Center Field - You Want Mantle, Mays or Who?

DirtyHarry

Gimme your all time centerfielder. Glove, bat and why?

CardsFan

Give me Junior (the Seattle version). I know Mays, Mantle, and many others were great but I never got to see them play. Griffey is the best of my time.

Axtell

<< <i>Gimme your all time centerfielder. Glove, bat and why? >>



At the height of their career? I'd want Griffey Jr.

Call me a homer or whatever, but the Kid dominated the position of CF for a decade, bombing home runs, won the gold glove for a decade straight, over .930 career OPS.

Mantles, Mays, and Jrs lifetime numbers are all quite similar (with Mays have a bunch more hr's because he played forever) and Mays and Junior had similar runs of gold gloves.

stevek

Mays - Easy call.

aro13

Great question! I will take Mays.

Cubfan

Over the career - Mays
Before injuries - Mantle

kuhlmann

best glove i have ever seen is andruw jones. best bat mays.

SoFLPhillyFan

Not really center, here's my pick for best outfield

12 Gold Gloves

markglicker

Mays. His anticipation in the outfield will always give him the edge.

WinPitcher

Joe Dimaggio

DirtyDog48

Mays made it look like he was playing a different game out there.......he's the best I've ever seen.

coinkat

Very tough call. Mays gets the edge with the glove. Both are outstanding hitters but Mantle may have been the best switch hitter ever.

frankhardy

With the bat, I'd have to go with Willie Mays (and probably second definsively).

Having watched this guy closely the last 5 or six years, Jim Edmonds is the best defensive centerfielder I have ever seen. "The Catch" that we have all seen Willie Mays do with his back to the plate is nice, but Jim Edmonds does it with a "parallel to the field" dive, with his back to the plate. And he does it least once per year. Not to mention jumping over the wall to steal home runs. He is pretty amazing.

Skinpinch

The ball that Edmonds is diving for full out...Mays is already camped under it. There is no comparison between the two defensively, and it is a laugher offensively. Do you realize how large that park was in centerfield that Mays made that catch?

I think the person who put Griffey up there with Mays and Mantle needs to do a little more research.

Skinpinch

Top five OPS+ finishes for Griffey...2,3,4,5.

Top five OPS+ finishes for Mantle....1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,5. And no, my number one key is not stuck!

Top five OPS+ finsihes for Mays.....1,1,1,1,1,1,2,3,3,3,3,3,4,4.


Griffey is not in the class of Mays devensively, and I'm not sure he is in the class with a young Mantle either.


You could debate betwee the Mick and Mays, but how Griffey gets into the discussion is quite baffling.

coinkat

Skinpinch:

Good point about the Polo Grounds... deepest Center field in the history of the game. But at that time, I believe Yankee Stadium was 461 dead center but the Polo Grounds was over 480...perhaps more depending on the year. The center field in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium was fairly deep too but I can not remember the distance but it had to had been at least 440 or 450.

frankhardy

That's because Edmonds plays very shallow. He is so good at going back on balls, that he plays shallow in order to cut to balls quicker. I can't tell you how many times I've seen him throw out people at the plate because of that.

Just my opinion.

Davino

Rickey Henderson?