How many right handed hitters are in the all time top 10 ?
Goldenage
Posts: 3,278 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
Seems to me that most of the top ten hitters of all time are lefties. How many righties are on the list ?
0
Comments
Depends to some degree on who is in your top 10, right?
In any event, I think this was true until 1950 or so with Ruth, Cobb, Speaker, Gehrig, Williams, Ott, Musial and others dominating a best hitters list, with Hornsby , Greenberg, Foxx, and DiMaggio being the only great righties. Great hitters all, but the top 10 is mostly lefties.
But since then, it's reversed, with the switch-hitting Mantle bridging the two eras. After Mantle we've got Mays, Aaron, F. Robinson, Schmidt, Thomas, Bagwell, Pujols, and Trout - all righties - dominating the best hitters list. The best lefties post-Mantle are, I guess, Stargell and Thome, but they're a substantial step below any candidates for an all-time top 10.
Everyone's top 10 list will vary some, but surely Mays and Aaron are on everyone's, and Trout seems a lock, too. I guess you could stop there, but I'd think at least one or two of Hornsby, Foxx, Thomas, and Pujols would be on most of them. Seems like it's pretty close to 50/50 to me.