Top 106 Baseball Players: #35 - Carl Hubbell

Carl Hubbell

Carl Hubbell was a dominant pitcher back in the 1930's, with a bunch of incredible performances over the course of his career that made him one of the all-time greats.

He reached the Major Leagues in 1928 at age 25 with the New York Giants after several seasons in the Tigers farm system. He improved steadily over his first few seasons, becoming the best pitcher in the league by 1931,when he had a 2.65 ERA and led the league in WHIP, a category he would lead the league in 6 times over the next 8 seasons.

He had his best season in 1933, when he led the league with 23 wins, a 1.66 ERA, and 10 shutouts. During that season, he pitched an 18-inning shutout against the Cardinals, and it was a perfect game through 12 innings. He won the MVP that season, then put on an amazing performance in the World Series, pitching 20 innings without giving up a single run, while amassing 15 strikeouts and winning the championship.

In 1934, he put on a show in the All-Star game, setting a record by striking out 5 consecutive batters, still the record for a single pitcher, and those 5 were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Al Cronin. He ended that season leading the league in ERA, saves, and complete games.

In 1936 he became the first unanimous MVP in league history after winning 16 consecutive games to end the season, a streak he would extend to a league-record 24 games the next season. He pitched very well in the World Series again that year, giving up only 4 runs in 2 starts while striking out 10, but they Giants were unable to beat the Yankees.

He was the league leader in wins again in 1937, and also had the most strikeouts for the first time. He hung on for 6 more seasons, but eventually wasn't contributing, so he retired and went to work for the team, first as director of player development, and later as a scout, and he remained working for the Giants for the remainder of his life.

Hubbell was the first NL player ever to have his number retired, and was the first ever unanimous MVP. He dominated his first World Series, and played incredibly well in his second appearance. He still hold the All-Star game record for consecutive strikeouts, and the league record for consecutive wins, and needs to be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #36 - Tom Seaver

Tom Seaver

Tom Seaver was the best pitcher in baseball for many years, and was the man who put the Mets on the map.

Seaver joined the Mets in 1967, and was so good that he won the Rookie of the Year award that season, with an ERA of 2.76. In his second season, he reached 200 strikeouts for the first of nine consecutive seasons, which is still the all-time record.

He won the Cy Young Award in his third season after leading the league with 25 wins, and he nearly threw a perfect game that season, losing it with 2 outs to go. The Mets also won their first ever World Series that season, and though Seaver gave up a bunch of runs in his 3 postseason starts, he still won 2 of those games, and became a champion.

Seaver was the best pitcher in baseball for the next 2 seasons, though he did not win the Cy Young either time. He led the league with a 2.82 ERA and 283 strikeouts in 1970, and also set a record by striking out 10 consecutive batters in a game while tying the record with 19 in that game, although that record has been surpassed. He then had his best overall season in 1971, with a 1.76 ERA and 289 strikeouts, both tops in the league and the best in his career.

He had a slightly down year in 1972, then bounced back in 1973 by leading the league in strikeouts and ERA for the third time in 4 seasons, and took home his 2nd Cy Young. He also helped the Mets to get back to the World Series that season, and pitched extremely well, posting and ERA under 2.00 with 35 strikeouts in 4 appearances, but the Mets fell to the A's, denying him a chance at another title.

In 1975 he led the league in wins and strikeouts, marking the 4th time that he had fallen one category short of the pitching Triple Crown. He did, however, win the Cy Young again, giving him 3 in his career. He attempted to renegotiate his contract during the 1977 season, but after reaching an impasse, he was traded to the Reds.

In his first full season in Cincinnati, Seaver threw his first no-hitter after having 5 one-hitters as a member of the Mets. In 1981, he had another stellar season, finishing with a 14-2 record, which was the best in the league by wins and win percentage, and earned him the runner-up spot in the Cy Young voting, 12 years after he had won his first. He also reached 3000 strikeouts that season, the 5th pitcher ever to reach that mark.

Seaver bounced around for a few more years, reaching his 300th win in 1985 before retiring after the 1986 season. He is one of 2 pitchers in history with 3000 strikeouts, 300 wins, and an ERA below 3.00, along with Walter Johnson. He also has the second-most shutouts of any pitcher since 1920, trailing only Warren Spahn.

Spahn still holds the all-time records for consecutive strikeouts and consecutive 200-strikeout seasons, and led his team to 2 World Series, winning one. He was the Cy Young winner 3 times, though he should have had 6, and is the greatest player in the history of the Mets, and also one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #37 - Joe Morgan

Joe Morgan

Joe Morgan was one of the shorter modern baseball players, but he was the driving force behind the Big Red Machine because he did all of the little things very well.

Morgan debuted with the Houston Colt .45's in 1963, playing in only a few games over his first couple of seasons before the team became the Astros, and he became the starting second baseman. During that first full season, he led the league with 97 walks, which would become one of his trademarks, and came in #2 in the Rookie of the Year race.

He played with Houston through 1971, becoming a little better each year, and in his final 3 seasons with the Astros he stole at least 40 bases and drew at least 80 walks. The team did not feel like he was a powerful enough hitter, so he was traded to Cincinnati in a blockbuster deal that turned out much better for the Reds than for the Astros.

Immediately upon arriving in Cincinnati, Morgan became the best batter in baseball. He led the league in runs, walks, and on-base percentage in his first season there, and over his first 5 seasons with the Reds remained the best position player in baseball, scoring at least 100 runs, stealing at least 50 bases, and knocking in at least 110 runs in each of those seasons, while leading the league in on-base percentage in 4 of those seasons.

He received many MVP votes in those first 3 seasons, and finally broke through in 1975 and 1976, winning the award back-to-back when he raised his batting average over .320 for the first two times. The Reds also made the playoffs in 4 of those season, reaching 3 World Series, with Morgan playing well in all 3. In 1972, he walked 6 times and stole 2 bases in a 7-game loss to Oakland, and between 1975 and 1976, he walked a total of 15 times in 17 games as the Reds won back-to-back titles.

He was still the best player in the NL in 1977, marking 6 straight seasons at the top, but didn't even receive an MVP vote, probably because his numbers had dipped slightly from his dominant MVP seasons. After a couple more All-Star level seasons in Cincinnati, he left town as a free agent, and he spent the next 5 years going from Houston to San Francisco to Philadelphia to Oakland, making good contributions at all of those stops.

Morgan today stands at #11 in stolen bases, despite never leading the league in that category, and is #5 on the all-time walks list. He won two MVP awards, and probably should have won several more, and was also an important part of 2 World Series champions and two other World Series teams. He may not have been a big man, but he was a strong performer, and one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #38 - Steve Carlton

Steve Carlton

Steve Carlton was a great pitcher for well over a decade with the Philadelphia Phillies, and a former holder of many of the most prestigious records for pitchers.

Carlton first pitched for the Saint Louis Cardinals in 1965, and he had a couple of pretty good seasons with the Cardinals, but it was after he left that he became a real superstar. He pitched in the World Series for Saint Louis in 1967 and 1968, being tagged with a loss in the 1967 Series after pitching 6 innings and giving up only one unearned run, but he did earn a championship ring with that team.

The first record that Carlton broke in his career was the single-game strikeout record, which he took in 1969 when he struck out 19 New York Mets in one game, though he lost that game 4-3. That record has been exceeded on a few occasions, but it is one of the big ones for pitchers.

After winning 20 games for the first time in 1971, he demanded a higher salary, and instead was traded to the Phillies. During his first season with the team, he had one of the greatest pitching seasons ever. He won the pitching Triple Crown with 27 wins, a 1.97 ERA, and 310 strikeouts, and was also given the Cy Young unanimously. He also pitched 30 complete games that season, and set a record for winning the largest percentage of his team's games in history, winning 27 of his teams 59 wins that season, good for 46% of their total wins.

His 1973 season was a complete reversal, as he led the league in runs allowed and losses. He won the Cy Young again in 1977 after leading the league with 23 wins, and another in 1980. That season he was on top again with 24 wins and 286 strikeouts, and he also pitched 304 innings, a number that has not been reached since.

In that year's postseason, he went 3-0 with 23 strikeouts and won the final game of the World Series to earn his second championship, achieving the rare feat of being the best pitcher in both the regular season and the postseason in the same year.

He won his 4th Cy Young award in 1982 after leading the league in wins, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, and strikeouts, and he became the first pitcher ever to reach 4. That mark has since been tied by Greg Maddux and exceeded by Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson. He also held the all-time strikeout record on several occasions from 1983 to 1984, when he and Nolan Ryan both surpassed Walter Johnson's record within weeks of each other, then kept passing the record back and forth for about a year, with Ryan eventually pulling away from Carlton.

Carlton was once the record holder for single-game strikeouts, career strikeouts, and Cy Young awards, though he no longer holds any of them. He struck out 4136 batters in his career, which was the most by a lefty at the time, since surpassed by Randy Johnson. He was twice a World Series champion, and was the best pitcher on one of those teams, and definitely one of the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #39 - Mel Ott

Mel Ott

Mel Ott was one of the first great sluggers in the National League, even if he did have an unorthodox style at the plate, which is pictured above.

Ott was signed by the Giants at age 16, and made his Major League debut just after his 17th birthday. He played sparingly during his first two seasons, but as a 19-year-old he became the team's starting right fielder, and he also started an historic streak that season, as that was the first of 18 consecutive seasons in which he led his team in home runs, which is still a record.

Ott had a career-high with 42 home runs in 1929, at 20 years old, and his prowess at hitting the ball out of the park also allowed him to earn a lot of walks, and that season was the first of 6 times in his career in which he led the league in that category. He was arguably the best player in the league that year, but only finished 11th in the MVP voting.

In 1932 he led the league in home runs for the first time, knocking 38 of them out of the park, and also had a league-best 100 walks. He followed that up the next year by leading the Giants to the World Series, where they defeated the Senators in 5 games behind Ott's 2 home runs and 4 RBI, including the series-winning hit in the 10th inning of game 5.

The next season he led the league with 35 home runs and 135 RBI, but only finished 5th in the MVP voting, which shows how much he continued to be overlooked throughout his career, even after winning the World Series. Two years later, he had nearly identical numbers, and even led the league in slugging percentage, but still only earned a 6th-place finish in the voting.

He was able to bring the Giants back to the World Series in 1936 and 1937, but they lost both of those contests to the Yankees, despite solid play from Ott. His highest finish in the MVP voting came in 1942, when he led the league in runs, home runs, and walks, and ended up in 3rd place, though I feel that should have been his 5th MVP award, not just a good finish.

From that season on, he served as a player/manager, reducing his time on the field each year before retiring after making only 4 plate appearances in 1947. He finished his career as the first NL player ever to reach 500 home runs, and was also the first NL player ever to hit 100 RBI in 8 straight seasons. He was often overlooked during his career, and is not widely remembered today, but he deserves to be mentioned as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #40 - Mariano Rivera

Mariano Rivera

Mariano Rivera is easily the greatest closer in the history of baseball, and he is one of the greatest postseason players ever, period.

Rivera didn't reach the Majors until he was 25 years old, and he was not an immediate success. He began as a starter, but struggled, with an ERA of 5.51 in 1995, his rookie season, before he was moved to middle reliever. That was the role he played throughout 1996, when he finished with a 2.09 ERA and the #3 spot in the Cy Young voting, and a star was born.

In each of the next 3 seasons, he posted an ERA below 2.00, which is very rare, and in 1999 he led the league with 45 saves. He had helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1996 as a middle reliever, then pitched over 13 innings in 1998 without giving up a single run in 1998. He repeated the feat in 1999, pitching over 12 scoreless innings as he was awarded the World Series MVP.

He actually gave up a couple runs in the 2000 World Series, but the Yankees were still able to win their 3rd straight championship. After leading the league in saves in 2001 for the second time in his career, the Yankees went into the playoffs as heavy favorites, but lost in the World Series after Rivera blew a World Series save for the first time in his career.

Rivera pitched for another 12 seasons, picking up another save title, an ALCS MVP, and another championship, and other than the 2012 season, which he mostly missed due to an ACL injury, he was a great closer. He pitched in 32 postseason series in his career, and only gave up more than one earned run once in all those series.

Rivera is the holder of many records. He is the all-time saves leader, with 652, and is also the leader in most seasons with 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 50 saves. He pitched in more games than any other right-handed pitcher in history, and his 2.21 career ERA is the lowest of any player since 1920. He also holds the record for most seasons with an era lower than 2.00.

He also holds many career postseason records, including ERA (0.70), saves, consecutive saves, consecutive scoreless innings, and games pitched. Perhaps even more impressive is that he had more saves in his consecutive save streak of 23 than any other pitcher had total in his career. Dennis Eckersley and Trevor Hoffman, widely recognized as two of the greatest closers ever, both recognize Rivera as the definite #1, so there is no doubt that he deserves a spot on this list of the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #41 - Manny Ramirez*

Manny Ramirez

Manny Ramirez was one of the most colorful players in recent memory, and was well-known for his great playoff performances, but he is the second straight player in this countdown whose reputation was tarnished by testing positive for steroids.

Manny first played in the Majors for the Indians near the end of 1993, and came in #2 in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1994. In 1995, he reached 30 home runs and 100 RBI's, which are benchmarks he would reach 11 more times in the next 13 seasons, which is a testament to his incredible consistency.

That was also the first of 5 consecutive seasons in which the Indians would reach the postseason with Ramirez on board. That included trips to the World Series in 1995 and 1997, when they lost to the Braves and the Marlins, and while Ramirez didn't play well in those World Series losses, he hit 13 total home runs in those 5 postseasons.

During the 1999 season, he led the entire league in RBI with 165, and finished third in the MVP voting, the highest he would get in his career. After the Indians failed to reach the playoffs in 2000, he left as a free agent to sign with the Red Sox, with the largest contract in history at that time.

In his second season with Boston, he led the league in batting average at .349, but the Red Sox did not reach the playoffs in his first two seasons there. The addition of David Ortiz to the team in 2003 was the boost the team needed, vaulting them into the playoffs, where they lost in 7 games to the Yankees during the ALCS.

In 2004, Ramirez led the league with 43 home runs and a .613 slugging percentage, and the Red Sox returned to the playoffs, where they again met the Yankees in the ALCS. This time, they fell behind 3-0, but rallied to win 4 in a row behind the greatness of his teammate, Ortiz. In the World Series, Ramirez hit .412 in a 4-game sweep to win the World Series MVP award.

The Red Sox won another World Series in 2007, and this time Ramirez was even better. In the ALCS, he hit .409 with 10 RBI as Boston beat Cleveland, and he hit .348 total for the postseason. He also broke the all-time record for playoff home runs that year, hitting his 23rd to pass Bernie Williams, and he would eventually extend his record to 29.

Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers midway through the following season, and he was great in the postseason for LA, batting over .500 in each of the teams' postseason series, but they would fail to reach the World Series that season. He began the 2009 season on a good pace, but just a month into the season was informed that he had failed a drug test and would be suspended for 50 games.

This was the second time that Ramirez had been caught cheating. He had tested positive in 2003, when the league randomly tested players to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball, but players were given immunity for positive tests during that round of testing. After joining the Rays in 2011, Ramirez again tested positive for a banned substance, and chose to retire rather than face a 100-game suspension.

Ramirez finished his career with 555 home runs, #15 all-time, and is also #18 all-time in RBI. He hit 21 grand slams in his career, good for third place in history, and is still the all-time leader in postseason home runs. He was a World Series MVP, and a very consistent performer in the regular season, and even with the proof that he cheated on multiple occasions, he is still one of the greatest ever to play the game.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #42 - Alex Rodriguez*

Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez was a superstar almost from the day that he reached the Majors, setting many record for being the youngest to reach a milestone, but his verified use of steroids put a black mark on a career that would have been great without them.

Rodriguez was the #1 pick in the 1993 Draft, and made his Major League debut with the Mariners the following season while still 18 years old, making him the youngest player in the league. He split time between the majors and minors for his first two years, before becoming the full-time starting shortstop for good in 1996.

His first full season with the Mariners was a great one. He led the league with 141 runs, 54 doubles, 379 total bases, and a .358 average, making him the 3rd-youngest ever to win a batting title. He came in second in the MVP voting as well, quite the accomplishment for a 21 year old.

In 1998, he led the league with 213 hits, and also became the third member of the 40-40 club, having reached 40 in both home runs and stolen bases, joining Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds, a couple of players that he would end up having another thing in common with later in his career.

He would exceed 40 home runs for each of the next two seasons with Seattle, also surpassing 130 runs and RBI in 2000, which earned him a 3rd place finish in the MVP voting. He was a free agent after that season, and decided to leave Seattle for Texas, where he was offered the largest contract in pro sports history.

In 2001, he led the league in runs, home runs, and total bases, and reached 50 home runs for the first time in his career. He also reached 200 hits that season, becoming the first player in nearly 70 years to have 50 homers and 200 hits in a season.

The following season, he raised his performance again, this time knocking 57 home runs and leading the league with 142 RBI. His home runs were the most by an AL player since Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. He finished as the MVP runner-up again that year, his third top-3 finish without winning the award.

His numbers dropped off slightly in 2003, but he still led the league with 47 home runs and 124 runs scored, and it was enough to finally earn him an MVP award, becoming just the second player in history to win the award on a last-place team. He also led the league in slugging for the first time, which would become common for him.

He was traded to the Yankees after the season, becoming just the 2nd reigning MVP in history to be traded. He switched to third base in New York, because Derek Jeter was the starting shortstop, and in his second year with the team he had nearly the same stat line he had in 2003, which earned him his 2nd MVP award.

His best season came in 2007, when he led the league in homers for the 5th time, with 54, and also led the league with career highs in runs (143) and RBI (156). He also reached 500 home runs that season, becoming the youngest to reach that milestone, just as he had been with 400, 300, and 200. He won his 3rd MVP that season.

After that season, he opted out of his contract in order to sign a new deal that broke his previous record as the largest in history, but his performance dropped off a bit on the new deal. He had the reputation for not playing well in the playoffs, only having played well in the 2000 playoffs up to that point, but in 2009, he finally put it together in the postseason, batting over .300 with 6 home runs and 18 RBI over 3 rounds as the Yankees won the World Series, earning Rodriguez his first and only championship.

Exactly 3 years after his 500th home runs, Rodriguez hit his 600th, becoming the 7th player to reach that milestone, and the youngest as well. During the 2013 season, it was announced that Rodriguez was being suspended for using PED's, but he was allowed to continue playing during the appeal process. He eventually admitted to cheating and was suspended for the entire 2014 season. He did return for two more seasons afterward, but was not very effective.

Rodriguez is near the top of many prestigious leaderboards, including #8 in runs scored, #6 in total bases, #4 in home runs, and #3 in RBI's. He was regularly one of the top all-around regular season players, and was the best player for the Yankees on their 2009 World Series championship team, though that was one of his only good postseason performances. He may have cheated to improve some of those numbers, and there's no way to tell how much of a difference it made or how long it went on, but there is no doubt that he is still one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #43 - George Brett

George Brett

George Brett was one of the greatest modern hitters, and he maintained a high batting average over the course of a very long career, which made him one of the standards by which batters are judged.

Brett first played for the Kansas City Royals in late 1973, but he struggled at the plate at first. At the All-Star break, he asked his batting coach for help, and he ended up reaching .282 by season's end, the lowest average he would post in the next 17 years.

The next season, he led the league in both hits and triples, and by 1976, he had won his first batting title, hitting .333 and leading the league with 298 total bases, and ended up #2 in the MVP voting, quite the turnaround from his struggles just 2 years earlier.

That was the first of 3 consecutive seasons in which the Royals reached the ALCS, but lost to the New York Yankees. Brett played well in all 3 of those series, batting at least .300 in each, and even hitting 3 home runs in a 4-game series in 1978, but they just couldn't overcome the powerhouse.

Brett led the league in hits and triples for the third time in 1979, but the 1980 season was truly magical. He led the league in batting, with a .390 average, which was the highest by any player since 1941, when Ted Williams hit .406. Brett was above .400 on September 19, but slumped over the last couple weeks of the season and ended up falling short of the huge milestone, but he was still given a very well-deserved MVP award.

That postseason, they also overcame the Yankees for the first time, sweeping them in 3 games and moving on to face the Phillies in the World Series. They would lose in 6 games, but Brett hit .375 for the series, once again showing up big when his team struggled.

Over the next several seasons he was solid, hovering around a .300 average, then he spiked again in 1985, reaching .335 and coming in as the MVP runner-up. That year, for the first time, Brett played well in a postseason series that his team won, being named ALCS MVP for batting .348 with 3 home runs, then batting .370 in the World Series, including 4 hits in the decisive game 7 as the Royals knocked off the Cardinals.

Brett would play another 8 years for the Royals, but would not see the playoffs again. He did, however, have a few more important personal milestones. In 1990, he led the league in batting for the third time, with an average of .329 at age 37, becoming the first player in history to win batting titles in 3 different decades. In 1992, he reached 3000 hits, joining another elite club.

Brett is one of 4 players ever to have 3000 hits, 300 home runs, and a .300 average for his career, the others being Stan Musial, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. He is also #6 all-time in doubles and #16 in hits, #1 among third basemen in each category. He was a great hitter over nearly two decades, a strong playoff performer, and has earned this spot among the 50 greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #44 - Al Simmons

Al Simmons

Al Simmons was one of the greatest all-around hitters in the early years of the live-ball era, and though was overshadowed in his time by bigger stars like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, he was just as good a player for quite a while.

He first played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1924, and in his second season he had already broken out, leading all players with 253 hits, which is still the Major League record for a right-handed hitter. He also hit .387 that season, and led all players with 392 total bases, which ended with him finishing as the MVP runner-up.

For the next 6 years, he never batted below .340, and he won the batting title in 1930 and 1931, with averages of .381 and .390. He also led the league with 157 RBI in 1929 and 152 runs in 1930. From 1929 to 1933 he recorded at least 200 hits in each season, and he also surpassed 30 home runs 3 times over that span.

Simmons was one of the top players on three straight World Series teams from 1929 to 1931, hitting 2 home runs in each season's championship round, and batting at least .300 in each as well. The A's won the first two times they reached the Series, with Simmons as the best batter in the 1930 Series, at .364, but they fell to the Cardinals in 7 games in 1931.

After the 1932 season, the Athletics blew up their roster, and Simmons was sold to the White Sox, where he had two more very good years, batting at least .330 in both seasons with at least 190 hits. In 1935 his average dropped below .300 for the first time in his career.

Following that down year, he was sold to the Tigers, where he had his final star-level season, batting .327 with 112 RBI and 186 hits. After that, he bounced around several teams, switching uniforms 6 times over his final 7 seasons, all while his production slowly declined.

Simmons was a true superstar during his time with the Athletics, batting at least .340 8 times, and over .380 4 times, and he reached 200 hits 6 times, with 4 more seasons of at least 180. He was great in each of his first 3 World Series appearances, and earned two championship rings as a result, and though many do not remember his name today, he is definitely worthy of being remembered as one of the top 50 players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #45 - David Ortiz

David Ortiz

David Ortiz was the greatest designated hitter in the history of baseball, and his contributions to the Red Sox turned around the franchise's fortunes.

Ortiz spent the first 6 years of his career with the Minnesota Twins, where he was splitting time between the minors and the majors. Just when he was starting to show some promise, the Twins released him, and he signed a single-season deal with the Red Sox that was guaranteed only if he made the team.

He made the team, but hardly played in the first two months of the season, until he was finally given the chance to be the team's regular DH, and he responded with a .288 average, 31 home runs, and 101 RBI, which got him fifth place in the AL MVP voting and a new contract.

In 2004, he finished second in the league in both home runs and RBI, and he and Manny Ramirez became the first pair of AL teammates in 73 years to bat .300, hit 40 home runs, and reach 100 RBI, the previous pair being Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. In that season's playoffs, the Red Sox went down 3-0 to the Yankees, but battled back to win the series behind Ortiz's brilliance, specifically game-winning hits in extra innings in games 4 and 5. He was awarded the ALCS MVP after batting .387 with 11 RBI in the series, and the Red Sox won their first World Series in over 80 years just weeks later.

In 2005 he led the league in RBI's with 148 and set a new career high with 47 home runs, finishing second in the MVP voting to Alex Rodriguez. The next year, he was easily the best batter in the AL, leading the league with 54 home runs, 137 RBI, and 119 walks, but only finished #3 in the MVP voting after the Red Sox missed the playoffs.

He had another great year in 2007, leading the league in walks again and setting his career high with a .332 average. The Red Sox returned to the World Series that year, with Ortiz batting .714 in the ALDS, and they again swept the World Series, this time over the Rockies, earning Big Papi his second championship.

For the next few years he struggled after sustaining a wrist injury and an Achilles injury, and people started to wonder if his career might be over. However, in 2013, he showed some signs of his previous greatness, and the Red Sox reached the World Series again. This time, Ortiz totally dominated the Cardinals, batting .688 with 6 RBI, and he tied the World Series record by reaching base 9 times in a row, all of which earned him the World Series MVP and his third title.

Late in the 2015 season, Ortiz hit his 500th home run, and shortly thereafter announced that he would play one final season before retiring. That final season was a memorable one, as he led the league with 48 doubles and 127 RBI, which was a fitting end to a great career.

Ortiz is one of only 4 players in history with 500 home runs and 600 doubles, along with Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Albert Pujols. He also hit more home runs (38) in his final season than any other player in history, and hold the career record for World Series batting average, at .455. Even with the slow start to his career, he ended up as the best DH ever, and he was absolutely amazing in each of Boston's 3 championship runs during his time there, which makes him an easy choice to be a part of the top 50 players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #46 - Greg Maddux

Greg Maddux

Greg Maddux was one of the most dominant pitchers in recent memory, and his run of Cy Youngs in the 1990's was one of the most amazing runs in baseball history.

Maddux reached the Majors in 1986 with the Cubs, and in his final start of the season had the rare opportunity of pitching against his brother Mike, who was also a rookie pitching for the Phillies. Younger brother Greg won the matchup, earning his second career win.

He posted a losing record in 1987, his first full season, but he would not have another losing record for 18 years. He improved steadily over the next several seasons, culminating in his first Cy Young season in 1992, when he recorded a 2.18 ERA and led the league in wins, starts, and innings pitched.

He was unable to negotiate a new contract with the Cubs after that season, so he signed with the Atlanta Braves, and he was even better than expected when he arrived. He led the league in ERA and complete games that season, and won his second straight Cy Young.

During the strike-shortened 1994 season, he led the league in ERA and shutouts again, along with wins and shutouts, and his ERA of 1.56 was the lowest of any pitcher since 1968. That year he finished #5 in the MVP voting and was the unanimous choice for the Cy Young award, his third in a row.

After three straight great seasons, he somehow had his best season in 1995. He finished with a 19-2 record, an ERA of 1.63, 10 complete games, and 3 shutouts, and a second straight unanimous Cy Young, and 4th in a row overall, something that had never been done before and has only been done once since.

That was also the year that Atlanta finally broke through in the playoffs. Maddux had pitched in the NLCS twice before, but 1995 was his first time in the World Series, where he gave up only 4 earned runs over 16 innings as the Braves beat the Indians to take home the championship.

In 1996 his ERA "ballooned" to 2.72, and he finished 5th in the Cy Young voting, breaking his winning streak at 4. The Braves returned to the World Series, and Maddux had his best postseason up to then, giving up only 7 runs in 37 innings, but the Braves fell to the Yankees in the championship round.

He pitched several more good seasons for Atlanta, even leading the league in ERA again in 1998, but nowhere near the level he was at during his Cy Young peak. He set a league record with 17 straight seasons of at least 15 wins, and is only of only 4 pitcher to record an ERA lower than 1.65 since 1920, and the only one to do it twice.

Maddux is #8 all-time in games won, trailing only Warren Spahn in the live-ball era, and is the only pitcher in history with more than 300 wins, 3000 strikeouts, and fewer than 1000 walks (999 to be exact). His playoff record of 11-14 was somewhat lacking, but he was great in 3 World Series seasons, and reached a level of dominance rarely seen during his Cy Young streak, and there is no doubt he belongs here among the top 50 players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #47 - Red Ruffing

Red Ruffing

Red Ruffing was one of the best pitchers for the Yankees during their dynasty of the 1930's, and his repeated strong performance in the World Series is what really propelled him into his spot on this list.

Ruffing started his career in 1924 with the Red Sox, but he was not a very good pitcher during his 6.5 seasons in Boston, compiling a 39-96 record and a 4.61 ERA, while twice leading the league in both losses and runs allowed.

Ruffing was traded to the Yankees early in the 1930 season, because the Yankees new manager believed that he could change Ruffing's delivery to make him a good pitcher, and he was correct. By 1932, Ruffing led the league in strikeouts, while posting a 3.09 ERA and an 18-7 record. That year the Yankees reached the World Series, where Ruffing set the tone with 10 strikeouts in a Game 1 win in an eventual sweep of the Cubs.

The Yankees had a streak of 4 straight World Series titles from 1936 to 1939, with Ruffing winning at least 20 regular season games each season. In those final 3 Series, Ruffing pitched 4 games, all complete, with 23 strikeouts and only 5 runs allowed while winning all 4 starts. While those teams were stacked with stars, Ruffing was a huge part of each of those championships.

The Yankees missed the World Series in 1940, but returned in 1941, and Ruffing was very good again, giving up just one run in a Game 1 win over the Dodgers. He won Game 1 again in 1942 against the Cardinals, but the Yankees lost the next 3, and he was unable to stop their momentum in game 5 as the Yankees finally went down.

Ruffing was drafted into the Army before the 1943 season, despite being 37 years old and missing 4 toes from a childhood farming accident. He was released from the military when he turned 40, and returned to the Yankees, but played sparingly over the next few years before retiring.

Ruffing was not a dominant regular season pitcher, but he was a solid starter for a full decade, and set the tone for 5 World Series wins with Game 1 victories. When he retired, he held the Yankee record for most wins, and still is the top Yankee winner among right-handed pitchers. Ruffing was elected to the Hall of Fame in his final year of eligibility, and it was deserved after his contributions to 6 champs, and that is why he is here among the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #48 - Charlie Gehringer

Charlie Gehringer

Charlie Gehringer was nicknamed the Mechanical Man, partly due to his quiet demeanor, and partly due to his remarkable consistency over a long period of time. His manager/teammate Mickey Cochrane joked, "Charlie says 'hello' on Opening Day, 'goodbye' on Closing Day, and in between hits .350"

He made brief appearances with the Tigers in 1924 and 1925, and finally won the starting second base job in 1926, which he wouldn't give up for 15 years. That would be one of only 3 full seasons in his career where he wouldn't hit .300.

He really broke out in 1929, when he led the league in several offensive categories, including runs, hits, doubles, triples, and stolen bases. Then in 1932, he began a string of 7 consecutive seasons finishing among the top 10 in MVP voting.

He had what was probably his best season in 1934, leading the league with 214 hits and 135 runs to go along with 127 RBI and a .356 average. He lost out on the MVP vote to teammate Mickey Cochrane, and the Tigers reached the World Series, where Gehringer batted .379, but the Tigers lost to the Cardinals in 7 games.

In 1935 he was nearly as good, reaching 200 hits for the third year in a row, and leading the Tigers back to the World Series, where they beat the Cubs in 6 games behind Gehringer's .375 average and 4 RBI.

He was still great for a couple more years, reaching career highs of 144 runs, 227 hits, and 60 doubles in 1936, then winning the MVP in 1937 after winning the batting title with a .371 average while surpassing 200 hits for the 5th year in a row. His stats started to drop off after that, but he was still a good player for a couple more years before being benched.

Gehringer finished his career with a .320 average, and hit over .300 in 13 seasons. He also reached 200 hits and 40 doubles 7 times each, and finished in the top 10 of the MVP voting 7 times in a row. He was great in his first two World Series appearances, and was the biggest reason for their win in 1935, and though his name isn't well-known today, he cannot be left off the list of the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #49 - Gary Sheffield

Gary Sheffield

Gary Sheffield was a great player for 8 different teams over the course of 22 seasons, and the reason for so many changes in scenery appears to have been his bad habit of bashing his management and teammates.

Sheffield first played in the Majors in 1988, when he was called up by the Milwaukee Brewers during the final month of the season. He hit a home run in his first at-bat, but overall did not play very well in his first couple seasons. His average improved to .294 in 1990, but he ended the season with a .194 average and a ticket out of town due to his claims of racism by the manager in moving him to third base.

He was traded to the Padres before the 1992 season, and contended for the Triple Crown, falling short by 2 home runs and 9 RBI, but he did win the batting title, making him the only Padre not named Tony Gwynn to achieve that. He also had the opportunity to bat against his uncle, Dwight Gooden, in a game that May, quite a rare occurrence.

He didn't start off very well the next season, and was traded to the Marlins midway through the season. He missed a lot of time over the next two seasons, but when he was healthy again in 1996, he had one of his best seasons, with 42 home runs, 120 RBI, and 142 walks. The next year, Florida advanced clear to the World Series, with Sheffield walking 20 times in 16 postseason games and knocking in 5 runs in the Marlins' championship round.

He was traded to the Dodgers early the next season because the Marlins knew they couldn't afford a contract extension. With LA, he had 3 straight very solid seasons, getting at least 100 RBI, 90 walks, and 30 runs each year while always batting over .300. After just over 3 years with the team, he began publicly criticizing the team's management, and was traded to Atlanta before the 2002 season.

In 2003 with the Braves, he had his best overall season, setting career highs with a .330 average, 126 runs, 190 hits, 37 doubles, and 132 RBI, to go along with 39 home runs. He was easily the best player in the league that year, but only came in #3 in the MVP voting, most likely because he was not well-liked.

He signed with the Yankees after that season, and had two more All-Star level seasons where he was also on the MVP radar, but a wrist injury cut his 2006 season short, and he was traded to the Tigers after the season. He would spend two seasons as the team's DH before they decided to move on. He signed with the Mets, where he was able to hit his 500th home run, and he also became the third player ever to hit a home run as a teen and a 40-year old, after Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub.

Sheffield has been on the Hall of Fame ballot for 4 years, but is nowhere near the number of votes needed for election, and many feel that his personality is hurting his chances, despite his solid career numbers. He was the best player on a World Series champion, and the best player in the league one year, and hit 500 homers, which is still quite rare. Whether he makes it or not, he still definitely belongs on this list of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #50 - Al Kaline

Al Kaline

Al Kaline was a perennial MVP contender who played for the Detroit Tigers for 22 seasons, and is one of the greatest players in that franchise's history.

Kaline joined the Tigers in 1953 straight out of high school, never having played a game in the minor leagues. In his third season, he led the league with 200 hits and a .340 average, becoming the youngest player ever to win a batting title at 20 years of age. That season he also became the 4th player ever to hit 2 home runs in the same inning and the youngest ever to hit 3 in a game.

That started a streak of 7 straight seasons of at least 150 hits and 13 straight selections to the All-Star team. Through all that time, he never played a playoff game, but in 1968, his first season not on the All-Star roster since he was a teenager, the Tigers won the pennant and faced the Cardinals in the World Series. Kaline had a great World Series, batting .379 with 8 RBI as the Tigers won in 7 games.

Kaline nearly died on the baseball field in 1970, when he had a collision with a teammate in the outfield chasing down a fly ball. He collapsed on the warning track after he collision, and teammate Willie Horton rushed over to check on him and realized that his airway was blocked and he was turning blue, so he reached in and cleared it out and saved his life.

In 1974, Kaline reached the 3000 hit plateau, the 12th player to reach that mark, and retired just weeks later at the conclusion of the season. He ended up with 399 home runs, having reached 25 in a season 7 times without ever reaching 30, which goes to show how consistent he was for so long. He finished with a .297 batting average, having surpassed .300 nine times, stretching from ages 20 to 37.

Kaline was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, the 10th player so honored. He is the Tigers all-time leader in games played, walks, and home runs, and played extremely well in his only World Series appearance. He was a model of consistency for over 2 decades, and as a result is the player opening up the top 50 on the all-time greatest players list.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #51 - Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran is the most recent retiree on this list, having left the game after finally winning the World Series last year, a fitting close to a great 20-year career.

Beltran joined the Kansas City Royals near the end of the 1998 season, so he was still officially a rookie in 1999, when he batted .293 with 108 RBI to win the Rookie of the Year award. He missed a good chunk of the following season, and slumped so badly he lost his starting job, but won it back before the 2001 season.

During his entire career, Beltran only led the league in a category once, games played in 2002, when he didn't miss a game. Even though he wasn't dominant in the regular season, he was one of the better players in the league for several years, and he always played well in the playoffs, earning him the nickname Senor Octubre.

He was traded to the Houston Astros halfway through the 2004 season, where he was able to have his first and best playoff performance. Though the Astros failed to reach the World Series, Beltran tied Barry Bonds' playoff record with 8 home runs in a single postseason, which was incredible for only playing 12 games. He hit home runs in 5 straight games, a postseason record at the time, and hit a gamewinner in Game 4 of the NLCS.

Beltran signed with the Mets following that season, which is where he would spend the most time in his career. He had his best year there in 2006, setting career highs in runs, home runs, walks, and RBI, and he finished #4 in the MVP voting, his highest career finish. In that year's NLCS, he was great again, batting .296 with 3 home runs, but it wasn't enough to reach the World Series yet again.

He was traded again just before his contract expired, this time to San Francisco, and again he was a short-term rental. He left to sign with the Cardinals after the season, and in 2013 was finally able to reach the World Series, only to lose to the Red Sox in 6 games, even after he robbed David Ortiz of a grand slam in game 1.

He left for the Yankees immediately after losing the World Series, but only played one postseason game in 2.5 years there, before being traded again just before his contract expired, joining the Rangers for the end of the 2016 season, but Texas came up short in the playoffs, so Beltran decided to go back to Houston for one final shot at a title.

He played mostly as a DH in 2017, and had the lowest batting average of his career, but the Astros were great, making it clear to the World Series. Beltran did not play much in the playoffs, getting only 3 hits in the 2 early playoff series, then batting 0 for 3 in the World Series, but he was able to go out a champion, even if he wasn't really a contributor.

Beltran was a very good all-around player, one of 5 in history to reach 400 home runs and 300 steals, and one of only 4 who also reached 2500 hits and 1000 walks, along with Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez. Beltran was always better in the playoffs, playing well enough that he should have won a couple of titles in his prime, but there is still no doubt that he belongs with the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #52* - Pete Rose

Pete Rose

Pete Rose is the only player in this countdown with an asterisk that is not related to performance-enhancing drugs, but his gambling broke the rules and may have compromised the integrity of the game, which is a shame, because he was incredibly talented.

Rose first joined the Reds in 1963, and before he even played a game he had already earned the nickname "Charlie Hustle", which was given to him in spring training by an opponent who was making fun of the way he sprinted to first base after being walked. The extra hustle paid off with the Rookie of the Year award.

By his third season, he was leading the league in hits, something he would do 7 times in his career. He led the league in batting average back-to-back in 1968 and 1969, then in the 1970's became one of the stars of the Big Red Machine, which reached 4 World Series, winning twice. He was named MVP of the 1975 World Series after batting .370 in their 7-game win over the Red Sox.

Rose was also named the MVP of the regular season in 1973, when he led all players with 230 hits and a .338 average. During the next three seasons, he led the league in both runs scored and doubles each year. He also rarely missed a game, and led the league in plate appearances 6 times during the 1970's.

Rose joined the 3000 hit club in 1978, then started the first major challenge to Joe DiMaggio's hit streak a few weeks later. The streak nearly ended at 31 when Rose walked in the 8th inning, but the Reds batted through the entire lineup in the 9th, which gave rose one more chance at the plate, and he came through with a bunt single. The streak eventually reached 44, which tied the NL record and no player has reached that number since.

After 15 years with the Reds, Rose signed with the Phillies as a free agent, and that move enabled him to win a 3rd World Series ring in 1980. After his worst professional season in 1983, he was released by Philadelphia and signed by the Expos, where he recorded his 4000th hit against the Phillies, becoming the second player ever to reach that milestone, after Ty Cobb.

A few months later, he was traded back to the Reds, where he was installed as player-manager, a position he held for two and a half years, before being taken off the roster, though he retained the managerial job. It was a few years after his retirement as a player that the allegations of gambling came out, and in 1989 he was banned from baseball for life.

The betting began while he was still playing, at least as early as 1985, and for years he denied the allegations, though he accepted the lifetime ban. A year after the ban, the Hall of Fame voted to exclude people on the permanently ineligible list from the yearly ballot, which Rose did not think was going to be included in his ban. After years of denials, he finally admitted in 2004 that he had bet on games, including his own, though he denied ever betting against his team. Whatever the full truth is, he put the game in danger with his actions. Even if he didn't bet against his team, he could have been coerced into losing a game he didn't bet on in order to make up a portion of his debt.

Even with all that, the fact remains that Rose was one of the greatest players of all time. He is famously the all-time hit leader, but he is also the all-time leader in games played, plate appearances, at-bats, and singles, and he is #2 in doubles and #6 in runs. He was an MVP and a World Series MVP and a 7-time batting champ, and belongs on the list of the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #53 - Bert Blyleven

Bert Blyleven

Bert Blyleven was a pitcher known for his curveball, and he threw it with such consistency that he was able to play for 22 years and pitch nearly 5000 innings.

Blyleven was called up to the Minnesota Twins in 1970, when he was just 19 years old, after only half a season in the minors. By 1973, he led the league in shutouts with 9, and earned Cy Young votes for the first of 4 times in his career.

After two more seasons in Minnesota, he grew unhappy with his salary, so the Twins traded him to Texas. He pitched for the Rangers for a year and a half, and in his final start of the 1977 season he pitched a no-hitter just two weeks after returning from a groin injury. The team, however, objected to a rude gesture he made to the camera during the game and traded him after the season, making him the first player ever to be traded immediately after a no-hitter.

His next stop was Pittsburgh, where in 1979 he was able to reach his first World Series. He gave up only 2 runs in 10 innings of work, easily the best in the series, and won his first championship. Just a season later, however, he grew tired of the Pirates, and again demanded a trade, this time heading to Cleveland.

After an elbow injury cost him most of the 1982 season, he struggled in 1983 upon returning, but was finally at full strength in 1984, when he recorded a 2.87 ERA and finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting, his first time being considered for the award in more than a decade.

Even with him pitching well, the Indians were struggling, so he again asked for a trade, and this time he was sent back to Minnesota, and he had a great season, leading the league with 206 strikeouts, 5 shutouts, and 24 complete games, which is a number no pitcher has approached since.

He passed 3000 strikeouts in 1986, then returned to the World Series in 1987. He won two games in the ALCS, then picked up another win in the World Series, finishing with 12 strikeouts and a 2.77 ERA as he earned his second championship.

He led the league in losses in 1988, and was released as a result. He went to play for the Angels, where he flipped his record, going from 17 losses to 17 wins, which earned him the Comeback Player of the Year award and a 4th-place finish in the Cy Young voting at age 38.

It took 14 years for Blyleven to get voted into the Hall of Fame, and before he was elected he was the only member of the 3000 strikeout club not in the Hall. He never won a Cy Young, and only received votes 4 times, but he was a very effective pitcher for a very long time, and pitched very well in both of his World Series appearances, which has earned him a spot among the best baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #54 - Bernie Williams

Bernie Williams

Bernie Williams was the centerfielder for the most recent Yankee dynasty, and his consistent performance in the playoffs each year was a big part of the reason for their success.

Bernie first reached the Yankees in 1991, but it took a few years before he became a solid player, and the Yankees made several failed attempts to trade him during those early years, and they were later grateful they hadn't gone through.

He played in his first postseason series in 1995 against Seattle, and while they lost in 5 games, he hit .429 with 7 walks and 8 runs, a sure sign of what was to come. In 1996 he reached 100 runs and 100 RBI for the first time each, and he tore it up in the playoffs, batting .471 through the first two rounds and taking home the ALCS MVP. He only recorded 4 hits in the World Series, but he did earn his first championship ring that year.

Williams had his best overall season in 1998, when he led the league in batting with a .339 average, and the Yankees won another World Series after setting an AL record for wins during the regular season. That year he became the first player ever to win a batting title, World Series, and Gold Glove in the same season.

During the three straight championship seasons from 1998 to 2000, Williams always played well in the AL playoffs, but struggled at the plate in the World Series. He helped the Yankees get there each year, which was important, then his teammates helped bring it home, and he ended up with 4 rings in 5 years for it.

The Yankees made the playoffs in 12 straight seasons during Bernie's prime, which helped him to become one of the all-time playoff leaders in many categories. He is the all-time leader in playoff RBI's, and #2 in hits, doubles, homers, runs, and total bases.

During the middle of his career, Williams reached .300 batting in 8 straight seasons. He reached 100 runs scored 8 times as well, and reached 200 hits twice. After 16 years with the Yankees, he was let go, and he decided to call it a career rather than play elsewhere. Even though he was not considered a superstar at any point in his career, he was a very important part of the Yankees latest dynasty, and one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #55 - Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor was a great hitter and baserunner for a long time, and after overcoming the injuries that slowed him early in his career, he became one of the best players in the league late in his career.

Molitor first played for the Brewers in 1978, but injuries kept him from becoming a star very quickly. Between 1980 and 1986 he spent time on the DL 6 times, mostly with elbow and hamstring injuries, but he showed great promise when healthy. In his first full healthy season in 1982, he got 201 hits and led the league with 136 runs scored, and he got the team to the World Series, where they lost to the Cardinals in 7 games, despite his .355 average.

In 1987, Molitor was in the national spotlight as he embarked on a long hitting streak, eventually hitting safely in 39 straight games, the longest by anybody since Pete Rose reached 44 in 1978, and a number no player has reached since. Late in the streak, a columnist jokingly said that the most amazing thing about the streak wasn't that he had hit in 33 straight games, but that he had played in 33 straight games.

Molitor had one of his strongest seasons in 1991, when he led the league in runs, hits, and triples, but when he hit free agency a year later, the Brewers wanted him to take a pay cut, so he left to join the defending champion Blue Jays, who offered him a nice raise.

The 1993 season was a special one for him. He led the league in hits again, with 211, but he also had 111 RBI's, making him the oldest player ever to reach 100 for the first time in his career, being 37 at the end of the season. The Blue Jays returned to the World Series that year, and Molitor had an historic series. He tied series records with 10 runs scored and a .500 average, and became the first player ever to record 2 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 homers in the Series, and he won the MVP for his efforts.

He was having a career year in 1994 before the season was cut short by strike, but struggled in 1995 when baseball returned, and he was not resigned. He joined his hometown Twins for the 1996 season, and he ended up leading the league in hits with 225, becoming only the second 40-year-old to reach 200.

Thanks to his late-career surge and that World Series MVP, Molitor was able to shake off an injury-ridden start to his career to become one of the all-time greats. He is one of only 5 players with 3000 hits, 500 stolen bases, and a .300 average, and he is the only one of those 5 to reach 200 home runs. He may have played in smaller markets and out of the spotlight for much of his career, but he deserves to be a part of this list.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #56 - Tim Keefe

Tim Keefe

Many people have not heard of Tim Keefe, and that is probably because he retired 125 years ago, but he was an excellent pitcher back in the formative years of pro baseball, and was around for two changes in the placement of the mound.

Keefe debuted for the Troy Trojans in 1880, the final year that the mound was 45 feet from the plate, and he had an ERA of 0.86, still the best in baseball history. Somehow, even with his historic ERA, he only had a 6-6 record that season.

The Trojans folded 2 years later, and he moved to the New York Metropolitans, where he had one of the best seasons in history, pitching 68 games, all of them complete, and striking out 359 batters in 619 innings of work. On Independence Day, he pitched both games of a doubleheader, allowing only 3 total hits and winning both games.

After 2 years with the Metropolitans, the owner transferred him to the New York Giants, another team he owned in the rival National League. While with the Giants, he led the league in ERA and wins twice each, and strikeouts, complete games, and strikeouts once each. In 1888 he went 35-12 with a 1.74 ERA, 335 strikeouts, and 8 shutouts, all best in the league, which earned him the Triple Crown.

He was released midway through the 1891 season after a 5-11 start to the season, and joined the Phillies for the final few years of his career. It was during his final season of 1893 that the mound from 50 feet to 60.5 feet, which is the current distance.

125 years after his retirement, Keefe is still #10 all time on the pitching wins list with 342, and #3 in complete games with 554. He led the league in every major category at some point, and won the Triple Crown in 1888. He may have pitched in a very different era, but the way he dominated the league for seasons at a time have earned him a spot among the best players ever.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #57 - Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby was one of the greatest hitters in history, and a 2-time winner of the Triple Crown, but injuries and problems with managers and teammates shortened his career.

Hornsby's career started in 1915 with the Saint Louis Cardinals at 19 years old, and it took him a few years to work his way up to his peak. In 1917 he led the league in total bases and triples while batting .327, but those stats were tame compared to what was to come.

He burst onto the scene in 1920 with his first great season, and he was the best player in the NL for most of that decade. In 1920 he led the league with 218 hits, 44 doubles, 94 RBI, a .370 batting average, .559 slugging percentage, and 329 total bases. The MVP award did not exist at the time, but he most likely would have won it based on those numbers.

In 1921 he led the league in all of those same categories, but also added triples and runs scored to his collection while playing in every single game. In 1922 he fell behind in triples, but took the home run crown with a career-high 42, which earned him his first Triple Crown. His batting average was .401 that year, making him the only player in history to hit .400 with 40 home runs in a single season.

Hornsby missed a couple months in 1923 to a knee injury, so he led the league in batting and slugging, but none of the other categories due to the time missed. He returned with a vengeance in 1924, leading the league in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, slugging, and total bases, and his batting average was .424, the highest of any player after 1900. The NL MVP award returned that year, but was given to Dazzy Vance, because one voter who did not like him left him off the ballot completely, though the Baseball Writers Association of America retroactively gave him the award in 1962, recognizing the obvious error in judgment.

In 1925 he won his second Triple Crown, with 29 homers, 143 RBI, and an average of .403, the third time he surpassed .400, becoming the first to do it twice, and one of only two to achieve the feat to this day (the other is Ted Williams).

He had his worst offensive year of the decade in 1926, but the Cardinals won the pennant and advanced to the World Series. He only hit .250 in the Series, but the Cardinals beat the Yankees in 7 games, with Hornsby recording the final out by tagging out Babe Ruth on a steal attempt.

A contract dispute after the championship led to him being traded to the Giants, and though he had a solid season, he didn't get along well with the team owner, who traded him again after the season to the Boston Braves. He led the league in batting for the 7th time during his season in Boston, but the Braves couldn't afford his contract and traded him to the Cubs after the season, his third time being traded in just over 2 years.

He led the league in hits in his first season in Chicago, and won the MVP for the second time after leading the Cubs to the pennant. He struggled again in the World Series, batting .238 and setting a record with 8 strikeouts in a 5-game loss to the Philadelphia Athletics. He broke his ankle early in the 1930 season, and for the rest of his career was used mainly as a pinch hitter.

Hornsby's domination of the 1920's was extremely rare. In fact, he led the NL in homers, RBI's, and batting average for the decade, making him one of only 4 players in history to win a decade Triple Crown, along with Honus Wagner, Ted Williams, and Albert Pujols.

Hornsby's career batting average of .358 is #2 all-time behind Ty Cobb, and is the best among right-handed hitters. Only Cobb, Wagner, and Tony Gwynn won more batting titles than Hornsby's 7, and he was the first NL player to reach 300 home runs. He only reached the postseason twice, and struggled both times, but he still ended up as a world champion, and is definitely deserving of recognition as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #58 - Warren Spahn

Warren Spahn

Warren Spahn is one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time, and he was able to change up his game enough over his long career that he was still a star players in his 40's.

Spahn first pitched for the Boston Braves in 1942, but didn't perform well in 4 appearances and was sent back to the minors. At the conclusion of the season, he joined the Army and was shipped out to Europe, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded a Purple Heart.

When he returned from war in 1946, he joined the Braves again and finished the season off solidly. Many feel that he lost precious years from his career by fighting in World War II, but he felt that the war helped prolong his career, by allowing him to come back more mature and stronger.

He pitched his first full season in 1947, and he led the league with 7 shutouts and a 2.33 ERA while also winning 21 games, the first of 13 times he would reach the 20-win plateau. The following season the Braves reached the World Series, and Spahn pitched well, striking out 12 in 12 innings of work while giving up only 4 runs, but the Braves lost the Series to the Indians.

Over the next 2 seasons he led the league in both wins and strikeouts, falling just one category short of the Triple Crown. He would lead the league in strikeouts in the next 2 seasons as well, making it 4 in a row. The next year, he led the league in wins and ERA, but not in strikeouts, missing one category for the Triple Crown for the third time in 5 years.

After a couple of down seasons, Spahn experienced a career renaissance in 1957, when he won his only Cy Young. That season also started a streak of 5 straight seasons leading the league in wins and 7 straight seasons leading in complete games, a streak that was still active when he was 42. He finally earned his World Series title in 1957, although he struggled in that season's Series.

The Braves returned to the World Series in 1958 to face the Yankees again, and this time Spahn pitched very well, pitching 2 complete game wins and recording 18 strikeouts, but the Yankees got revenge on the Braves that year. It would be his best and final postseason.

Spahn threw his first no-hitter in 1960, at the age of 39, becoming the oldest ever first-time no-hit pitcher, and he repeated the feat again the next season. He also won his only 2 Player of the Month awards in those two seasons, both coming in August, and both times after amassing a 6-0 record for the month. Spahn truly got better with age.

His most famous pitching performance came at age 42, when he and 25-year-old Juan Marichal each pitched a complete 16-inning game that was scoreless until Willie Mays hit a home run in the bottom of the 16th. At one point late in Spahn's career, Stan Musial said that Spahn would never reach the Hall of Fame, because he would never stop pitching.

Spahn did eventually retire, and when he did, he was #6 on the all-time wins list, a position he still holds. He is also the winningest left-handed pitcher of all time, and holds the NL record for home runs hit by a pitcher, with 35 in his career, and at least one in 17 straight seasons. He had two different long stretches as one of the top pitchers in the league, and is an obvious choice to appear on the list of the top players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #59 - Don Sutton

Don Sutton

Don Sutton's career was not one of dominance, but of quiet consistency, with 21 seasons of double-digit wins and triple-digit strikeouts, but only a couple of instances of leading the league in any category during his career.

Sutton reached the majors in 1966 with the LA Dodgers, and he was very good as a rookie, recording 209 strikeouts, the most by any rookie in 55 years. While he never led the league in strikeouts, he surpassed 200 K's 5 times, finished in the top ten 14 times, and is #7 all-time in strikeouts in league history.

In the early 1970's, he had 5 straight seasons in which he finished among the top 5 in Cy Young voting, getting as high as third place when he set a career high with 21 wins in 1976. He led the league with 9 shutouts in 1972, and also had the most starts in 1974 with 40.

The Dodgers reached 3 World Series in the 1970's, but lost in all 3 appearances. In 1974, they lost to the Athletics in 5 games, with Sutton recording the only win for the Dodgers, in addition to the two wins he had recorded in the NLCS. He also won a game against the Yankees in the 1977 World Series, but went 0-3 in his 3 postseason appearances in 1978.

Sutton led the league with a 2.20 ERA in 1980, and over the next 7 years Sutton bounced from Houston to Milwaukee to Oakland and finally to the Angels, before returning to the Dodgers for one final season with the team where he spent his first 15 seasons. He was released in August of 1988, just months before the Dodgers finally won a World Series.

Sutton's career was far from spectacular, but he was a very good pitcher who maintained a high level of play for a very long time. He pitched in 4 World Series, starting out great in his first appearance, but slowly going downhill in each subsequent appearance. He never won an MVP, Cy Young, or World Series, but he is a Hall of Famer, and his longevity at an All-Star level is what earned him a spot on the list of the all-time greats.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #60 - Miguel Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera is the third active player to make this list, and has been one of the most complete all-around players for at least a decade.

Cabrera broke into the Majors in 2003 with the Florida Marlins, and was able to reach his first career World Series as a rookie, and he contributed to the upset victory over the Yankees with a home run off Roger Clemens in Game 4, and he ended up with the greatest team honor in his first season.

Cabrera played 4 more solid seasons for the Marlins, hitting at least 110 RBI in each, while also reaching 30 home runs and a .300 batting average 3 times. He was traded to the Tigers after the 2007 season, and signed the fourth-biggest contract in history at the time before even putting on a uniform.

In his first season with Detroit, he led the league in home runs and total bases, and within 2 years was the best player in the AL. In 2010 he led the league in RBI, in 2011 he led in batting average and doubles, and he finally put in all together in 2012, winning the first Triple Crown in 45 years with 44 homers, 139 RBI, and an average of .330.

In addition to the Triple Crown, he was also named the MVP, which seemed obvious when looking at his accomplishment. He was even better in 2013, matching the previous season's home run total, with just 2 fewer RBI and a league-leading .348 average, and he was again rewarded with the AL MVP award.

The Tigers reached the postseason in each of those 4 MVP-level seasons, but each time fell short of the championship. They reached the World Series in 2012, his first time reaching the final series in 9 years, but they fell to the Giants in 4 games. Cabrera had 3 more very good seasons after his back-to-back MVP's, but just a bit short of what had come to be expected of him.

Cabrera is among the active leaders in nearly every important category. He is #4 in hits and runs, #3 in doubles, RBI, slugging percentage, and total bases, and #2 in batting average, home runs, and walks. He is the closest active player to both the 3000-hit club and the 500-home run club, and could reach both within the next 2-3 years.

Cabrera is obviously one of the greatest players still on the field, and winning the Triple Crown in an era when it has become extremely rare is a huge achievement. At only 35 years of age, he still has a great opportunity to continue his climb, but for now it is pretty impressive to be ranked this high among the greatest players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #61 - Kid Nichols

Kid Nichols

Kid Nichols was one of the great early pitchers in baseball history, and he is still among the all-time leaders in games won more than 100 years after his retirement.

Nichols reached the Major Leagues in 1890 with the Boston Beaneaters (later to become the Braves), and he was an immediate success. He had 222 strikeouts, an ERA of 2.23, 47 complete games, and led the league with 7 shutouts.

Over the next 8 seasons, he reached the 30-win plateau 7 times, which is still the career record. He started over 40 games in each of his first 10 seasons, and pitched at least 37 complete games in each of those seasons. He was occasionally used in relief, and actually led the league in saves in 4 different seasons.

In 1897 and 1898, he was the best pitcher in the league, leading all players in both wins and saves each time, and he posted a career-low 2.13 ERA in 1898. Though he never led the league in ERA or strikeouts, he was always among the leaders in each, finishing in the top 5 in ERA 6 times and strikeouts 7 times.

Nichols made history in 1900 when he reached the 300-win mark, which is a very exclusive club, and he is still the youngest player to reach that level, since he was only 30 at the time. The Beaneaters won 5 championships during his time there, though this was the era before the World Series began.

Nichols is currently #7 on the all-time wins list with 361, and #4 in complete games pitched. He reached 20 wins 11 times and 30 wins 7 times, leading the league in wins for 3 straight years, and even though he is hardly remembered today, there is plenty of evidence to show that he has earned a spot on the list of the top players of all time.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #62 - Johnny Mize

Johnny Mize

Johnny Mize was a great power hitter before and after World War II who was also great at getting on base and avoiding strikeouts, and he ended up with a handful of championship rings at the end of his career.

Mize reached the Majors in 1936 with the Saint Louis Cardinals, and he became an All-Star in his second season after batting .364 with 204 hits and 113 RBI. The following season, he led the league in triples and total bases, which was just a glimpse of the power to come.

He led the NL in batting average and home runs in 1939, and home runs and RBI the following season, each time falling one category short of the Triple Crown, and also just one spot away from being awarded the MVP. His numbers dipped slightly the next year, and he was traded to the Giants, who needed a replacement at first base due to military service.

Mize led the league in RBI in his first season in New York, then joined the military himself following the season, taking a 3-year hiatus to serve his country. Upon his return in 1946, he broke his toe, which caused him to fall one home run short of leading the league for a third time.

He had his best overall season in 1947, when he had fully recovered from injury. He led the league with 51 homers, 137 runs, and 138 RBI, and only struck out 42 times. That fact made him the only player in history to hit over 50 home runs in a season with fewer than 50 strikeouts, and it still hasn't been repeated in the 70 years since. Somehow, he still was only #3 in the MVP voting that year.

He led the league in home runs again in 1948, but his batting average dipped below .300 for the first time in his career, and the Giants traded him across town to the Yankees midway through the following season, where he would finish out his career.

He was a part-time player during his 4.5 seasons with the Yankees, but he did earn 5 championship rings during that time. In 1952, his 4th straight season in the World Series, he was the team's star, batting .400 with 6 RBI and 3 home runs as the Yankees beat the Dodgers in 7 games.

Mize still holds the Major League record for most 3-homer games with 6, which has since been tied by Sammy Sosa, but as was said above, he had a knack for hitting a lot of long balls without striking out like most sluggers, and he was able to make a huge contribution to a World Series title at the tail end of his career, which was enough to earn him a spot on the list of all time greats.