Top 106 Baseball Players: #63 - Mike Mussina

Mike Mussina

Mike Mussina may not seem like the type of superstar you would expect to see on this list, and he was rarely a league leader during his career and never won a Cy Young, but he was a very good pitcher for a very long time, and he did everything he could to get his team to win a World Series, though he never succeeded at that.

Mussina was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of high school, but decided to attend college at Stanford instead, after which he was again drafted by the Orioles, this time in the first round. After just over a year in the minors, he was brought up to the big league club, and he wouldn't go back.

In 1992, his first full season with the Orioles, he led the league in win percentage, with a record of 18-5, and came in 4th in the Cy Young voting. He would finish in the top 5 three more times in the next 4 seasons, including the 1995 season, when he led the league with 19 wins and 4 shutouts.

The 1997 season was his best with Baltimore, with a career high 218 strikeouts and a 3.20 ERA, his lowest since 1992, and the Orioles made the playoffs for the second straight year. He was very good in the ALDS, outdueling Randy Johnson twice while giving up only 3 runs in 14 innings as Baltimore swept. In the ALCS, he was even better, giving up only 4 hits and 1 run over 15 innings while striking out 25 batters, which was the ALCS record at the time, but the Orioles failed to score a run in either game, and they lost the series.

After a few more seasons with Baltimore, Mussina left to join the 3-time defending champion Yankees as a free agent, hoping to get a championship ring. His first season in New York was his best, with a 3.15 ERA and 214 strikeouts, and the Yankees did reach the World Series, but they lost to Arizona in 7 games.

He pitched 7 more seasons for the Yankees, reaching the playoffs in the next 6, but never did get that championship ring. In 2008, he finally reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in his career, becoming the oldest pitcher ever to do it for the first time, and he also became the first pitcher in over 40 years to retire immediately after a 20-win season.

Mussina came very close to recording a perfect game on 5 different occasions, with 4 different games of just one man allowed on base, three of which were perfect until at least the 8th inning. He has been on the Hall of Fame ballot for 5 years, and has been inching closer to election. There are currently only 2 eligible pitchers who have at least 100 more wins than losses that are not in the Hall, Mussina and Roger Clemens.

Mussina holds the AL record for most consecutive seasons with at least 11 wins, with 17, so even though he was never dominant, he was always very good and very steady and reliable. He was amazing in the 1997 postseason, but couldn't overcome the lack of run support, and played well in several postseason appearances late in his career with the Yankees. He may not seem like the obvious choice, but Mussina belongs on this list of the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #64 - Dazzy Vance

Dazzy Vance

The majority of players on this list had their best years in their 20's, but that was not the case for Dazzy Vance, who only pitched 33 innings over 11 games before turning 30, then transformed into a superstar overnight when he turned 30.

Vance originally played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1915, then was sold to the Yankees after his first game, where he appeared in 8 games during his first season before being sent down to the minors. They discovered an arm injury the next year, and he spent years rehabbing, making 2 more appearances in 1918 for the Yankees before being sent to the minors again.

In 1921, while pitching in New Orleans in the minors, he said that he was suddenly able to pitch hard again, and the next year he joined the Brooklyn Robins (soon to be renamed the Dodgers), where he became an instant success.

In his first official Major League season, he led the league in strikeouts and shutouts as a 31-year-old rookie, and he ended up leading the league in strikeouts in each of his first 7 seasons. He put everything together in 1924, when he had one of the greatest pitching seasons ever, winning the Triple Crown with 28 wins, a 2.16 ERA, and 262 strikeouts, which was more than the next two pitchers in the league combined. He also led the league with 30 complete games, and was given the MVP award for his efforts.

He was never quite that good again, but very few ever have been, but he had another couple of years topping the league in ERA and shutouts, along with the 7 straight strikeout titles. Vance left Brooklyn for St. Louis in 1933, and the following season he got his only taste of the World Series, when he faced 7 batters and gave up one run at age 43, and he ended up with a championship ring, despite being a small contributor.

Even though Vance basically didn't even pitch in the Majors until his 30's, he still holds the record for consecutive seasons leading the league in strikeouts, and put up one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time. He was easily the best pitcher in the league for 5 seasons, and his absolute dominance more than makes up for the short overall career and lack of postseason success, and he deserves this spot on the all-time list.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #65 - Nap Lajoie

Nap Lajoie

Nap Lajoie was among the perennial batting leaders in the early part of the 20th century who had a career-long rivalry with Ty Cobb, and put together one of the best batting seasons ever seen.

Lajoie began his career in 1896 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and he had several solid seasons, even leading the league in doubles and RBI in 1898. After the 1900 season, the AL was formed, and the teams were offering larger contracts, so Lajoie jumped to the crosstown Athletics for a much larger payday, and the Phillies sued.

Lajoie had one of the greatest seasons in history in 1901 for the A's. He won the Triple Crown with 14 home runs, 125 RBI, and a .426 batting average, which is still the AL record. Not only did he win the Triple Crown, he also led the league with 145 runs scored, 232 hits, and 48 doubles, and would have been an easy choice for MVP if the award existed at the time.

Just as the following season started, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that his contract was void, and that the only team he could play for was the Phillies. It was determined that the ruling was only valid in Pennsylvania, so Lajoie was traded to the Cleveland Bronchos, who immediately changed their nickname to the Naps in his honor. For the next two years, Lajoie was forced to travel separately from the rest of his team to avoid entering Pennsylvania due to a subpoena related to the case, and he was unable to play any games within the state.

Lajoie led the league in batting average during his first 3 seasons in Cleveland, making it 4 in a row overall, and he again led the league in hits, doubles, and RBI in 1904. The streak came to an end in 1905, when he missed more than half the season due to blood poisoning from a spike injury and a broken ankle not long after his return.

Lajoie continued his stellar play for Cleveland for almost another decade, and even managed to win one more batting title in 1910 with a .384 average, the only break in Ty Cobb's dominance between 1907 and 1915. Lajoie hit over .300 in each of his first 12 seasons and 17 of his first 18 seasons, which is incredible for someone playing in the dead ball era.

When Lajoie retired, he was #2 all-time in hits, and is currently #14 on the list. His career batting average of .338 is #19 all time, and he is seventh among all players in doubles. He never played on a team that reached the postseason, which didn't even exist for 8 seasons early in his career, but that doesn't diminish his accomplishments on the field, especially his magical 1901 season, and he is definitely worthy of being remembered with the best players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #66 - Lou Brock

Lou Brock

Lou Brock is one of the few players in history who could be considered as the best baserunner in history, and his performance when he reached the World Series was otherworldly, making him an easy choice for this list.

Brock started his career with the Chicago Cubs, but partway through his third season with the club, he was traded away to the rival St. Louis Cardinals, where he would play the remainder of his career. When he arrived in St. Louis, they were in 8th place in the NL, but they would rally to win the NL pennant and reach the World Series.

He was solid in his first World Series appearance, batting .300 with 5 RBI in a 7-game win over the Yankees, who were in the World Series for the 14th time in 16 years. It would be a few years until the Cardinals would return, but Brock would be ready with an historic performance when it arrived.

In 1966 he began to hit his base-stealing prime, leading the league with 74, the first of 8 times he would lead the NL in the next 9 seasons. In 1967 he also led the league in runs scored, and the Cardinals reached the World Series. He was amazing that year, getting 12 hits for an average of .414 while stealing a record 7 bases to lead the team to another championship.

The next year he led the league in both doubles and triples in addition to steals, and the Cardinals earned a return trip to the World Series. As great as he was the year before, he was even better this time, tying the World Series record with 13 hits, and tying his own World Series record with 7 more steals, finishing with an average of .464. Unfortunately, the Cardinals blew a 3-1 lead to Detroit and lost that series.

He would not return to the postseason in his career, but he was still getting even better on the basepaths. In 1974, he broke the single-season stolen base record by swiping 118, a record that would be beaten 8 years later by Rickey Henderson. Three years later he broke Ty Cobb's career stolen base record, a record many felt would never be broken, and that record was also eclipsed by Rickey Henderson in 1991.

His career started to decline in 1975, and he even lost his starting job for a while in 1978, but he bounced back in 1979 with another All-Star season, batting .304 at 40 years old to earn the Comeback Player of the Year award. He retired after the season, making him the only player to win that award in his final season.

Brock doesn't own the regular season stolen base records anymore, but he does hold the record with 12 consecutive 50-steal seasons, along with the World Series records for hits in a series, steals in a series, and steals in a career, along with the highest batting average for any player with at least 20 Series games. He was always impressive on the bases, but he turned it up to the highest level in the World Series, and is definitely one of the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Player: #67 - Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas, nicknamed "the Big Hurt," was a superstar as soon as he reached the Major Leagues, and he was historically good in his first 7 seasons, and had a few more very good seasons over the following decade.

Thomas reached the Majors in 1990 at age 22, and hit .330 over the course of 60 games. In his first full season, he led the league in walks, which he would do 4 times in his first 5 full seasons, and he finished #3 in the MVP voting, the first of 7 straight years and 9 overall that he would be in the top 10.

He was the best all-around batter in the AL in 1992, the first of 5 times he would do this, leading the league in walks and doubles while batting .323 with 115 RBI. In 1993, his numbers dropped in almost every category, except for home runs and RBI's, and was awarded the AL MVP after becoming just the 5th player ever (the others are Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Ted Williams) to have 100 runs, RBI's, and walks, along with 20 home runs and a .300 average in three straight seasons.

The 1994 season was cut short by the strike, but he still managed to keep that streak alive, reaching 101 RBI's and leading the league in runs and walks on his way to a repeat MVP award. He continued at that torrid pace through 1997, when he even led the league in batting average, making it 7 straight seasons with those stats, breaking Ted Williams' record of 6 in a row. It's especially amazing considering that the other 4 who had done it at least 3 straight times had done it at least 50 years earlier, and no one has done it since.

After a couple of down years, he rebounded at full strength in 2000, winning the Comeback Player of the Year Award after hitting those markers again, but he would never bat .300 again and would only play 4 more full seasons, though he would remain in the league until 2008.

Thomas did not experience much playoff success in his career, appearing in the playoffs only 3 times in his career, and only winning a series for the first time in 2006, when he was playing for Oakland. He was very good in his first playoff appearance, batting .353 and walking 10 times in a 6-game loss to Toronto in 1993. He did earn a World Series ring in 2005, but he didn't play due to injury.

Thomas finished his career with 521 homers, #20 all time, and is also #24 in RBI's, #10 in walks, and #4 in sacrifice flies. He was the best player in the AL for half of the 1990's, and was one of the only stars of that era to never come under suspicion of using PED's, and he was always a big proponent of random drug testing. His all-around greatness can't be ignored, so he has to be included on this list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #68 - Hank Greenberg

Hank Greenberg

Hank Greenberg was one of the best power hitters of all time, but his career was cut severely short by injury and military service, keeping his from reaching the levels his performance promised.

Greenberg first played in the Majors in 1930, getting one at-bat with the Detroit Tigers at age 19 before being sent down to the minors for 3 years. When he returned in 1933, he was ready, and he never had a poor complete season as a full-time player.

He led the league in 1934 with 63 doubles, the 4th-most that have ever been hit in a season, and led the Tigers to their first World Series in 25 years, which they lost to the Cardinals in 7 games despite Greenberg batting .321 with 7 RBI.

The following season he led the league in both home runs and RBI's for the first of many times in his career, was awarded the AL MVP, and earned the Tigers a return trip to the World Series, which they won in 6 games over the Cubs even though Greenberg sprained his wrist in Game 2 and missed the final 4 games.

Early in the 1936 season, he reinjured the same wrist after 12 games and ended up missing the rest of the season while it healed. When he came back in 1937, he had a monster season, with 40 home runs, 200 hits, and 184 RBI's, which is the 3rd-highest total in history, and has not been matched since.

In 1938, he very nearly beat Babe Ruth's home run record, finishing the season with 58. He had one home run that didn't count because of  game that was called because of rain, and he was walked more in the final month of that season than in any other in his career, and ended up leading the league with 119.

He had a bit of a down season in 1939, which prompted his manager to move him to the outfield to create room at first base for Rudy York, and Greenberg responded with his second MVP season, in which he led the league in doubles, homers, and RBI's, and had 195 hits as he became the first player ever to win MVP awards at 2 different positions.

In May 1941, Greenberg was drafted into the military, where he served for 7 months, which cost him most of that season. He was released 2 days before Pearl Harbor, after which he immediately reenlisted, serving clear until June 1945, and he holds the league record for most time lost to military service.

When he returned in the middle on 1945, he picked up right where he left off, leading Detroit back to the World Series. He clinched the pennant on the final at-bat of the season in Saint Louis. The story goes that the ump wanted to call the game due to darkness, since the field had no lights, but Greenberg said he could see fine and hit the next ball out of the park for a grand slam to prevent a tie for the title. In the World Series, he hit .304 with 7 RBI's in another 7-game win over the Cubs, and he also hit two of the 3 home runs hit in the entire series.

In 1946, he played his first full season since 1940, and again led the league in home runs and RBI's, the 4th time leading in each category, but he retired after the season due to a salary dispute. The Pittsburgh Pirates convinced him to come out of retirement for one more season at a record salary of $80,000, and he had 25 home runs, making him the first player to hit 25 home runs in a season in each league.

He retired for good after that, ending his career with just 9 full seasons under his belt, having lost one to a wrist injury and nearly 4 to military service. Without the break for World War II, he most likely would have reached 500 home runs in his career. He was definitely one of the best power hitters of all time, and was great in his final World Series, and cannot possibly be left off a list of the best baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #69 - Cap Anson

Cap Anson

Cap Anson was the first great professional baseball player, with a career that spanned 27 seasons from 1871 to 1897, and was the first player ever to reach 3000 hits.

His career began with the Rockford Forest Citys in 1871 in the National Association, which is where he played his first 5 seasons, one in Rockford and 4 in Philadelphia with the Athletics. Many historians don't count these seasons as part of Major League Baseball, which is why there are differing opinions on the number of hits he had.

He joined the Chicago White Stockings (later to become the Cubs) in 1876, and he remained with the club for the remainder of his career. He earned his nickname Cap in 1879 when he was named captain and manager of the team. The team's nickname changed in 1890 after Anson sold all of his older players and brought in newer, younger blood, called "Colts" by the media, and the name stuck.

Anson was a machine throughout the 1880's, leading the league in RBI's 7 times during the decade, and he led the team to 5 league pennants as well. He is also credited with inventing the hit and run play, pitching rotations, and the third base coach, as well as racial segregation in professional baseball, unfortunately.

After 22 years in Chicago, the team owner decided that it was time to go in a different direction, but couldn't convince Anson to retire, so he was fired, and the media once again renamed the franchise, this time the Orphans, because they had lost their Captain.

If his time in the National Association is included, he finished with 3435 hits. Without, that number drops to 3081. Either way, he reached 3000 hits before any other player, and is number 7 all-time if they are all included. He is also #9 in runs scored and #4 in RBI's, a category in which he led the league 8 times total during his career, and he had a career batting average of .334, also in the top 25 all time.

While the time period in which he played was very different from today's game, there is no doubt that Anson was one of the great innovators that made baseball what it is today. While some of his ideas were terrible, particularly banning black players, many of his ideas are still in use today, and he was a very good player and manager for a very long time, and deserves a spot on the list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #70 - Home Run Baker

Home Run Baker

Frank Baker was known by his given name for the first few years of his career, before earning his nickname due to his exploits in the 1911 World Series, and the nickname stuck for the rest of his career.

Baker joined the Philadelphia Athletics late in the 1908 season, and in his first full season in 1909, he led the league with 19 triples. Through 2 full seasons in the Majors, he had hit a total of 6 home runs, which didn't seem to foreshadow his future nickname.

In 1911 he led the league with 11 homers, a huge total for that time, but it was the World Series that year that earned him his nickname. He had hit .409 in the previous year's World Series win, but this time he hit game-winning home runs in games 2 and 3, off Rube Marquard and Christy Mathewson. There was a 6-day break after Game 3 due to rain, and the newspapers spent days talking about his heroics and gave him the new moniker.

The next 2 years he led the league in both home runs and RBI's, and in 1913 he led the A's to their 3rd championship in 4 years by batting .450 with 7 RBI's in 5 games against the New York Giants. In his 3 World Series championship seasons, he batted at least .375 with an average of an RBI in every game.

He led the league in home runs for the 4th straight season in 1914, and the A's returned to the World Series again as heavy favorites, but were swept by the Boston Braves, and the manager decided to dismantle his team. Baker was traded to the Yankees, but he did not want to play so far from his home in Maryland, so he refused to report in 1915.

After a season playing minor league ball close to home, he decided to go to New York, and he played 4 solid seasons for the Yankees, but not quite up to his previous standard. He retired before the 1920 to take care of his wife and daughters, who were sick with scarlet fever, but after she passed away and his children recovered, he returned to the team for 2 more seasons.

He was still a decent player in his final 2 seasons, and he had two more chances to play in the World Series, but they lost both times, and Baker only recorded 2 total hits in 5 games played, so he retired for the final time in 1922.

While Baker's career total of 96 home runs seems tiny by today's standards, especially considering his name, he was the premier power hitter of his time, and the main offensive reason for 3 World Series titles. His career was relatively short, especially with 2 missing seasons in the middle, but he was so good during his prime, and especially in the postseason, that he has to be part of the list of all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #71 - Eddie Plank

Eddie Plank

Eddie Plank was the first great left-handed pitcher in baseball, and still holds some records for lefties, and he was one of the most consistent pitchers in baseball for 16 years.

Eddie didn't even play baseball until after high school, when the local college coach asked him to try out for the team, even though he didn't attend school there. He jumped from there straight to the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League, where he was immediately a solid starter, pitching 28 complete games with a 3.31 ERA, which would be the highest ERA of his career.

He led the league in several categories during his career, including games started twice, shutouts twice, complete games and saves once each, and also win percentage once. He was never a strikeout or ERA leader, but he was among the top 10 in at least one of those nearly every season.

The A's reached the World Series 5 times during his time with the team, and Plank was always at his best in the postseason. He missed the 1910 series due to a sore arm, but in the other 4 seasons, he had an ERA of only 1.32, more than a run lower than his regular season average of 2.35.

Unfortunately, he often faced the other teams' best pitchers in those games, so he finished with a postseason record of 2-5, despite giving up only 11 runs over 54 innings. In his first World Series, in 1905, his team did not score a single earned run in the entire series, but they were able to get revenge on the Giants in both 1911 and 1913, the years in which he was able to outduel Christy Mathewson once each.

After the A's lost the 1914 World Series, the team was dismantled, and Plank left to join the Saint Louis Terriers, where he won 21 games and had an ERA of 2.08. When the team folded at the end of the season, he joined the crosstown Browns, where he pitched his final 2 seasons before deciding to retire at age 41.

After his retirement, the Yankees still had interest in him, so they traded 5 players and cash to the Browns for Plank and Del Pratt, but Plank refused to report, reiterating that he was done. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946, 20 years after he died of a stroke.

When he retired, he was the all-time leader among left-handed pitchers in wins, which is now #3 among all lefties, but he is still the all-time lefty leader in complete games and shutouts, 100 years after his retirement. He won two World Series titles while facing off with his opponents' best pitcher, and though he wasn't flashy, he was one of the top pitchers in the game for 16 years, and is one of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #72 - Goose Goslin

Goose Goslin

Goose Goslin was a great offensive player who played before World War II who also had a great arm, but he earned his nickname due to his struggles with catching fly balls, as he would often flap his arms wildly while trying to position himself for the catch.

Goslin was called up to the Washington Senators during the final month of the 1921 season, and played well enough to become the starting leftfielder the following season. Starting in 1922, he batted at least .300 for 7 straight seasons, which also included 2 seasons leading the league in triples and one leading the league in RBI's.

When he led the league in RBI's in 1924, he also led the Senators to the World Series, and their only championship ever, by batting .344 with 7 RBI's in 7 games against the Giants. He got them back to the World Series again the next year, and still played just as well, but they fell to the Pirates in 7 games.

He won the batting title in 1928 in interesting fashion. He was tied with Heinie Manush for the lead heading into the final game, and they happened to be facing each other in that game. Goslin was leading when his turn came to bat in the 9th inning, and he told the manager to pull him from the game so he would win the title, but after his teammates called him a coward, he decided to take his turn at bat. After two strikes, he started to regret the decision, and tried to get thrown out of the game by arguing with the umpire so that the at-bat wouldn't count, but the umpire knew what he was doing and told him to finish the at-bat. He ended up getting a hit on the next swing and winning the batting title.

For the next year and a half, he struggled to regain that form, and the Senators decided to trade him to the St. Louis Browns for Manush. He spent two and a half years in Saint Louis, and his numbers rebounded somewhat, then he was traded back to the Senators, where he dropped back below .300, and was again traded away, this time to Detroit.

He had 3 solid years with the Tigers, helping them to two straight World Series, including the title in 1935, when he reached base on more than 40% of his plate appearances to earn his second championship ring. He played one final subpar year in Detroit before signing with Washington one more time to finish his career where it started.

Goslin was never an MVP, though he was in the conversation many times from the early 1920's to the late 1930's, and his RBI title and batting title were both very impressive. He was also very good in both of his World Series wins, and was the best offensive player in his first World Series loss. He is currently #22 all-time in triples and #36 in RBI's, and needs to be remembered as one of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #73 - Tony Gwynn

Tony Gwynn

Tony Gwynn was the best hitter of the past 60 years, and in his 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres, he proved that fact again and again and again.

Gwynn was a two sport athlete at San Diego State, starring on both the baseball and basketball teams, and he was drafted by the Clippers and the Padres in 1981, choosing to play baseball because he had a better chance at a long career, and he wasn't wrong.

He first reached the Majors in July 1982, and that half-season with the Padres would the only one of his career where he failed to bat at least .300. In his first full season in the bigs, 1984, he led all players with 213 hits and a .351 average, and he led the Padres to the first World Series in their history, which they lost to the Tigers in 5 games.

Early in his career, Gwynn was actually good at stealing bases, reaching 25 steals 5 times, including a max of 56 in 1987, a season in which he also had 218 hits and a .370 batting average. The batting average was the highest in the NL in 39 years, and he was the first NL player ever to surpass .370 and 50 steals in the same season. He also went the entire season without 9 straight hitless at-bats, an incredible feat.

After 2 more seasons leading the league in batting, he went into a bit of a slump, batting in the low .300's for 3 straight seasons. Gwynn met Ted Williams during the 1992 season, and the two spoke at length about hitting, and Gwynn started using the advice Williams gave him to change his swing, and it caused a career renaissance.

In 1993, Gwynn hit .358, then hit an amazing .394 in 1994 before the season was cut short by a strike, robbing Gwynn of the chance to become the first .400 hitter in decades. He won the next three batting titles, making 4 in a row overall, and he was one of only 5 players to ever to do that. He also won 8 in his career, tied for the most in NL history with Honus Wagner, and behind only Ty Cobb in Major League history.

Gwynn has the highest batting average for any player who began his career after World War II, and he was the best player on the Padres in both of their World Series seasons, though they did not win the title either time. He hit over .300 for 19 straight seasons, a number exceeded only by Ty Cobb, and he finished in the top 10 in batting average for 15 straight seasons. Though he never won the World Series, and was not a power hitter, there is no doubt that he belongs on the list of the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #74 - Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter is a familiar name to current baseball fans, as he retired only a few years ago, and his career was unique in that it didn't look like a mountain range with a few high peaks, but like a steady, even plateau.

Jeter played a few games for the Yankees in 1995 before being made the starting shortstop to open the 1996 season, and he made an immediate impact, batting .314 with 183 hits and 104 runs, which were pretty much his season averages every season for the rest of his career. He won the AL Rookie of the Year award for his performance.

He also played in his first World Series that year, batting only .250 in the final round, but it would be one of only 2 World Series in his career where he would bat below .340. The Yankees did win the World Series that year, so he was a champion as soon as his career started.

The Yankees won 3 more World Series titles in that decade, with Jeter batting at least .350 in each, and he was named World Series MVP in 2000 after batting .409 with 2 homers against the Mets. The following season he earned the nickname "Mr. November" after hitting a game-winning home run in extra innings of a game that started on Halloween but lasted past midnight, the first Major League game to be played in November. It was his only RBI of the entire series, and one of only 4 hits total, and the Yankees lost to the Diamondbacks as a result.

In his career, Jeter topped 100 runs scored and 180 hits 13 times each, and eclipsed 200 hits 8 times, leading the league twice in that category. The Yankees reached the playoffs 17 times in his 20 seasons, and he did not miss the playoffs in his first 13 seasons. The Yankees reached the World Series 7 times during his stay, winning the championship 5 times.

Jeter is the Yankees all-time leader in hits, doubles, stolen bases, and games played, which are all major accomplishments when you are talking about the most storied franchise in history. He is also the all-time playoff leader in games played, hits, singles, doubles, triples, and runs scored, and has a .321 World Series batting average.

He reached the 3000 hit mark in 2011, and was the second player in history to hit a home run on the historic hit. He was the 4th-youngest player ever to reach the milestone, behind Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, and Robin Yount, and he is the only person ever to hit #3000 while playing for the Yankees. By the time he retired, he was #6 on the all-time hits list, behind 5 other who will appear later in this countdown.

Jeter was probably the most consistent baseball player of all time, and that trait was instrumental in the Yankees 5 championships during his time there. He was a major player on all of those title teams, and usually played well even when they did not advance or win. He is near the top of the all-time leaderboard in both hits and runs scored, and will be a member of the Hall of Fame in a couple years, but for now he is at least on this list of the top players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #75 - Tim Raines

Tim Raines

Tim Raines was one of the best basestealers in history, but spending the majority of his career in Montreal has caused him to be somewhat overlooked by many baseball fans as one of the greats.

Raines played in a few games for the Expos in 1979 and 1980, but he became a full-time Major Leaguer in 1981, which was a strike-shortened season, and in his first season he led all players with 71 stolen bases, a record for a rookie, which also included 27 successful attempts in a row to begin his career, also a record.

His performance dropped a bit the following year, but still managed to lead the NL in steals. After the season, he entered into drug rehab to over come cocaine addiction, and it was revealed that he had been using the drug constantly, so much so that he kept some in his hip pocket when he was playing so he could use it between innings, and he started sliding headfirst to avoid it falling out on the basepaths.

When he returned clean in 1983, he became the best position player in baseball, leading the league in runs scored with 133 and the NL with 90 stolen bases, the third season in a row he had done that. He also walked 97 times, which would be the best of his career, but still only came in 5th in the MVP voting.

Over the next 4 seasons, he led the league once each in runs scored, stolen bases, doubles, and batting average, showing his all-around prowess at the plate, and he ranked as the best player in the NL 4 times over the span from 1983 to 1987, but as I said above, playing for Montreal, which rarely made the playoffs and played in a small market, he never got the MVP recognition he deserved.

After the 1990 season, he requested a trade to a contender, and he was sent to the White Sox, where he played 5 seasons but only made one playoff appearance, and though he played well in that series, batting .444 and scoring 5 runs, the Sox lost to the Blue Jays in 6 games.

Following the 1995 season, he was traded to the Yankees, where he was finally able to accomplish his dream of a championship. His role had diminished somewhat, as he appeared in only about half of the team's games in his 3 seasons in the city, but he was able to get 2 championship rings, in 1996 and 1998, though he didn't appear in the 1998 World Series.

He signed with the Oakland A's in 1999, but midway through the season was diagnosed with lupus, and sat out a season and a half while recovering. He returned to Montreal in 2001, then was traded briefly to the Orioles so that he would have the opportunity of playing with his son, becoming the second father-son pair to play together in the Majors.

Raines was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017, his tenth year on the ballot, just another sign of how underappreciated he was. He is #5 all-time in stolen bases, and has the best stolen base percentage of any player with at least 400 steals, and he was the best player in baseball for several years, and he definitely deserves to be part of this list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #76 - Allie Reynolds

Allie Reynolds

Allie Reynolds was the best pitcher of the Yankees dynasty of the late 1940's and early 1950's, and it was his performance in the World Series that brought many championships to New York.

Reynolds broke into the Majors with the Indians in 1942, and split time between starting and relieving. In his second season he led the league in strikeouts, but he never really reached his full potential with Cleveland, and he was traded to the Yankees after the 1946 season.

Immediately upon Reynolds' arrival in New York, the Yankees immediately became contenders again, after having missed the playoffs for 3 straight seasons. The Yankees reached the World Series 6 times in his first 7 years with the team, winning the championship each time, including 5 straight seasons from 1949 to 1953.

His best postseason came in 1949, when he started 2 games, pitching over 12 innings without allowing a run and giving up only 2 hits while also earning a save in relief as the Yankees beat the Dodgers in 5 games.

He was nearly as good the next year, allowing just one run in just over 10 innings in the World Series as the Yankees swept the Phillies, with Reynolds earning the win in Game 2 and the save in the deciding Game 4.

In 1951, he threw 2 no-hitters, the first one coming against Bob Feller and his former team, the Indians, and his second came against Boston, with Ted Williams popping up for the final out in a game which clinched the Yankees at least a tie for the pennant. He was only the second player to record 2 no-hitters in a season, and only 4 have done it since.

In 1952 he had his best regular season, leading the league with a 2.06 ERA and 160 strikeouts, and he was even better in the World Series, recording 2 wins and a save while giving up only 4 runs in 20 innings, again proving his status as the ace of the best team in baseball.

During the 1953 season, the Yankees team bus crashed into an overpass in Philadelphia, and Reynolds injured his back in the accident, and his production dropped off considerably as a result, leading to his early retirement after the 1954 season.

Though he only pitched 13 seasons, Reynolds was the best pitcher for the best team in baseball for 8 years, winning 6 World Series in the process, and completely tearing apart the competition in 2 of them. He was often called upon to finish important games in relief, even though he was the top starter, and that is why he has earned a spot on this list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #77 - Roberto Alomar

Roberto Alomar

Roberto Alomar was a speedy second baseman who was well-known for his solid all-around game and was instrumental in the only 2 World Series titles for the Toronto Blue Jays.

He reached the Major Leagues with the San Diego Padres in 1988, when he finished 5th in the Rookie of the Year voting, and within 2 years had reached his first All-Star team, but he didn't hit his stride offensively until he was traded to Toronto after the 1990 season.

The Blue Jays reached the playoffs in each of Alomar's first three seasons with the team, and he was one of the team's best players in each of those playoff runs, batting .373 over those seasons and leading the Jays to 2 World Series. In 1992 he was the ALCS MVP, when he hit .423 in a 6-game series against the A's while also stealing 5 bases.

After dominating the ALCS, he struggled a bit in the World Series, but he did end up scoring the winning run in the 11th inning of Game 6, The following season, he hit .480 in the World Series with 6 RBI's as the Jays repeated as champs by taking down the Phillies, marking the third straight year that Alomar was huge in the playoffs, and the second time that he finished the season with a championship ring.

Alomar played two more seasons in Toronto, but the team started to enter a rebuilding process, and he wanted to chase more championships, so he left as a free agent in 1995 to sign with Baltimore, but he left the Blue Jays as the franchise's all-time leader with a .307 batting average. He played 3 seasons with the Orioles, reaching the ALCS twice, but they were never quite able to break through to the World Series.

His time in Baltimore was marred by an incident near the end of the 1996 season, when he became angry after a called third strike and got into a shouting match with the umpire. In the course of the confrontation, Alomar spat in the face of the umpire, and was suspended 5 games for the incident. He claims that the umpire used a racial slur against him, but the two later settled their differences publicly before a game the next season.

Alomar signed with Cleveland before the 1999 season in order to play with his brother Sandy, and while with the Indians he had two of his best seasons. He led the league in runs with 138 in 1999 while setting a career high with 120 RBI's, then had a career-high 193 hits in 2001, along with 100 RBI's and 30 stolen bases.

He played another 3 seasons, but his production dropped off and he retired before the 2005 season. He first appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2010, but fell 8 votes short, the closest anyone has ever come during their first season without being elected, and many feel it was due to the spitting incident, but he was elected easily the following season, and deservedly so.

Alomar finished his career with a .300 batting average and 2724 hits, and he made 12 straight All-Star teams. He was a major contributor to two World Series champions, and played really well in another ALCS, and though he was never the MVP or a full-fledged superstar, he was a very good player for a very long time, and one of the best players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #78 - Amos Rusie

Amos Rusie

Amos Rusie was the best pitcher in baseball for several years in the 1890's, and although his career was very short, his accomplishments over that short span make him worthy of this spot.

Rusie pitched for the Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1889, but was not very good, but the team folded at the end of his rookie year, and the league transferred most of the team to the New York Giants, which is where Rusie became a superstar.

In his first season in New York, he led the league in strikeouts with 341, but he also led the league in walks with 289, which is still a single-season record. He was known to throw the ball really hard and fast, but he obviously lacked control, leading the league with 36 wild pitches as well.

That would be the story for the next several years, with Rusie leading the league 5 times each in strikeouts and walks over the course of 6 seasons. His 1893 season was exceptional, as he started 52 games, with 50 complete games in the process, along with leading the league in strikeouts, walks and hits allowed.

In 1894 he won the pitching Triple Crown, leading the league in both wins and ERA for the first time while finishing 45 of his 50 starts. His ERA of 2.78 was far below the league average of 5.33 that season, and his 50 starts led the league once again.

After the 1895 season, he felt that he deserved a pay raise, but the team owner disagreed, so he sat out the entire 1896 season in protest. When he returned in 1897, he led the league in ERA for the second time, but his strikeout total dropped off to the lowest total of his Giants career. Injuries started to slow him the next season, and he ended up missing two full seasons due to a combination of arm trouble, hearing damage from a baseball hit to the head, and other personal problems.

 He was traded before the 1900 season to Cincinnati in exchange for Christy Mathewson, who had not yet pitched a game, but would go on to be one of the greatest pitchers in history, while Rusie pitched only 3 games for the Reds and had an ERA of 8.59 in those games, making it one of the most lopsided trades in history, despite it looking lopsided in the other direction at the time.

Though he had a penchant for walking record numbers of batters, Rusie had a very powerful arm and struck out batters at an amazing rate for his time, and even though his career lasted only 10 seasons, he was so dominant over his 7 season peak that he cannot be left off the list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #79 - Bob Feller

Bob Feller

Bob Feller was one of the youngest players ever to play in the Major Leagues, and he was a star player right from day one, and had it not been for World War II, he probably would have easily been among the top 25 players of all time.

Feller joined the Indians in July 1936, and in his first start he struck out 15 batters, a record for a pitching debut. Two weeks later, he struck out 17, tying the single-game record at the time. He left the team before the season ended to return home to Iowa to begin his senior year of high school.

Two years later, he was called upon to pitch the final game against the Detroit Tigers, whose star player, Hank Greenberg, needed 2 home runs to tie Babe Ruth's record. Feller responded by setting a new strikeout record with 18, and he led the entire league with 240 strikeouts while still a teenager.

Feller led the league in strikeouts for 7 consecutive full seasons, four before the war and 3 afterward. He was definitely the best pitcher in baseball and had been for years when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He left the team the next day to joint the Navy, becoming the first professional athlete to join the service, and he was later joined by many of the greatest players of his era.

His military service cost him nearly 4 years from the prime of his career, but when he came back, he picked up right where he left off, again leading the league in strikeouts and setting a new record for strikeouts in a season with 348 in 1946.

Perhaps the biggest thing lacking in his career was postseason success. He led the Indians to the World Series in 1948, which they won, but Feller lost both of his starts and posted an ERA of 5.02 in those two games, so he was the reason they got there, but not the reason they won. When they returned to the World Series in 1954, he was on the active roster but was not used.

Feller threw 3 no-hitters during his career and 12 one-hitters, both records at the time of his retirement. During the offseasons, he would gather a group of other Major Leaguers and play a series of exhibition games against Negro League teams, and those games played a huge role in helping people realize that the Negro League players were just as good and helped break the color barrier.

Feller was the definition of phenom, and a true strikeout artist, as well as a courageous hero for sacrificing the best years of his career to defend our country. Even though he appears much lower on this list than he would have if he hadn't missed those seasons, there is no way a player of Feller's ability could be left off the list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #80 - Ed Walsh

Ed Walsh

Ed Walsh was an amazing pitcher for the Chicago White Sox early in the last century, but he burned out early due to overwork, though what he did was enough to get him on this list.

He broke into the majors in 1904 just days before his 23rd birthday, and he spent his first couple of seasons as a spot starter and middle reliever. When he broke into the starting rotation in 1906, he was immediately the ace, not just of the team but of the entire league.

That season he led the league with 10 shutouts, while posting a 1.88 ERA, and the White Sox also won the AL pennant that year, with Walsh winning 2 games in the World Series. In Game 3, he struck out 12 batters, which was a record at the time, and he also recorded at least one strikeout in every inning, a feat that has only been matched by Bob Gibson in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series.

The following season he led the league in a lot of categories, including games pitched, started, complete games, saves, innings pitched and ERA. Even after that, he somehow improved the next season, leading the league in strikeouts, wins, and shutouts, in addition to everything from the previous season except ERA. That year he started 49 games, and completed 42 of them, 11 in shutout fashion, and he ended the season with 40 wins, something nobody has done since.

Two years later he posted a 1.27 ERA, best in the league, and ended up with the best ERA ever for a pitcher who finished with a losing record after at least 20 starts. He had 2 more dominant seasons after that, before his arm gave out and his career basically ended.

From 1906 to 1912, he had an ERA below 2.22 every year, pitched in at least 40 games 6 times, pitched at last 20 complete games every season, reached 200 strikeouts 5 times, and led the league in saves 5 times as well. The overwork ruined his arm, and he was rarely ever able to overcome the pain enough to pitch again.

Over the final 5 seasons of his career, he appeared in only 33 games, which is a number of games he surpassed 6 times in the previous 7 single seasons, and though he still pitched well when he appeared, his starts were so sporadic that he was eventually let go.

Walsh had one of the greatest 7-year stretches for a pitcher in history, and he still holds the all-time record for career ERA (1.82). He was by far the best pitcher in the 1906 World Series, and nobody has since come close to the number of innings pitched or complete games he threw in 1907 and 1908. Though he flamed out at age 31, he still deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #81 - Duke Snider

Duke Snider

Duke Snider was the star centerfielder for the Dodgers in the 1950's, at a time when it was a very prestigious position in New York City, with Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays manning the position for the other 2 teams at the time.

Snider reached the Major Leagues with Brooklyn in 1947, the same season that Jackie Robinson joined the team, but spent a lot of time in the minors over his first 2 seasons. He became the full-time centerfielder in 1949, and in 1950 he led the league with 199 hits, which would be his career high.

He was a pretty good player for a few years, then had his coming out party in the 1952 World Series, when he hit .345 with 4 home runs and 8 RBI's in a losing effort against the Yankees. Even though he did not quite get the title that year, it was the beginning of his time as a superstar in the league.

For the next few years he just kept getting better, surpassing 120 runs scored and batted in for 3 straight seasons, and he was the league leader in runs scored in all 3 of those seasons, and he also reached at least 40 home runs in each while finishing in the top 4 of the MVP voting.

In 1955 he was able to get his revenge on the Yankees, as he led the Dodgers to their only title in Brooklyn, this time hitting .320 with 7 RBI's and another 4 home runs as they won it all. In doing so, he became the first and so far only player ever to hit 4 home runs in a single World Series twice.

In 1956 his production dropped just slightly, with the exception of his home runs total,which was a career high 43, good enough to lead the league for the first time. The next season was the final one for the Dodgers in Brooklyn, and Snider was the last person ever to hit a home run at Ebbets field.

He followed the Dodgers to Los Angeles, but he had already reached the downhill side of his career, and while he was still a good player, he was not the superstar he had been on the other side of the country. He did win another World Series in LA in 1959, but wasn't as dominant as before.

Snider played 18 seasons in the majors, leading the league once each in RBI's, walks, hits, and home runs, along with the 3 straight seasons of leading the league in runs scored. He made the World Series 6 times with the Dodgers, winning it all twice, and was usually at his best in the postseason, which is why he belongs on this list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #82 - Eddie Murray

Eddie Murray

Eddie Murray played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball, earning the nickname "Steady Eddie" along the way, and it fits, since his batting average stayed within a 40 point range for his first 12 seasons, and he missed very few games each season.

His rookie season was 1977, and he started out solid, with a .283 average and 27 homers, and was given the Rookie of the Year award for his efforts. Two years later he helped lead the Orioles to the World Series, and while he was great in the ALCS, with 5 hits and 5 walks in 17 plate appearances, he struggled in the final round, getting only 4 hits in the 7 games.

Over the next 6 years, he became an RBI machine surpassing 110 in each complete season, and leading the league with 78 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. He also led the league in home runs that season, the only time he would accomplish that, though he was quite a consistent long ball hitter through his career.

In 1983 he helped lead the Orioles back to the World Series, and was solid throughout both rounds, getting 9 hits in 9 games, including 3 home runs, and he was able to finish the season with a championship ring, the only one he would earn.

He continued to be Steady Eddie for more than a decade with multiple teams, even leading the league in batting in 1990, and he returned to Baltimore late in his career just in time to hit his 500th home run, which made him the third player in history to reach 500 home runs and 3000 hits, joining Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, later to be joined by Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Albert Pujols.

In 1995, at the age of 39, he was able to help the Cleveland Indians get to the World Series, and he hit a home run in each round of the playoffs, even at his advanced age, but he failed to get a second ring, just as he did the following season when he reached the playoffs again in Baltimore, which was the only time he ever reached the playoffs without making the World Series.

Although he was never a superstar, he was a very good player for a very long time, finishing in the top 5 of the MVP voting 6 times, reaching the World Series 3 times, each time in a different decade, and surpassing the two biggest batting milestones by showing up every day and doing his job well, which is why he deserves his spot on this list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #83 - Lefty Gomez

Lefty Gomez

Lefty Gomez was a great pitcher for the New York Yankees in the 1930's, and was a big part of the reason that they were constantly in the World Series, so he has a spot on this list despite his short career.

Gomez joined the Yankees in 1930, and by the middle of his second season had established himself as a starter for New York, surpassing 20 wins in both 1931 and 1932. He made his first World Series appearance in 1932, and was the best hurler in the Series, pitching a complete game in Game 2 as the Yankees beat the Cubs 5-2.

In 1933 he led the league in strikeouts for the first time while his other numbers all dropped, but he was just beginning to put it all together. In 1934 he led the league in strikeouts again, but this time he was also #1 in wins (26), ERA (2.33), complete games (25), and shutouts (6), earning the pitching Triple Crown, and he would have easily won the Cy Young if it existed at that time.

He had a couple more down years after his dominant season ended, but he was able to pull it all together again in 1937, when he won the pitching Triple Crown for the second time, with the exact same ERA and number of complete games and shutouts, along with league-leading 21 wins and 194 strikeouts. He is one of only 7 pitchers in history to win the Triple Crown twice.

In addition, he had another dominant postseason that year, pitching 2 complete games in the World Series, and only giving up 3 total runs as the Yankees won the World Series over the New York Giants for the second straight year. After one more really good year, his talents started to slip, and though he kept pitching until 1943, he was pretty much done by the end of 1939.

Overall, Gomez pitched in the World Series in 5 different seasons, with 7 total starts, finishing with a 6-0 record in those games and a handful of championship rings, and he was by far the best pitcher in the Series twice, in addition to his two seasons of absolute domination in the regular season. His career was shorter than that of most players on this list, but he was so good for those few years that he cannot be left off this list.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #84 - Chief Bender

Chief Bender

Chief Bender was a great pitcher from the early days of baseball, who was given his nickname due to his membership in the Ojibwe tribe of Minnesota.

Bender was discovered while pitching for a semi-pro team in Pennsylvania after he beat the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition game in 1902, and in 1903 he was a full-time Major League pitcher with the Philadelphia Athletics as a 19-year-old rookie.

Over his first 8 seasons, Bender lowered his ERA every single season, starting with his rookie ERA of 3.07 and continuing until reaching a low of 1.58 in 1910, and that was the season when he was finally able to lead the A's to the AL pennant and the World Series.

He had pitched in the World Series early in his career, and had done well, pitching 2 complete games and giving up only 2 runs, but one of those games was a 3-0 shutout win, while the other was a 2-0 shutout loss to Christy Mathewson and the Giants. This time he was dominant in the Series, pitching a 3-hitter with 8 strikeouts in the opener, with another complete game later in the Series, and earned his first World Series title.

The next year he was back for more, and this time they faced Mathewson and the Giants in the World Series again, and though Mathewson outdueled him in Game 1, Bender earned the win in Games 4 and 6, finishing off the Series with a 1.04 ERA, 20 strikeouts, and 3 complete games, which tied Mathewson's record for the World Series.

After missing a chunk of the next season overcoming problems with alcohol abuse, he returned in 1913 at close to his previous level, and it was enough to get the A's another World Series title, their 3rd in 4 years, though he was not as dominant this time, giving up 8 earned runs in 2 complete games, nearly as many as he had given up in 7 games in his previous 3 World Series seasons.

At the end of the next season, he was offered a much larger contract by the Baltimore Terrapins of the new Federal League, but he struggled, winning only 4 of his 26 starts, and he said openly that he regretted leaving Philadelphia, so he returned to the city the next season as a member of the Phillies, where he wrapped up his career with a couple of mediocre seasons.

While Bender was a very good regular season pitcher, he excelled in the World Series, where he pitched 10 games over 5 different seasons, with 9 complete games and a 2.44 ERA and 3 World Series rings as a result of his play. He was largely overshadowed by Christy Mathewson during his career, but managed to defeat him in 2 of the 3 seasons in which they met in the World Series, and his great play when it mattered most is what earned him this spot on the list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #85 - Enos Slaughter

Enos Slaughter

Enos Slaughter may not be a household name, but he was a very good player who spent 19 years in Major League Baseball, even after taking a 3-year break in the middle of his prime to serve our country during World War II.

He joined the Saint Louis Cardinals in 1938 at age 22, and gradually worked his way into being a star, a level he reached in 1942, when he led the league in hits, triples, and total bases, which earned him the #2 spot in the MVP voting. He also won his first World Series ring that season, in what would be the second-best season of his career.

Unfortunately, his peak coincided with World War II, and he left for 3 years to serve in the Army Air Corps. When he came back in 1946, he led the league with 130 RBI's and came in #3 in the MVP voting in his best overall season, then bookended his war service with another World Series title, this one ending on the play pictured above. On that play, Slaughter scored from first base on a double in the bottom of the 8th inning of Game 7, running through a stop sign at third base in the process, in a play that was dubbed the Mad Dash and was named one of the 10 Greatest Moments in baseball history by The Sporting News in 1999.

Slaughter remained a solid player for the Cardinals for another 7 years, making the All-Star team each season and earning MVP votes in most. He was surprised in 1954 to be traded to the Yankees, where he spent another 5 seasons, though he was not the same player as he was before the trade.

He probably wouldn't have made this list without his World Series performance in 1956, when he was 40 years old, and hit .350 with 4 RBI and 4 walks while leading all players with 6 runs scored, earning his third championship ring in the process. He would get one more in 1958, though he went hitless in that season's Series.

Slaughter was a very good player who had borderline Hall of Fame numbers and played great when it mattered most. He was on the Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years, getting a little closer to the minimum required each year, before being removed for reaching the maximum number of seasons. This may have been partly because of rumors that he tried to organize a boycott against Jackie Robinson in 1947, though he denies it ever happened. He was eventually elected in 1985 by the Veterans Committee, an honor I feel he deserved, just as he earned his spot on this list.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #86 - Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw is the second active player to appear in my countdown, and the final active pitcher, and is also the youngest player in the countdown by about 5 years, and though he is probably only about halfway through his career, he has definitely done enough so far to deserve a spot on this list.

Kershaw reached the majors in early 2008, at age 20, and was the youngest player in the league for that entire season. He pitched pretty well in his second and third seasons, but he became the dominant superstar we all know in his 4th season, when he completely took the league by storm.

That year, Kershaw took home the pitching Triple Crown, leading the NL with 21 wins, a 2.28 ERA, and 248 strikeouts, and was awarded the Cy Young Award as well, becoming the youngest pitcher to earn the award in his lifetime.

The next season he was still the best pitcher in all of baseball, but his numbers were not quite as gaudy, so as a result he was not given the Cy Young he deserved. He still led all of baseball in ERA again, but slight dips elsewhere caused him to be voted runner-up.

The next year he led the league in strikeouts once again, while dropping his league-leading ERA even lower than he had before, finishing at 1.83, the lowest of any player since the year 2000. He won his second Cy Young that year, and even earned his first playoff victory, when he struck out 12 in 7 innings against Atlanta, before falling back to earth in the NLCS against Saint Louis.

Even after that amazing season, he found a way to improve again in 2014, improving in every single pitching category that is tracked. He led the league in ERA for the 4th straight year, the only pitcher ever to do that, and took home his 3rd Cy Young as well as the NL MVP, the first pitcher to win the award in 46 years.

In 2015, he set a career high and led the league with 301 strikeouts, but because his ERA "ballooned" to 2.13, he only came in 3rd in the Cy Young voting, though it was his 5th straight year in the top 3. Those 5 seasons represent one of the greatest 5-year pitching stretches in history.

Kershaw's weakness has always been the playoffs, where his career ERA is 4.35, nearly 2 runs higher than his regular season ERA of 2.37, which is the lowest of any pitcher in the past 100 years. He has had some great games in the playoffs, but doesn't seem to have the same consistency as usual in the postseason.

Kershaw has the best ERA, win percentage, WHIP, and number of shutouts among all active pitchers, and many of those numbers are also very high among all-time pitchers, including those from the dead-ball era. If he is able to maintain the same level of play for another decade, he would be one of the top 10 players of all time, and a couple of World Series wouldn't hurt either.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #87* - Rafael Palmeiro

Rafael Palmeiro*

Rafael Palmeiro is the first player to make this list with an asterisk, which I have affixed to the 6 players on this list who broke rules in order to gain an advantage. Since it is not possible to tell the extent of the cheating, or what impact it had, he appears on the list at his actual ranking.

Palmeiro broke into the league with the Chicago Cubs in 1986, and in his third season had become an All-Star by batting .307, good for second in the NL that season, behind only Tony Gwynn. Because of issues with teammate Ryne Sandberg, Palmeiro was traded to the Texas Rangers after the season.

During his first stint with the Rangers, he began to establish himself as a true star, leading the league in hits in 1990, doubles, in 1991, and runs scored in 1993. After his fifth year in Texas, which was his best year to date, he decided to leave as a free agent after teammate Will Clark was offered a slightly larger contract.

He signed with the Orioles for slightly more than Clark had been offered, and it was there that he became a home run hitter, with a streak of 9 straight seasons of between 38 and 47 homers starting in 1995, and he also surpassed 100 RBI's in each of those seasons, something he had only done once before.

He decided to return to the Rangers in 1999, where he and his family were still living, and in his first season back had his best overall season, when he set career highs with 47 home runs, 148 RBI's, and a .324 batting average, while also amassing 183 hits. He came in fifth in the MVP voting, though I feel he should have won the award that year for the AL, as he had far more home runs, RBI's, and walks than Ivan Rodriguez, his teammate who won the award, while nearly matching him in hits and runs scored.

He returned to Baltimore in 2004 to chase a few more career milestones, and he reached a very impressive one in 2005, when he reached hit #3000, and as he had already reached 500 home runs, he became only the fifth player to reach both milestones, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez, and Eddie Murray, all Hall of Famers.

Just days after reaching that milestone, he was suspended for 10 days for a positive steroid test, which also came just a few months after he had been accused by Jose Canseco of using steroids, and after he had testified before Congress that he had never used them. He claimed that he had been given a tainted Vitamin B12 shot by teammate Miguel Tejada and that it was not intentional.

He returned to the team after his suspension ended, but his team and the fans had turned on him, both because of the implications of cheating and the accusation against his own teammate. Rafael Palmeiro Appreciation Day was cancelled, which was to be a celebration of his amazing achievement weeks earlier, and he ended up retiring a few days later due to all of the negativity. He also never came close to being elected to the Hall of Fame, despite having career statistics that would generally be considered surefire.

While Palmeiro most likely cheated, it is unclear how much and how often, and there is still a question as to whether it was intentional, but there is still no doubt that with all that he did in his career, he still deserves to be mentioned as one of the best baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #88 - Vladimir Guerrero

Vladimir Guerrero

Vladimir Guerrero burst onto the scene in the late 1990's with the Montreal Expos, and it didn't take long before he became a perennial All-Star and MVP candidate. He was notorious for swinging at almost any pitch, but he was skilled enough that it didn't hamper his career.

He spent 8 years playing for Montreal, and during that time he was involved in two of the most amazing plays ever seen. The first came at the plate, where he cemented his reputation as a bad-ball hitter, when he got a hit off a pitch that had bounced before reaching the plate. Not only did the ball bounce, his bat also hit the ground as he was swinging, but he reached base safely nonetheless.

His most amazing defensive play came in 2001, when a ball was hit into deep right field, where Guerrero fielded it off one bounce, then threw a perfect strike of about 300 feet straight into the catcher's glove to tag out a runner trying to score from second. That throw can be seen in the highlight video attached to the end of this post.

In 2002, he led the league in hits and total bases, and came just one home run short of joining the very exclusive 40-40 club, as he posted a career high with 40 steals that year. The next season he was slowed by a back injury, and he became a free agent for the first time at the end of the season.

He decided to join the Angels for the 2004 season, and he had one of his very best seasons right away. He led the league with 124 runs, 366 total bases, and tied his career high with 206 hits. In September, he won the Player of the Month award after batting .371 with 10 home runs as they came back from a 3-game deficit to win the division and make the playoffs.

He did not play well in the playoffs, getting only 2 hits, though one of them was a grand slam, so it didn't look quite as bad. His overall numbers dropped slightly the next season, but he was still the best player in the AL, though it's very difficult to repeat as MVP when your numbers drop, so he ended up 3rd in the voting.

He continued to guide the Angels to the playoffs nearly every year, and while his playoff stats improved over the next few years, they were never quite able to break through to the World Series. He left for Texas before the 2010 season, where he was able to finally break through and get to the World Series, knocking in 3 runs in the deciding Game 6 of the ALCS. He did not end up with a championship ring, but it further cemented his status as an all-time great.

Guerrero may have been famous for swinging at bad pitches, but despite that, he never reached 100 strikeouts in a season, an amazing feat given his reputation. He is the Expos all-time leader in several categories, and had two MVP-caliber seasons in Anaheim. He maintained a high level of play for well over a decade, and as a result he is a part of my list of the best players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #89 - Sam Crawford

Sam Crawford

Sam Crawford was one of the early slugging stars of Major League Baseball, and he was also a great baserunner, which he displayed throughout his 19-year career and which earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Crawford reached the Majors in 1899 at age 19, playing for the Cincinnati Reds. It took him a couple of years to grow into a star, but when he did, he led the league in at least one batting category 10 times in 15 seasons.

1901 was his first season as a league leader, when he hit 16 home runs, including 12 that were inside the park, which is still the single season record over 100 years later. Over the next 2 seasons he led the league in what became his signature category, triples, even as he jumped teams to Detroit between those seasons.

After a few years in Detroit, he was joined by Ty Cobb, and they became one of the most potent outfield combinations of all time, batting one after the other in the lineup, and becoming famous for their skill at the double steal, where each player would steal a base at the same time.

From 1907-1909, the dynamic duo led the Tigers to the AL pennant in 3 straight seasons, but they lost in the World Series in all 3 attempts, as both Cobb and Crawford slumped in the Series, with neither reaching .300, though both had career batting averages well above that.

Late in his career, Crawford became one of the best at knocking runners in, reaching 100 RBI's 5 times in 6 seasons and leading the league 3 times. He also led the league in triples 4 more times during those seasons, including 26 in 1914, which is still the AL record.

In total, Crawford ended his career with 309 triples, which is still the Major League record, and he also had 51 inside-the-park home runs, which is #2 all time. He led the league in runs, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI's, and total bases at different points in his career.

Crawford was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1957, and by that time he was living in a small cabin in the California desert. When reporters showed up to interview him, the locals were all surprised to find out that their neighbor had once played baseball. His spot in the Hall was well-deserved, especially considering his triples record, and he definitely deserves his spot on this list as well.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #90 - Justin Verlander

Justin Verlander

Justin Verlander is the first active player to appear in my rankings, and his extended period of great pitching for the Tigers and the Astros has definitely earned him this honor.

Verlander pitched a couple of forgettable games for the Tigers in 2005, before being called up full-time in 2006, where immediately set the league on fire. He became the first rookie ever to win 10 games before the end of June, and he ended the season with the AL Rookie of the Year Award. He also made his first World Series appearance that year, but was terrible, giving up 12 hits and 10 runs in 11 innings, and being responsible for 2 losses.

He was pretty good in 2007, then had a major slump in 2008, but he finally found his form in 2009, when he led the league in wins and strikeouts while finishing 3rd in the Cy Young voting.

2011 is when he really made his mark. He led the league in wins and strikeouts again, but this time he also had the lowest ERA, earning him the pitching Triple Crown. Clayton Kershaw matched the feat in the NL, making it the first time since 1924 that each league had a Triple Crown pitcher in the same season.

He not only won the Triple Crown that year, he was also awarded the AL Cy Young award by unanimous vote, the 16th player ever to receive every first place vote, a club that would later be joined by Clayton Kershaw as well. He was also awarded the AL MVP award, the first pitcher in 19 years to earn it, which also made him the second pitcher in history to earn Rookie of the Year, MVP, and the Cy Young during their career, joining Don Newcombe.

The following year he finished #2 in ERA, while still leading the league in strikeouts and innings pitched, but lost in the closest Cy Young vote in history. He took it out on the rest of the AL in the playoffs, where he gave up only 2 runs in over 24 innings while striking out 25 and leading the Tigers to the World Series, but gave up 5 runs in 4 innings of his World Series game as the Tigers fell short again.

In the next season's playoffs he had his best performance to date, starting 3 games and giving up just one run while striking out 31 batters in 23 innings, but the Tigers only won one of those 3 starts, with the 2 losses both coming by a score of 1-0. Even though they did not reach the World Series, he was by far the best pitcher of the postseason.

A variety of injuries hampered him over the next two years, but in 2016 he was back at full strength, and he showed it by leading the league in strikeouts for the 4th time, and came in 2nd in the Cy Young voting again, this time in the 2nd-closest voting of all time, and it was also the first time in AL history that the player with the most 1st-place votes did not win the award.

Verlander was traded to the Houston Astros late in the 2017 season, where he gave up only 4 runs in his 5 regular season starts, before dominating his way through the playoffs once again, giving up only 4 runs in over 24 innings of work en route to his 3rd World Series appearance, where the Astros were able to defeat the Dodgers to earn their first and his first championship, and Verlander was named co-MVP along with Jose Altuve.

In his career, Verlander has led the league in strikeouts 4 times, had 3 Cy Young-quality seasons (though just one official award), 3 dominant playoff runs, an MVP award, and a World Series ring and MVP, and he is off to a great start again in 2018, so he may not be done climbing the list of all-time greats.