Baseball HOF the Five

markj111

A writer (not bill James) at billjamesonline.com wrote an article on the five players he would pick to explain baseball to someone who knows nothing about it. His intro:


This question, I think, is not about identifying the five greatest players. Greatest certainly counts, of course, but the question demands a slightly different tact. What five players would best represent the story of baseball’s history? What five players would you pick to talk about, if you had to explain baseball someone who knows nothing about the game?

Who are your five? To the surprise of no one, the first player he picked was Ruth. He attempted to cover each era of baseball.

grote15

My top 5, from a historical standpoint, which I suppose is more heavily weighted towards pre-war players:

Ruth
Cobb
Williams
Mays
Walter Johnson

Skin2

Ty Cobb.....personification of the dead ball era
Babe Ruth.....is Babe Ruth, but his story is also a changing of eras from the dead ball to what it evolved to now.
Jackie Robinson....self explanatory
Mickey Mantle....the face of the Golden Age, then I can also tell the story of the greatest hitter that ever lived who also played in that era, Ted Williams Yeah, I snuck in a sixth
Barry Bonds......the greatest of the modern age, and who also highlights free agency, player/owner strife, and PED, all of which dominated the modern era, and truly left no 'face of the game' for this era.

SDSportsFan

Here's my five:

Babe Ruth - Going from the "dead ball" to the "lively ball" era
Ted Williams - Players going off to World War II (and Korea), and the fact that baseball continued at the request of FDR, to provide a sort of "normalcy" and "respite" for the masses. Got to throw in Jerry Coleman here also, the only major leaguer EVER to serve in combat in two different wars.
Jackie Robinson - Racial climate and the breaking of the color barrier
Hank Aaron - Breaking Ruth's home run record and the continuing racial difficulties he encountered
Barry Bonds - PED era

The only problem I have here is that this leaves out the "dead ball" era. I'm not sure who you'd go with for it.....either Cobb or Cy Young.


Steve

SDSportsFan

On further reflection, I might just go with Shoeless Joe Jackson for the "dead ball" era. As good a hitter as Cobb, and his involvement in the Black Sox scandal. Then how baseball has dealt with the gambling issue.....all leading up to the Pete Rose scandal. Then you could have the argument about which is worse; gambling, or PEDs.

Steve

MGLICKER

A Rod, Keith Hernandez, Pete Rose, Darryl Strawberry, Al Kaline.

The first four would be the lesson on what to avoid.

Kaline would be the lesson on how to excel.

Brick

Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds.

Estil

<< <i>My top 5, from a historical standpoint, which I suppose is more heavily weighted towards pre-war players:

Ruth
Cobb
Williams
Mays
Walter Johnson >>



I don't think you could make a better qualified list than that. Especially if you count the years Ted missed during WWII.

JHS5120

My five member coaching team:


Walter Johnson - The fundamentals of pitching
Ted Williams - How to play/the fundamentals of hitting and fielding
Lou Gehrig - How to lead a team with class
Jackie Robinson - How to properly run the bases and how to stand up to adversity
Greg Maddux - A smart modern player to teach the finer points of pitching


IMO there is nothing Willie Mays can teach a new player that Ted Williams can't and I would much prefer to hear it from Williams (the epitome of class and talent).

I wouldn't want Ty Cobb on my coaching staff solely because he would probably kill Jackie. That, and I don't want my new player to think it's okay to slide into a base with spikes up. I also wouldn't want Ruth on the list. By far the most talented hitter available, but he isn't the best ambassador to the game (like Mantle).

I need at least one modern player in the mix, someone to teach the new player how to play the game today. So it has to be someone with a ton of baseball knowledge and I picked a pitcher so we had two.

fiveniner

<< <i>My top 5, from a historical standpoint, which I suppose is more heavily weighted towards pre-war players:

Ruth
Cobb
Williams
Mays
Walter Johnson >>



I sure can not find anywhere to dispute this list.Good Job!!

stown

<< <i>What five players would best represent the story of baseball’s history? What five players would you pick to talk about, if you had to explain baseball someone who knows nothing about the game? >>



For that specific question, I agree with SDSportsFan and Brick's five (going back and forth with Rose or Aaron depending on the day).

Dboneesq

If we are going to be telling the history to someone who knows nothing about the game, wouldn't you think one of their questions might be "why do the players make so much money"? Free Agency is a HUGE part of baseball today and for that reason I think one guy who HAS to be part of the story is:

CURT FLOOD

stown

Good point, Doug. I wouldn't have any problem replacing Aaron or Rose with Flood.

MikeyP

Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Barry Bonds and Derek Jeter. I selected one historically representative player for each generation of baseball fans.

Justacommeman

Mays, Ruth, Cobb, Ryan and Bonds

MJ

PSASAP

Looking at the great lists everyone has contributed, here's my five, in chronological order (with a brief explanation).
1. Joe Jackson (was involved in the first major scandal in baseball and, for the first time, affirmed the power of the commissioner's office.)
2. Babe Ruth (brought the game to new heights of popularity, and put baseball on a worldwide stage.)
3. Jackie Robinson (opened the doors to tens of thousands of qualified players, both in America and abroad, and forever changed the game)
4. Curt Flood (ushered in a new era of baseball, one in which the players were on more or less equal footing with their employers, for the first time in history.)
5. Barry Bonds (along with countless others, changed the perception of an entire era of the game, and forced writers to reinterpret the value of statistics, which previously had been thought of as unimpeachable)