Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Don Mattingly. You know the names because you’ve heard them a million times, and strung together you probably already know what the topic is: great players who never won a World Series.
In basketball, football and even hockey to a certain degree, greatness is measured with rings. Despite complete and utter statistical dominance, Wilt Chamberlain is considered by knowledgeable basketball fans to be inferior to Bill Russell. Why? Count the rings.
Dan Marino’s offensive statistics blew away those of Joe Montana, Tom Brady, and John Elway, and yet we remember all three of those guys as better quarterbacks than Marino. Why? Count the rings.
But this is not the case in baseball. Ted Williams was the greatest hitter of all time, regardless of the fact that he never won a championship. Walter Johnson was the greatest pitcher of all time, regardless of the fact that he made the postseason exactly once during his career. In baseball, we measure ability based upon performance, which is why we have players whom we consider great who nevertheless never won a championship.
Let’s take a look at the team-by-team power rankings of the best players never to win a World Series championship.