MLB Mount Rushmore

[BaseballJones]

This won't be an easy task, but given that Cooperstown is going to unveil a new Hank Aaron statue, I want to ask you all who would be on your MLB Mount Rushmore? Not a Boston-centered Mount Rushmore, but all-time.

You can put any four players down, for any reason you want. Any position, any team, any era.

 

[Koufax]

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Shohei Ohtani
Ted Williams

 

[BaseballJones]

As I've been thinking about mine, Ruth and Robinson were my first two. Having trouble narrowing down the last two.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Cy Young
Peter Rose

 

[Ale Xander]

Jackie Robinson
Roberto Clemente
Barry Bonds
Bobby Dalbec
Pedro Martinez

 

[Saints Rest]

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Walter Johnson
Rickey Henderson

The first two were no-brainers. The next two, I wanted a pitcher and someone who represented some other facet of the game.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Aaron is number 3 for me.

The last spot comes down a battle between Williams, Cobb and Mays.

 

[4 6 3 DP]

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Hank Aaron
Willie Mays

Very hard not to put a pitcher in there, but couldn't displace.

 

[luckiestman]

Babe
Bonds
Pedro
Ohtani

 

[ledsox]

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Hank Aaron
Willie Mays

Very hard not to put a pitcher in there, but couldn't displace.

This. And you got a pretty good hurler there.

 

[Tony Pena's Gas Cloud]

Ruth
Mays
Cobb
Bonds

 

[Max Power]

Does it have to be MLB? Or just American baseball?

Babe Ruth
Willie Mays
Satchel Paige
Hank Aaron

I'd like to see someone from a more current era, but you need a few years in there for historical perspective.

 

[jbupstate]

Ruth
Williams
Mays
Bonds

Two greatest hitters and two greatest all round players.

 

[simplicio]

It really sucks that the last few years have probably taken Trout off this list. It makes me sad as a baseball fan.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Walter Johnson
Rickey Henderson

The first two were no-brainers. The next two, I wanted a pitcher and someone who represented some other facet of the game.

Not questioning the pick, but doesn't Robinson represent that facet of the game on the field?

 

[jmcc5400]

This won't be an easy task, but given that Cooperstown is going to unveil a new Hank Aaron statue, I want to ask you all who would be on your MLB Mount Rushmore? Not a Boston-centered Mount Rushmore, but all-time.

You can put any four players down, for any reason you want. Any position, any team, any era.

Jackie Robinson
Babe Ruth
Pedro Martinez
Ichiro

 

[Hoya81]

Ruth
Robinson
Mays
Berra

Edit: misread the title

 

[Archer1979]

Ruth - Iconic player whose legend will live on long after today.
Robinson - Ground-breaker who had to endure so much abuse to pave the way.
Williams - The greatest hitter who ever lived. Look at his career stats and try to take a stab at what his career numbers would have been had he not spent six years in the military.
Mays - One of the greatest overall athletes ever to play the game.

 

[Saints Rest]

Not questioning the pick, but doesn't Robinson represent that facet of the game on the field?

True. I loved jmcc's selection of Ichiro.

So revised:

• Ruth (Washington)
• Walter Johnson (Jefferson)
• 42 (Lincoln)
• Ichiro (Teddy)

 

[Hyde Park Factor]

Jackie Robinson
Babe Ruth
Curt Flood
Henry Aaron

 

[Ramon AC]

Babe Ruth
Walter Johnson
Willie Mays
Ty Cobb

 

[snowmanny]

There has to be someone who played in the last 50 years worthy of being up there.

Bonds?
Griffey?

 

[jon abbey]

Willie Mays
Rickey Henderson
Roger Clemens
Barry Bonds

 

[canderson]

Historical Mt. Rushmore:
Babe Ruth
Ted Williams
Willie Mays
Bob Gibson (I’d put Satchel here if allowable)

My personal Mt. Rushmore:
Pedro
Ken Griffey Jr
Barry Bonds
Nolan Ryan

 

[snowmanny]

Willie Mays
Rickey Henderson
Roger Clemens
Barry Bonds

Yeah I like this one. I know that Jon doesn’t acknowledge baseball before integration, which I respect, but I would swap in Ruth for one of the bottom three. Which one I’ll have to consider.

 

[zenax]

The problem with putting pitchers here is that they can be reliant on their team's offense while batters tend to stretch things out. For example, Bob Gibson in 1968 lost 9 games although his ERA was 1.12 but in 1941 Ted Williams had at bats against 72 pitchers and hit .500 or higher against 33 of them (.590 AVG). The overall batting average In the NL in 1930 was .303; compare that to the AL in 1968 when the league average was .230 and a change to the pitching mound led to a 16-point jump the next season.

I'm not saying Babe Ruth was not a great baseball player; he was...in his time; but; could he hit today's pitching with his 42-ounce bat? Could he adapt to today's 32-ounce matchsticks? Could Ty Cobb handle today's 100-mph pitches or Ohtani handle yesteryear's spitballs? Once, entire baseball games were played with a single ball; today, it's unusual to an at bat with just one baseball.

 

[Ale Xander]

Mr. Greylock is probably tougher

Williams
Pedro
Ortiz
Manny

Sorry, Carl.
Sorry Roger, you went to Taranna and then Hades

 

[Jake Peavy's Demons]

Great topic idea! I think mine would be:

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Roberto Clemente
Ichiro

You have a diverse group up there. An IF, an OF, a P (yes, I'm cheating), & another OF.

I'd love to put Willie Mays on there, & Pedro, but it is tough with only 4 spots.

 

[jmcc5400]

Great topic idea! I think mine would be:

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Roberto Clemente
Ichiro

You have a diverse group up there. An IF, an OF, a P (yes, I'm cheating), & another OF.

I'd love to put Willie Mays on there, & Pedro, but it is tough with only 4 spots.

I vacillated between Clemente and Pedro for the spot I reserved for a Latin American player. I went Pedro because (i) I wanted a pitcher, (ii) to commemorate the Dominican Republic's outsized influence on the game and (iii) he's Pedro.

 

[AB in DC]

Ruth, Robinson, Mays are nobrainers IMHO. Having trouble with the fourth. It could be Ohtani, but seems too soon. Gibson, Maddux, and Pedro would be my top pitcher choices, but none of them really stand out over the others.

 

[jacklamabe65]

Ruth
Robinson
Mays
Paige

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

Ruth
Mays
Bonds
Williams

 

[Margo McCready]

Bonds
Clemens
Manny
ARod

…kidding (I think?)

Ruth
Aaron
Mays
Williams

 

[LogansDad]

Ruth
Jackie
Ted
Walter Johnson

 

[cornwalls@6]

Ruth
Robinson
Cobb
Mays. It's killing me to not have a (pure)pitcher on there, but those are the 4 that jump to mind for me.

 

[fiskful of dollars]

Ruth
Robinson
Mays
Koufax (I think there absolutely has to be a pitcher-but it’s a good debate)

Ted if there’s a fifth.

 

[Daniel_Son]

Ruth
Robinson
Aaron
Young

 

[Mantush]

If I'm playing the game and only including players, it goes Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Barry Bonds.

If I'm building an actual MLB Rushmore based on their contributions to the sport, I'm probably going Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Kenesaw Mountain Landis (what a name), and Branch Rickey. I'm obviously including non-players.

 

[Mantush]

Actually thinking the players through more, I think I'd go with Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Derek Jeter.

Hot take, but when I think early 2000s baseball, I think Derek Jeter. He's the player that everyone wanted to emulate and be from what I remember of my little league days. He was the face of the MLB for long, long time and still is based off of MLB The Show ads.

 

[Max Power]

Actually thinking the players through more, I think I'd go with Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Derek Jeter.

Hot take, but when I think early 2000s baseball, I think Derek Jeter. He's the player that everyone wanted to emulate and be from what I remember of my little league days. He was the face of the MLB for long, long time and still is based off of MLB The Show ads.

Can we revoke this guy's membership?

 

[DanoooME]

Ruth
42

Then you can argue for about a dozen other guys. My choices are:

Tony Gwynn - in terms of pure hitting ability, there's no one better
Ted Williams - best combination of power and strike zone judgement ever

 

[Sad Sam Jones]

If I'm playing the game and only including players, it goes Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Barry Bonds.

If I'm building an actual MLB Rushmore based on their contributions to the sport, I'm probably going Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Kenesaw Mountain Landis (what a name), and Branch Rickey. I'm obviously including non-players.

I'd only include Landis if we're selecting people to be on Stone Mountain.

 

[Van Everyman]

Is there a case for Ruth not being on there? His OPS+ of 206 in 22 seasons suggests there isn’t but I’d be interested in hearing a member whose views differ make their case.

 

[simplicio]

He only played other white dudes is a pretty good one.

 

[jon abbey]

This.

He only played other white dudes is a pretty good one.

 

[Van Everyman]

I mean, obviously. But most of those other guys didn’t play against a lot of Black guys. I imagine even the early integration Black guys didn’t play against a lot of Black guys in the majors.

Is there any kind of statistical case at all for Ruth not being up there?

 

[LogansDad]

Is there a case for Ruth not being on there? His OPS+ of 206 in 22 seasons suggests there isn’t but I’d be interested in hearing a member whose views differ make their case.

He'd probably make these new uniforms look pretty bad.

 

[Max Power]

My thinking for this is that someone has to be inner circle Hall of Fame talent-wise and also be an important part when telling the story of baseball. Ruth and Mays obviously qualify. Satchel Paige was the most famous baseball player in the country in the 40s (with the possible exception of DiMaggio) and had the talent to match. Robinson may have been the most historically significant player, but couldn't touch Aaron on the field. What Aaron dealt with when breaking Ruth's record is second to Robinson in the story of black players in the majors.

 

[InstaFace]

As close to a story as I can tell with 4 names:

Young
Ruth
Mays
Bonds

 

[teddywingman]

He only played other white dudes is a pretty good one.

I don't have a strong opinion about this, but Ruth played against many greats from the Cuban and Negro Leagues. You have to consider: those barnstorming exhibition games were big business back then.

There's not a lot of stats that were kept, but in 16 documented games, Ruth hit over .400 with 11 homeruns. This article mentions that opposing pitchers may not have been trying their best, since the fans were mostly there to see the Bustin Babes (or whatever team he assembled).

https://sabr.org/journal/article/even-against-hall-of-fame-hurlers-babe-ruth-was-king-of-swing/