Jones stands out to me as being more a hitter but maybe if I had been a Braves fan saw him play more. Paul Blair was certainly a good part of the Orioles great run of good teams in the 1960s and 1970s with my own baseball memories being being old enough to start following baseball around 1960.
Now we have other positions?? We need offense/defense categories. Too many are overlooked and most of us do not know previous players.1800s? Early 1900s? Mid 1900s? Lots of talent. Both sides of the ball....
I have to say I give you an "A" on your picks. I'd probably would have had Dwight Evans in Right and Jim Kaat at Pitcher but I can't argue your choices. Catching is a tough one because you have to hit, play defense and call the pitches.
Because is harder to "visualize" and appreciate defense. With offense the numbers tend to speak by themselves. But with defense a lot goes on that is not shown in the stats. Like great and incredible defensive plays. There are no metrics for that. In other words, you have to actually see the player, specially live and be amazed at their range or arm per example. So, all those great defensive stars from the past will tend to be overlooked and not included in lists like this.
Great you know your game but l might go Willie in center but thats a great team! I seen them all but maz.undeafted 162 games probably impossible!But quite a defensive Squad! With Ozzy and Brooks on that left side of the infield there's not much getting into left!
i only know about the guys in my era of watching. no way is clemente as good as kaline. mickey stanley is the best defensive center fielder i have ever seen. certainly ahead of mays
I'm a Tiger fan, & saw Mickey Stanley many times, Kaline too. Sorry, I wouldn't take Stanley over May's, but I would never say anybody was better in the field than AL Kaline. Ichiro & Clemente were probably technically as good as Kaline, but he had the "it" factor that, in my opinion, puts him on top.
@@Mister8224 kaline was better than clemente, technically and every other way. even kaline's arm was better. and i did say better, not powerful. clemente could probably throw the ball further, but kaline was consistently accurate. clemente would be off the mark a lot. i suspect stanley was faster than mays. but i would definitely take him above mays. too much hype around mays. while he was a great player, he was overrated. stanley did everything the easy way. mays always made things look more difficult than they actually were. but there was one thing about stanley that made him better. and it is the most important aspect that an outfielder can have. can you tell me what this is ? it has everything to do with why stanley could make the plays seem easy. kaline had it, as well.
What, are you questioning how i would analyze a player? Ok, there are a lot of players that can make a routine play look hard, then there are players who can make impossible play look routine. Both Stanley & Kaline had that ability, that uncoachable ability, the ability to anticipate where the ball is going, the initial jump in the correct direction, to run down a batted ball. THAT is what made them special. Especially Kaline.
@@Mister8224 that is what i was looking for. most people will respond with either catching, throwing or speed. the absolutely most important skill is knowing where the ball is going. stanley was just as good as kaline at that. i only know about players from basically the 60s and 70s. so i cant speak about anyone that i didnt see play a lot. but those 2 are number 1 in my book (defensively) by a long ways. i cant think of any other player that would even make me twitch, in regards to replacing them. of course, we had horton in left. to his credit, his defense improved a lot. those first few years were almost torment. you just never knew whether he was gonna catch it or not - LOL. i can still recall the world series and how good flood and brock were supposed to be, defensively. they made a lot of miscues, including the complete misjudgment of the ball that cost them the world series. i loved kaline's throw to home. we were down by a whole lot, and pretty much were out of the game. but kaline told brock he wasnt gonna run on him. and brock respected kaline so much, that he didnt try. if you look at that play on video, you wont see the most important part of it. at least not on any video that i have seen on it. but i recall that very clearly, from when it actually happened. cuz they were very intent on having brock in the video. moreso than kaline. anyways, brock had come down a huge way towards home plate. i thought he was too far gone for anyone to get. but he respected kaline's arm so much, that he never intended to go. cuz he headed back to third. and boy, kaline could not have been any more accurate, had he walked up and put the ball in freehan's glove !!
@@jimmybrice6360 There was a play by Kaline that showed his greatness in that series, & to casual observer, they might have missed it. I think it was one of Cardinal 's fast runners, Flood or Javier, on 1st, & somebody hits single to right. Kaline masterfully charges & positions himself right down Baseline to 3rd, & fires a frozen rope like only he can, a perfect low bullet that can either be cut off if runner was not going to 3rd but overrunning 2nd, or going all the was to 3rd.. The runner wasn't going, & the throw was cut off by Stanley & they almost got him just a step off 2nd. Wow!
Great list. But Frank White is best fielding 2nd baseman I ever saw. And Yaz was great player, but his stats were skewed because of the Monster. Has to be a better LF defender.
Good stuff....I don't have a lot of stats in front of me....but just from the "Eye Test" there's not much to debate here. So I'm gonna give you some 2nd and 3rd stringers...that I think are damned near as good defensively. At Catcher, I gotta go with Bench...NOBODY ran on him and he invented catching one handed and the one handed sweep tag. At 1st, Donnie "Baseball", at 2nd Brandon Phillips, the man never got his due...for about 8 years he was on ESPN's Top plays EVERY night..I'm 65, been watching Baseball since I was 9....I saw Morgan, Frank White, Sandberg, Maz ( at the end of his career ) nobody was better than Phillips ! At SS, Barry Larkin, made all the plays, all the time...Mr. Consistent and I know this doesn't factor in but a MUCH better hitter than Smith ! 3rd ( I actually agree with you on Brooks ) but George Brett, Scott Rolen, Mike Schmidt and Nolan Arenado are pretty close...another would be Craig Nettles. Pitcher Jim Kaat, Robin Roberts. RF Dwight Evans, Al Kaline or Paul O'Neil and believe it or not Dave Parker...people forget before he had those knee injuries he could FLY and had a CANNON arm...I'm gonna leave a clip below of an unreal throw he made in an All - Star game. CF Griffey Jr., Amos Otis and Gary Pettis and LF Billy Williams, Tim Raines and Pete Rose, Rose was a really good leftfielder; he was 52 runs above average in 673 games in left. Not arguing with your choices...I;m just going on what I've seen as opposed to stats. Plus I'll be honest....I'm a Reds fan and I DESPISE Molina ! LOL ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1PH6XJypKno.htmlsi=hEu_IjwaDteAEGN1
I have to go with the group on this one I just started reading a few comments and I agree with them Mays and Bench should be on this list too take Yadi and Andru out
Ever heard of Johnny Bench? Keith Hernandez isn't a HOFer, Joe Morgan is the best 2nd baseman EVER, So yeah I disagree with pretty much all of your picks, Agree with Ozzie Smith, Agree with Brooks, Andrew Jones over Griffey Jr and Willie Mays? Clemente is top 3 right fielders but not the best
Andruw Jones is the laziest player I have ever seen. Non-speedsters like Paul LoDuca and Brad Hawpe took an extra base when Jones played their routine singles lackadaisically, with the submarine flip back toward the infield not even getting near 2nd base ahead of the runner. Then, when the Braves had finally had enough of him at age 30, he signed with the Dodgers and showed up to spring training very fat. When asked about his weight, he laughed it off. He was told that the fans might not appreciate their team's big free agent showing up so out of shape, so he said he didn't care what the fans thought. If he was such a great player, why did very smart baseball guys like John Scheurholz and Bobby Cox let him walk out the door as a free agent in the prime of his career? I can't believe there are people who want to put Andruw Jones in the Hall of Fame.
You included 2 guys remembered for 1 main thing. Willies catch and Ozzie’s backflip. I would bet their fame would be lower if they had not done those 2 things. They are great.
A little silly. There are no really good metrics by which to measure overall defense and certainly nothing that would help us compare players from different generations. With that said, your inclusion of three Cardinals makes me skeptical of your objectivity. Why not an outfield of Jason Heyward, Rick Ankiel and Jim Edmonds?
That's a good squad but this one is better C - Ivan Rodriguez 1B - Lou Gehrig 2B - Roberto Alomar 3B - Mike Schmidt SS - Cal Ripken RF - Ichiro Suzuki CF - Ken Griffey / Jim Edmonds LF - Rickey Henderson p- Felix Hernandez Closer - Denis Eckersley (I didnt wanna pick that guy from NY) DH - Edgar Martinez
A tough call to leave Griffey Jr. out of centerfield. Especially if you’re leaving of Mays & Mantle (prior to catastrophic injury with a drain cover) off. Don Mattingly over Hernandez, Joe Morgan or Alomar or even Sandberg over Mazeroski. Johnny Bench, Thurman Munson or Ivan Rodriguez over Yadi Molina. Right field only had ONE occupant, & it’s Roberto Clemente.Jim Kaat is the only one close to Maddux
Tidbit about Yaz from a Yankees fan... I visited Fenway in 1979. Sat along the LF line. Yaz, the 18 year veteran, went out to LF pre-game and practiced taking caroms off the Green Monster and firing strikes to the 2nd & 3rd base bags. Over and over and over. Yaz earned every single accolade he ever got.
