I've offered up 6 well-known names (although I'm not sure how many of us can say we saw Reggie Smith play, let alone Dom D!
How on God’s green earth does acknowledging that “it’s all anecodtal now” and that he “played basically a very deep SS” and “it was easier to do given the dead ball era” add up to:
So you dismiss anyone from , what pre 1967? Speaker’s defence was legendary … but you didn’t see him play so he doesn’t count? Or, I’m a little confused why you would dismiss reputation. Not picking a fight, just curious.
Personally I dismiss everyone pre-Jackie Robinson. Ruth, Cobb, Honus Wagner, all of them.
I mean, I guess thats sort of fair , but given the extreme difficulty of comparing eras maybe not. But this is defensive ability .. which really doesn’t have much to do with the quality of the opposition , or , at least not as effected as batting or pitching.
The best part about this quote was that it was from an ad that ran before his first season with us even started. Team was desperate to inject excitement into the team after they flamed out in 2005 and let Damon sign with the MFYs (correct decision IMO).
Lynn had a way of gliding, sort of similar to the way Drew did it. He definitely made things look easy, like the anti-Edmonds. And Coco was exciting and so fast and fearless. But I’ve never seen anyone like JBJ.
I remember that play. Lynn gave up his body like no other outfielder I remember. I was crushed when he and Burleson were shipped to the Angels.
That 1975 World Series team had Gold Glovers at LF, CF, RF and two back up Gold Glove centerfielders. But, yes I concur with your assessment: JBJ slightly > Lynn
Dude yes. The way they used to flip the ball around in '18 after a third out, I have never seen anything so effortless and precise.
First of all, I don’t think it is controversial to dismiss folks who played in the dead ball era, pre-1930. Moreover, I was more commenting on your comments — you had what seemed like very mild praise without any statistical evidence, and just threw out the “should be Speaker.”
Understood … sloppy initial comment from me. Mind you, this whole thread is mostly anecdotal. I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen a film clip of Speaker playing (I think there’s one of him warming up).
The fact that they later spliced in some of his actual catches to this ad and most people didn't know this just shows that Werner knew what he was doing.
There’s a difference between dismissing their numbers and dismissing their talent. You could make the same argument in almost any field regarding individual accomplishments: politicians pre-1966 or so, popular musicians pre-1957 or so, football coaches pre-2005 or so, etc.
I was also at a Reggie Smith autograph signing in Western Mass, East Longmeadow, the bank in the center of town. The line was enormous so I never got close to him. My mother kept urging me to be aggressive and move in front of people. I was six. I don't think she realized that in elementary school lines were sacrosanct.
To have survived the “rotary” there should have been worth an autograph in of itself.
I got Reggie's autograph around that same time, in a similar setting, but I'm pretty sure it more eastern Mass.
You're kidding, right? Coco was faster than JBJ so I'm not sure J would have gotten to that ball. Let's not denigrate Coco to praise JBJ. JBJ is the best I've ever seen too but that Coco catch was jump-out-of-your-chair stupendous.
If both were positioned at the exact spot on a dead sprint Coco would have been there faster but I think the implication is that JBJ would already have been moving into the correct position
