Top 106 Baseball Players: #9 - Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron was the all-time MLB home run king for 33 years, and still is the all-time home run leader among those who have not been credibly accused of steroid use.

Aaron reached the major leagues with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954, after short stints in the minor leagues and the Negro Leagues. By the time he retired, he would be the final former Negro League player in pro baseball. In his third season, he won the batting title with a .328 average.

Aaron won his only MVP award in 1957, when he led the league in runs, home runs, and RBI, and fell just short of the Triple Crown, finishing third in batting average. That was also the first of 4 seasons in which he would hit exactly 44 home runs, which also happened to be his uniform number. He also led the Braves to the World Series that year, where they upset the defending champion Yankees in 7 games behind Aaron's .393 average, 3 homers, and 7 RBI.

The next season ended in disappointment when his .333 average wasn't enough for a repeat title, as the Yankees won the rematch in 7 games. In 1959, he had his only career 3-homer game, each one good for 2 runs, and he set career highs in hits and batting average, with 223 and .355 respectively, both best in the league, but he finished only third in the MVP voting.

He had another close brush with a Triple Crown in 1963, when he again led the league in runs, homers, and RBI, but came in third in batting. That was also his second time with 44 home runs, and his 4th time finishing 3rd in the MVP race, though it should have been his 4th MVP by that time.

The Braves moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season, and in his first season there, he hit 44 home runs again, his third time leading the league with that exact total. In 1968 he hit his 500th home run, the second-youngest at the time to reach that milestone, behind only Jimmie Foxx, and the next year moved into third place on the all-time list behind Ruth and Mays.

In 1969 he hit 44 home runs in a season again, though this time is was not enough to lead the league, but it was enough to get the Braves into the playoffs for the first time in Atlanta. During the NLCS, he hit .357 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI, but the Braves were swept by the Mets despite his best efforts.

In 1970, he reached the 3000 hit plateau, then broke the NL record with his 12th season of at least 30 home runs, a record he would extend to 15 seasons by 1973. In 1971 he reached 600 home runs, and set the NL record for most seasons with 40 home runs, when he did it for the 7th time with a career high of 47. He would add another 40-homer season later as well.

In 1972, he passed Willie Mays to take over 2nd place on the all-time home runs list, reached 2000 RBI's, and became the all-time leader in total bases, a record he still holds today. The spotlight was on him throughout the 1973 season, as he approached Babe Ruth's all-time home run mark, and he ended up finishing the year one short of Ruth's record.

He said that his greatest fear was that he wouldn't live to see the 1974 season, as he received numerous death threats for his pursuit of the record, many of them racially motivated. He hit the record-tying home run on his very first swing of the season, then broke the record in the first home game of the season. The record would eventually reach 755, and would stand until 2007, when Barry Bonds surpassed him.

After the season he did not want to retire, so the Braves traded him to the Brewers, where he broke Ruth's all-time RBI record the following year, another record which is still his. He also holds the record for most consecutive seasons of 100 runs scored, with 13 from 1955 to 1967.

In addition to his all-time records for RBI's and total bases, he is #3 on the all-time hit list, #4 in runs scored, and #2 in home runs. He won an MVP early in his career, but should have won 6 others. He did finish #3 in the MVP voting 6 times, and in addition to being a great ballplayer, was also a great person, never causing any controversy and always being graceful in breaking records and in relinquishing them when they were surpassed. There is no way that a list of the very best players of all time can't include Hank Aaron.

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: #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: #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.