Kuzul

And the answer issss no. We’ll never see asterisks to mark some of the blatantly questionable performances of the denoted, approximate 15-year period ranging from the early 1990s until at least midway through the first decade of this century, because to do so is as much an indictment of Bud Selig and league ownership as it is many of the supersized players themselves.

The epic 1998 Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run race clearly brought baseball back into the first-class seating section of American sports, re-establishing the long-time fan fascination with the long ball, which goes back to the days of the charismatic Bambino, traveling through the handsome vagaries of Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Hank Greenberg, the great Teddy Ballgame, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

Of course league ownership, media and the sensible fan knew something was going on. Forget that only two players in 70 years were able to touch the 60 plateau and suddenly Sosa, McGwire and Bonds were making successive mockeries of the mark.

For many of us with a watchful eye, it was the sudden, sensational emergence from offensive mediocrity to downright Mendoza line obscurity that can be attributed to the likes of a Brady Anderson, a .250 lifetime hitter with middling power who blasted 50 homers in 1996 or Benito Santiago who hit 30 homers for the Phils in ’96 at the age of 31 after totaling 35 home runs in the three previous seasons and never more than 18 in any of his 10 major league seasons to that point.

There were countless others that hammered home the point that it was way more than Wheaties that were driving the modern ballplayers’ engines in the approximate decade-and-a-half stanza when offensive statistics truly ran wild.

Certainly the issue of complicity is complicated and far reaching.

It can also be expounded upon at another time. Today we address the home run. If Major League Baseball won’t do anything to engender a little statistical perspective on the greatest long ball hitters of all time, we will—with a few liberties no doubt—but those have been taken in the most plausible way and the rearranged listing may just hit you about right.

One to Five: Ruth, Aaron, Griffey, Mays, Bonds

Babe Ruth: 714, Projected 774: The fact that the Great Bambino was a dominant left-handed pitcher over his first four seasons with the Boston Red Sox, combined with his later offensive exploits, in many minds makes him the greatest baseball player of all time. 

Despite the lingering perception that Babe’s training regimen included little other than hot dogs, beer and the ladies of the night, his long ball acumen—so thrilling for fans that it precipitated the use of a livelier ball and eventual elimination of the spitter to make the home run and enhanced offensive output more widespread amongst major league minions—is unsurpassed in terms of consistency over a peak period of play.  

From 1920 to 1931, 12 seasons (two of which were injury or attitude plagued), Ruth averaged 47 home runs and 150 RBI. He had six seasons where he hit .370 or better, peaking at .393 in 1923. If you add a mere 15 home runs per season for his time spent as a full-time hurler his projected total of 774 puts him on top of our reconstructed list. 

Henry Aaron: 755, No change: More of a line drive hitter than classic long ball type, “Bad Henry” still generated enough power and length on his fearsome rips to take advantage of reasonably cozy parks in both Milwaukee and Atlanta.   

He excelled in the late 50’s and 60’s during a time when major league pitching, especially in the National League (Gibson, Koufax, Drysdale, Marichal) was at its best. He hit 40 or more home runs in a season eight times, and had nine seasons with 118 or more RBI. He did his thing in a quiet way, and in the end, when he was really chasing down Ruth’s ghost, he had to put up with serious racist backlash from fans all over the country.  

While he wasn’t exactly the type to come out and say so, it certainly did appear Aaron, amongst numerous other purists, resented Bonds taking the career mark from him. 

At least here he doesn’t have that problem.

Ken Griffey Jr.: 630, Projected 735:  As great as he was, Griff’s name will always be synonymous with one thing: Injury.

Well, maybe two things, injury and unfulfilled expectations. As amazing as some of his final numbers were (1,662 runs, 524 doubles, 1,779 RBI), the man very frequently referred to as “The Kid” or “The Natural” lost approximately 500 peak career games over his 22 years in the Major Leagues.

Not even accounting for the overall impact or toll the injuries took on his career, if you measure him up for a mere 35 homers per during a time when he was readily bashing 50, you come to the projected total of 735, and in truth that is a very conservative estimate.  

Willie Mays: 660: Projected 720: One of the five greatest all-around players in the history of the game, Mays could beat you any way: bat, arm, legs, glove.

Like fellow superstars Aaron, Frank Robinson and Roberto Clemente, his career spanned a pitching-rich period for the NL, so his seasonal numbers are not consistently mind-boggling, but more so highlighted by incremental extraordinary achievement.

Long ball-wise, he twice hit 50 home runs in a season, and from 1961 to 1966, between the ages of 30 to 35, he averaged 44 HR a year amidst some of the toughest home run hitting conditions in the majors in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.

He gets his adjustment for a pair of missed seasons to the Korean war effort in 52 & 53. You can say that’s a conservative number but he was still young and developing his power, hit 20 in 1951 and 40 in 1954, so an average of 30 in between seems fair.

(It was 250 ft. to the hanging tier in left that Bobby Thompson immortalized in ’51, so any further adjustments for the tough conditions in S.F. have to be countermanded by the less than plush, but ultra friendly home run confines of the once renowned Polo Grounds.)   

Mays was a two-time MVP and finished in the top six 12 times. Whatever the adjustment the man struck fear in the collective hearts of the opposition like few players ever have and even if the Say Hey Kid never hit a homer in his life, he’d still be one of the greatest to have ever stepped on the field!  

Barry Bonds: 762, Adjusted Downward Number 679: Through the age of 27, Barry Bonds averaged 25 home runs a year in a ballpark, Three Rivers, that was reasonably cozy dimension-wise, especially down both lines at 335 feet.

He was 28 when he moved over to San Francisco, and his 46 home runs, 123 RBI and .336 average, all career-highs, seemed plausible enough for a great young player coming into his prime.

Simply, Bonds dominated the game for the next 10 years, and at the age of 36 had what has to be considered one of the top two or three seasons in the history of the game, hitting 73 home runs, walking 177 times, hitting .328 with an on- base of .515.

At the age of 39, Bonds hit 45 HR, hit .362 and walked a mind-boggling 232 times. He was on base 61 percent of the time.

Try and fathom that last figure.

There is no disputing Bonds’ greatness. Early on he was a five-tool player, and late in his career he became the greatest power hitter the game has ever known. Of course that’s where the serious question marks rise.

Nobody will ever know to what extent Bonds’ game was elevated by the use of steroids, but in lieu of the fact that we only know of one player, Roger Maris, who definitively was not on steroids and managed to top Ruth’s single season mark, albeit in 162 games, one has to presume marginally in the least.

Yes, it undoubtedly requires inherent skills to play the game. I don’t think steroids positively impact the eyes, but as far as bat speed and strength, at 35+, even the most ardent Bonds fan can’t argue that his latter career stats were an enhanced anomaly, and that he really never should have been able to break Aaron’s career record, much less Ruth’s.

Bonds averaged just slightly over 30 home runs per season through the age of 34. Even if you give him 35 per season for 2000-2004 and you leave his last two seasons be, where he totaled 54 home runs at the age 41/42 coming off what might have been a career-ending injury in 2005 at the age of 40, you very generously come up with the figure of 679 home runs.

And even that supposes the greatest late career production of any player in the history of the game.

Six to Ten: Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Jim Thome, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew.

Ted Williams: 521, Projected 671: The rivalry between the Great DiMaggio and Boston’s Ted Williams was certainly notable. DiMaggio was once asked, “Joe, what do you think of Ted Williams as a ballplayer?”

DiMaggio’s response, “Greatest left-handed hitter I’ve ever seen.”

DiMaggio was then asked the same question, “But, Joe, what do you think of Williams as a ballplayer?”

DiMaggio’s response, “Greatest left-handed hitter I’ve ever seen.”

The point being, Ted Williams may not have had DiMaggio’s all-encompassing skills, but with a bat in his hand, the Splendid Splinter could really do no wrong. A .344 lifetime hitter and the last Major Leaguer to hit .400, he slugged 521 career home runs despite missing five peak seasons to the mid-20th century war efforts in Europe and Korea.

Without a doubt, you could bag up 30 home runs a year during that period for a total of 671, and that’s also a conservative number. Williams might have challenged Ruth’s record if not for his time as a fighter pilot.

If you ever get a chance, the HBO special on “The Kid” is simply must see T.V.  

Mickey Mantle: 536 ~ Projected 600: Idolized by children everywhere, loved by as many women while still being revered by adult males. ‘The Mick’ played through almost every imaginable injury and nearly as many states of debilitating inebriation.

He was a three-time MVP with nine top-five finishes. He won the Triple Crown in 1956 and led the league in eight different offensive categories. His natural ability to play the game was otherworldly, but his broken body left him as a mere shell of the great ballplayer enshrined in Cooperstown and forever commemorated in the Yankees’ own Hall of Fame—Monument Park. 

What could he had done if not for the injuries and ample proclivity for one hellbent nightlife?

Mantle’s long ball power was the impetus for the term “tape measure home run” as his 565-foot shot out of old Griffith Stadium in Washington was actually measured just this way by traveling secretary Red Patterson. He was reputed to have hit one 635 feet out of Tiger Stadium in Detroit and twice hit the upper facade at old Yankee Stadium—a feat only accomplished by one other man, mythical Negro League catcher Josh Gibson.

He was without a doubt one of the single most feared hitters ever to step to the plate. A switch hitter with astonishing power from either side, 600 home runs would have been a walk in the park if the man would have been the beneficiary of better health and the practitioner of a slightly more conservative night life.  

Jim Thome: 589 and counting: I guess you could call Jim Thome an unspectacular player who has put up some pretty spectacular numbers. One-hundred ninety homers between 2001-2004. Hit 25 last year in a surprise for the Twins, and looks like a good bet to surpass 600.   

Frank Robinson: 586: No Change: Two-time MVP (six times in the top four), hands down the toughest late inning out I ever saw live and in person. (The guy killed the Yankees like nobody else.) Didn’t get the notoriety of a Mays, Aaron or Clemente, but what a five-tool ballplayer!

They called him “The Judge,” basically because you couldn’t get away with anything when he was at the plate. Definitely one of the great nicknames in baseball lore for one of the greatest players to ever grace the green pastures.

Harmon Killebrew: 573, No change: As pure a home-run hitting force that exists on this list. From 1959 to 1970, he hit 40-plus eight times. Six top-four MVP finishes and the winner in 1969 when at the age of 33, he hit 49 and drove in 140. The man simply destroyed baseballs and was very aptly nicknamed “Killer” Killebrew. 

A Tainted Five: A-Rod, McGuire, Sosa, Palmiero, Manny

A-Rod: 613, Projected 555: There’s no denying A-Rod’s greatness. He’s a five-tool player with incredible instincts for the game. He was the best shortstop in baseball and has turned himself into a pre-eminent third sacker with the Yanks.

People love to hate him, but he’s definitely one of the best players to ever cross the lines. There’s no way you can lend any credence to his claims of short-term juicing though. We maxed him out at 40 per year outside of Seattle, and that may or may not be generous.

Sammy Sosa: 609, Projected 509: Sosa’s blatant steroid-enhanced production has, along with McGwire and Bonds, made a mockery of seasonal home run marks. He went from hitting 35 a year (1993-1997), to 58 a year over a five-year stretch 1998-2002.

Still, his battle with McGwire in ’98 and general enthusiasm for the game has been credited with bringing fans back to the ballpark after the disappointing strike-shortened season in 1994. That, and all the big numbers notwithstanding, the only way Sosa sees the inside of the Hall of Fame is as a glorified visitor.

Although we were loathe to even include him in the 500 club, he was only docked a straight 100, basically 20 per year over the last mentioned five-season stretch.  

Mark McGwire: 583, Projected 548: Really, one of the best guys in baseball and unlike Bonds’ mocking of Babe Ruth, he paid big-time respect to Roger Maris and his family during the epic ’98 run.

Again, using the 40-a-year max formula, we docked him 85 home runs from 1996 to 1999 when he hit 245. We gave him back 50 though for dramatically injury-shortened seasons in ’93 and ’94, and kind of looked the other way when he hit 61 in 186 games over two injury-plagued years in 2000 and 2001 when he finally retired at the age of 37.

Maybe he was juicing in the very early days in Oakland as Canseco claims and doesn’t even belong in the 500 club. He had all the power hitting tools though, a short stroke and explosive power. If he had played in Fenway or Wrigley instead of windy, cavernous Oakland or spacious Busch, he could have hit 600 in walk.

Steroids were legal during his career, so it’s hard to say he made a mistake. But he’s another guy who will carry around the stigma and will never make the Hall of Fame.

Rafael Palmeiro: 569, Projected 462: We maxed him at 30 a year, which seems pretty fair considering the guy made a complete idiot out of himself with his finger-pointing before Congress, and barely distinguished himself in a more flattering light by pitching Viagra at the age of 35 before a nationwide audience.

It’s a shame too because all the Havana-born Palmiero—1,835 RBI, three Gold Gloves, 569 home runs—had to do was keep himself clean at a time he should have really been retired anyway, and he might have been looking at the Hall of Fame.

He’s lost that, and we think he’s lost his Viagra ad-man status as well.

Palmiero’s definitely a guy who should lay low for awhile.

Manny Ramirez: 555, Projected Unknown: Who wold have thought a major league player wearing his hair down to the middle of his back for this long could have gotten away throughout without being called a pansy?

It’s had something to do with that electrifying bat. As a Yankee fan, I’ve watched Manny Ramirez lay wood to the ball for way too long to write him off as a steroid-using anomaly. Maybe he went from more of a power alley, 40-45 doubles, 25-30 home run guy, but there’s just no way to tell.  

During his prime years from 1998-2008, an 11-year period when he wasn’t even always playing his top game, he hit more than 400 home runs. Granted, his fairly recent indictment and a total of 28 home runs the past two years speaks volumes, but the last time I checked, steroid use doesn’t affect the batting eye. I’ve also seen stretches of games where there was just no way to get Ramirez out.   

If there’s one guy besides A-Rod on this tainted list who might slip by and make the Hall, it’s Ramirez. No matter how you break it down, he’s one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game.     

The Best Of The Rest: Reggie, Schmidt, Jimmy Foxx, Stretch McCovey, Frank Thomas. 

Quickly now, because my head is spinning. No projections here, just career numbers.

563: Reggie Jackson: His three-homer performance against the Dodgers in the ’77 World Series is as memorable as any in the history of the game. The moniker Mr. October says it all.

548: Mike Schmidt: Only A-Rod’s switch precludes his consensus choice as the best third baseman ever. Three-time M.V.P.

534: Jimmy Foxx: As ominous a right-handed power hitter as has ever played the game.  A .325 lifetime B.A., knocked in more than 160 runs three times, 58 homers in 1932 for the old (Connie Mack) Philadelphia Athletics.

That team won three straight A.L. titles in between 1929-1931 and won two World Series and finished second to the Yanks in ’32 before being sold off in parts post-1933 by a cash-strapped Mack, with both Foxx and southpaw ace Lefty Grove heading to the Boston Red Sox.

521: Willie “Stretch” McCovey: One of the most ominous left-handed power hitters to ever play the game. At least by appearance. Five hundred-plus home runs, with half his games coming in a windy Candlestick, is no mean feat.

521: Frank Thomas: At his peak, Thomas could do it all with the bat. Back-to-back A.L. M.V.P. in 1993 and 1994.

And that’s all, hope you enjoyed it.

www.thedailymunson.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Christmas Day, 2010: Is there a better day to present you with a list of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history?

Please note: I have picked the best player for each given letter, so some players lucked out by having a name starting with an unusual letter. How else can a pretty good player like Carlos Quentin have the same odds of making my list as Stan Musial, a true all-time great.

One more note: Neither player made my list. Sorry to upset all the Carlos Quentin fans out there. Do read on.

But seriously, I hope you will enjoy one man’s opinion of the best our great national pastime has offered us—given these criteria. You will find pitchers and players alike from the deadball era to whatever era we call today’s major league baseball.

I hope these names will warm your heart on this cold December day. Please read and feel free to register your approval and/or disapproval with passion—and civility, given this season.

Time to unwrap your present, and let the great game begin!

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Well, here we are.  Just one more trade until I discuss what I believe is the worst one in baseball history and for No. 2, I’ve picked a good one. 

This trade needs no introduction.  It’s a DOOZY.  Books have been written about it.  Baseball historians have discussed it for decades.  There is nothing else I can say about this trade that would make its introduction any better.  Oh, by the way…it’s when the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.

I can imagine what most of you are thinking.  This trade dramatically changed the histories of the two teams involved.  One went on to become the most successful franchise in sports history, and the other (up until recently), was for decades considered to be a group of lovable losers.  Yet, while a lot of people know about the trade itself, what they don’t know is the story behind it.  That’s where I come in, so let’s get started

Now, I know that most baseball fans know how Babe Ruth is best known for his years spent with the Yankees and how during that time, he set records with his home run hitting.  But before he was the Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth was a standout player for the Boston Red Sox.

Making his debut in 1914, Ruth made an immediate impact for the Red Sox not as an outfielder, but rather has a starting pitcher.  Looking at his pitching statistics, I’m honestly surprised that he made the switch.  His career record is astounding: 94 wins compared to 46 losses.  His career ERA is just as impressive at 2.28!   His talent on the mound led the Red Sox to consecutive World Series titles in 1915 and 1916.

So now there are some readers who are probably wondering, “OK, Josh, you’ve shown us Ruth’s pitching statistics and they’re pretty good, but he’s still known primarily as an outfielder.  Why is that?”  I’m glad you asked!

One thing that we need to understand regarding Ruth’s switch to the outfield is the era in which he played.  There were two leagues, American and National, but they were basically one and the same.  Why?  The designated hitter rule wasn’t around yet!  As a result, Ruth was in the batting order whenever he pitched, and his offense was not what people expected of a pitcher at the time.

Team management took notice of Ruth’s talent at the plate, and started playing him in the outfield on days he didn’t pitch.  Boston’s offense became even more powerful as the team won the World Series in 1918, the first season in which Ruth consistently played in the outfield.  However, the team’s successes were short-lived.  The Red Sox finished in sixth place in 1919, and the house fell down.

Even before the collapse of 1919, the Red Sox had been looking for a reason to get Ruth off of the team.  Both on and off the field, he had temper issues.  He drank, smoked, got into fights, and didn’t do a particularly good job of taking care of himself. 

So, after the 1919 season, team owner Harry Frazee finally had a reason to unload his controversial All-Star player.  At the time, the Red Sox were basically trading away all of their star players, and getting other players in return; you know, NORMAL trading practices.

However, Frazee did something a bit unconventional in trading Ruth.  Now, apart from owning the Red Sox, Harry Frazee was also a producer of Broadway shows.  At the time, he needed money to finance a play.  What did he do?  He traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. 

Who did the Red Sox get in return?  Well, it’s more a question of what than who.  The Yankees received Babe Ruth, and in return sent $100,000 cash money to Boston.  No players, no draft picks (since that concept hadn’t been invented yet), just cold hard cash.

Now, given how this is a website frequented by sports fans, I don’t think I need to go into too much detail regarding the aftermath of this trade.  Long story short, Ruth goes on to finish his career with 714 career home runs, sets all sorts of records, retires as the greatest hitter of all time, makes the Hall of Fame. 

The Red Sox spend the next 80-something years as perennial underachievers until they finally win another World Series in 2004.  End of tale.  Yet, I don’t think that we can fully understand how bad this trade is until we look at it compared to some similar ones made in the modern age.

Today, if a team trades a player for “cash considerations,” it usually means that the player involved is a mediocre one at best and that a fair agreement can’t be reached using other players.  A good example of this occurred this past season, when the Cleveland Indians traded relief pitcher Kerry Wood to the Yankees for cash considerations, although low-level minor leaguers were also involved in that deal.  Just the same, it was a case of one team looking to get rid of one player for a low price.

If Harry Frazee tried to trade Babe Ruth today, he could have gotten much more back in return, regardless of whether Ruth was a pitcher or an outfielder.  In 2010, Ruth could have been worth a star outfielder, plus a couple of minor league prospects.  He would be an elite player, and he wouldn’t come cheap if another team was looking to acquire him.  Just imagine how much money he’d demand as a free agent!

If the Babe Ruth trade hadn’t happened, there’s no telling how differently baseball history would have panned out.  Maybe the Red Sox would have gone on to be the most successful team in sports history, rather than my beloved Yankees.  Babe Ruth might not have become one of the greatest home run hitters of all time. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I know that bad trades are bound to happen, but trading a top player to finance a Broadway show?!  Harry Frazee, wherever you are, I hope you’re kicking yourself for this horrible mistake (or blessing, if you’re a Yankees fan like I am!).

Anyway, that’s No. 2, folks.  Tune in tomorrow for No. 1!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Throughout the years, the Yankees have established themselves as the most successful franchise in all of sports. Along with this winning attitude has come a slight air of arrogance among the front office.

The Yankees have made a habit of mistreating their loyal stars when it comes to the end of their careers and possibly their last contracts. Although baseball is a business and they will argue that it is nothing personal, it is concerning that we seem to see this again and again.

Once again, we are seeing this take place with the current Yankee captain, Derek Jeter. Let’s take a look at Jeter’s situation and some other Yankees that have gone through a similar experience.

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Trades are a funny thing.

They are a part of every sport, and the one common characteristic that can describe their nature is their inherent volatility. Trades can be a savior to teams, bringing them to the pinnacle of success. Or they can be the perpetual oppressor, blamed by fans for years of struggle and hardship. Sometimes, the same trade can be viewed either way, depending on the point of view of the fan.

No sport has such a voluminous history of transactions as America’s pastime, so it’s no surprise that deciding which were the absolute worst was no small task.

Think I have anything out of place or that I haven’t included a trade that deserved to be on here? Let me know.

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The 27 New York Yankees World Series Championships span over 87 years, hitting every decade but the 1980’s.

I scoured YouTube for the best video representation for each of the Yankee Championship years and this is what developed – everything from Ken Burns to old Newsreels to television and radio broadcasts to fan video.

It is amazing actually how often some of the greatest moments in Yankee history happened to coincide with a year ending in a championship.  For example, DiMaggio’s hitting streak in 1941, the opening of both Yankee Stadiums in 1923 and 2009, Ruth’s 60th, and Maris 61st all occurred in championship years.  There’s more too, you’ll see.  It could be of course that there are just so many great Yankee moments and so many World Series titles that they happen to overlap.

Anyway, without much further adieu, here’s a quick Yankee video tour that looks at each of the 27 title years: a total of 61 clips, totaling nearly three hours for your indulgence. Final results included and a fact or two, too.

It’s a tour of American culture, as well. See and feel the evolution of the game, the player, the media, the fan, and American and Yankee history.

Enjoy.

* * * * *

Then, check out Bleacher Report’s Yankees site for the latest in Yankees news.

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Courtesy of Yankees ‘n More

I noticed a new Derek Jeter story in the Tuesday New York Times: “Calculating The Value Of Jeter’s Legacy.” The general premise seems to be that if the New York Yankees can figure out how much Jeter’s “legacy” is worth to them, they will then know how much to pay their hit-the-wall 36-year-old shortstop.

The Yankees, meanwhile, appear to be taking that thought-process to heart. Look no further than this ESPNNewYork report that the team has already decided to give Jeter “Ryan Howard money for Marco Scutaro numbers.”

From that ESPN report: “The Yankees are going to overpay him,” said a source with intimate knowledge of the discussions between the team and Jeter’s agent, Casey Close. “The question is, how much are they going to overpay him?”

Problem is, the Yankees already own Derek Jeter’s “legacy.” Why in the hell would they pay for it again?

Hypothetically, let’s pretend the Yankees did not re-sign Jeter this offseason and went to play in Detroit for three years. He still goes into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee. He still has his number retired by the team at some point after he’s retired. He still, hopefully far into the future, has a monument at Yankee Stadium next to those of Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Miller Huggins, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.

The Jeter legacy is more than securely tied to the Yankees for all time. The team already paid for that privilege once, just as they have already paid for previous services rendered.

Want proof? Ninety years later, who is the name still most associated with the “legacy” of the New York Yankees? Did you answer Babe Ruth? I would hope not. After all, the Babe neither began nor finished his career with the Yankees. And that in a time where there was no free agency. Today, any player, even a star player, lasting his entire career with one organization is the exception, not the rule.

Nevertheless, Ruth is tied to the Yankees like no other athlete is to any other team in any other sport in history. The old Yankee Stadium, you might remember, was and will forever be “The House that Ruth Built.” The Yankees still honor his heroics and still sell tons of No. 3 jerseys.

The Yankees and Jeter’s agent can attempt to spin this any way they choose. But to pay a 36-year-old shortstop in steep decline the kind of premium dollars being discussed with Jeter is ridiculous. He has no range, no arm and no power. Intangibles are only worth so much.

Anybody in favor of committing 10 percent of the entire player payroll budget for the next three or four years to Babe Ruth? He used to be really good, don’t ya know.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With the World Series wrapped up and the Giants taking home baseball’s ultimate prize, now is a good time to look back at some of the best performers in the history of the Fall Classic.

Some of the best players in baseball history were either ineffective when it mattered most or never got the chance to play in the World Series. While at the same time, one of the most memorable moments in baseball history was given to us by a light-hitting second baseman named Bill Mazeroski.

So without further ado, here are the 40 greatest hitters in the history of the World Series.

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There may be nothing in professional sports that quite measures up to starting the final game of a seven-game playoff series in Major League Baseball. It can either mean going home, moving on, or winning it all.

Before the advent of the expanded playoff system in 1969, only two teams were eligible in MLB, the pennant winners of the American and National Leagues. For 66 seasons this was the accepted format, and the Fall Classic brought us many great memories from that period of time.

When both leagues split into two divisions, the League Championship series was formed, and was a best-of-five format up until 1985, when it was increased to seven games to increase revenue and match the length of the World Series.

When the Division Series was introduced in 1995, five games were determined to be the length, and has remained so ever since. Even though we are looking at who we would consider to start a Game 7 of a series, we could certainly count Game 5 of division series as well, considering it’s a one-and-done proposition, and still determines whether a team marches onward or out.

So, the upcoming list is a ranking of the top 50 pitchers to start a Game 7, or deciding game of a playoff series.

The list does NOT reflect how a pitcher performed during the regular season, it only reflects their performance DURING the playoffs. Major difference here.

Performances in big games during the season might be important, but don’t reflect the type of pressure that pitchers are under when given the ball to get their team a championship.

And here we go…

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Last night, after I put my son to bed I sat down on my couch with a beer and my dog and began watching The Tenth Inning, the sequel to Ken Burns’s Baseball.

A quick review is that the documentary is fantastic, and if you haven’t seen it yet, find out what channel you’re local PBS is on and check it out.

There was a lovely segment on my Red Sox finally winning the World Series (after 88 years) in 2004, but the segment that really caught my attention was on Barry Bonds‘  chase of Hammerin’ Hank Aaron’s career home run record.

We all now know about baseball’s dirty little secret, the Steroid Era, and we know who most of the culprits were.

But of course, during the early days of the witch hunt, there was really only one name in baseball synonymous with steroids, and that was Barry Bonds.

Like I’ve said, we now know it went much deeper than just Bonds, but it was Bonds who reached for the sun.

Bonds was very much like Icarus, and flew too close, so of course he got burned.

During this era of baseball (which some people like to label a dark time), I was very much on the fence of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).

Being a former high school ball player, I knew just how difficult it was to hit a baseball.  No matter how big and strong you were, if you didn’t have the hand-eye coordination or the right swing, you weren’t going to hit the ball out of the infield.

Of course that argument falls on deaf ears when it comes to baseball purists. 

You know the type, whether they’re at the game or at home they’re keeping score on their own score card.  You can mention any obscure player or statistic, and they’ll tell you the history of it.

To these folk, PEDs are the ultimate sin.

These were the sports writers who were at Bonds’ locker after every game asking the same question, “Did you use steroids?”

And as soon as the Balco story broke, they were like bloodhounds after a fox in the English country side.

With each home run Bonds drew one more step closer to the immortal Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, and everyone (except Giants fans) seem to hate him for it.

He would receive racist and threatening mail on a daily basis, as well as the most venomous slanders while playing the field at visiting stadiums.

He even commented on Dodger Stadium, claiming to love playing there, and that one must be really good for 56,000 people to shout “you suck.”

Barry laughed as he said all this, but you could see it in his eyes that he didn’t like any of it.

From his early days with the Pittsburgh Pirates, all the way to the end of his career in 2007 with the Giants, he was always a quiet player, that some labeled as surly and unfriendly with the media, and often he was.

But even when he would go on tangents and claim he didn’t care what people thought of him, you could hear in his voice that he did.  You could tell that he wanted to be liked much like his godfather Willie Mays, but didn’t know how to do it.

And once the Balco scandal broke, he had no chance of ever becoming that type of player.

The scrutiny of Bonds became so great that once he was approaching Hank Aaron’s record, Hammerin’ Hank said he wouldn’t attend the possible record-breaking games, and commissioner Bud Selig said he wasn’t sure if he’d be there—and he wasn’t.

Regardless of what baseball and its purist wanted, it was going to happen.

And unlike Mark McGwire’s and Sammy Sosa’s chase for Roger Maris’ single-season record, which is also now held by Bonds, there was almost no fanfare. 

Unless you lived in San Fransisco, you didn’t care.

Fathers weren’t waking their sons out of bed to witness history, and unlike other memorable sports moments, most people can’t tell you where they were when it happened.  I know I can’t.  Much like Arbor Day, it came and went and no one really noticed.

As I continued watching this account, three years removed, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Bonds.

Every question from every reporter seemed like an attack on the man.  Maybe he deserved it for using PEDs, but at the same time I can’t help but wonder if Bonds was just some middle infielder not chasing Ruth and Aaron would he be getting this treatment?

Or, if he were a more lovable player with the attitude of say a Cal Ripken Jr. or Ken Griffey Jr., even with the Balco scandal, would he still be getting such flack?

Honestly, I think no.

Bonds was the perfect personification of what people didn’t like about the steroid era of baseball.

Bonds kept to himself and would often become testy with reporters, especially after a loss, and he just made it easy to root against him.  I dare think had he not been such a talented baseball player, he could have made a great career as a heel in pro wrestling.

Now that we seem to be on the upswing from the steroid era (only Jose Bautista has hit more that 50 home runs this season) I look on that era with a fresh view.

Baseball, more so than any other American sport, is forever changing.

Since Babe Ruth has played there has been several increases in the number of games played per season, there are West Coast teams now, night games, black, Latino, and Japanese players are now in the game, there have been advances in the way players train, and advances in equipment.

Every single one of those things listed have enhanced the game, and have made it more entertaining to watch.

And isn’t that what baseball, and all sports for that matter, are?  Entertainment?

Until all of the grand juries and Congressional hearings, I didn’t hear Bud Selig complain about attendance or all the revenue made by all of the juiced home runs being hit.

In fact, the fans weren’t even complaining.

There are those of us out there who are entertained by a pitching duel, but the vast majority of people out there want to see the long ball.

They want to see players like McGwire and Bonds hit the ball impossibly high and far, they want to see guys hit 50-60 home runs a year and they might pretend they care about steroids, but they honestly don’t.

So what is it that I’m saying?

Are steroids good for baseball?

If you want to talk from a monetary and entertainment stand point, then probably.  The more excitement and the more home runs people see, the more the casual observer is likely to come out to the ballpark.

But if you want to keep the game pure (as if it ever was once money got involved), then probably not.

But then again was baseball ever really pure?

Even in the Golden Era, you had gambling scandals like the Black Sox, one of the all-time greatest hitters, Ty Cobb, was a foul-mouthed racist who purposely sharpened his spikes and cleated players.

You had a league that purposely kept black players out, and Saint Ruth was also a womanizing, beer-swilling buffoon, that was more like Kenny Powers, than the lovable big man we make him out to be in all those black and white reels.

So, the steroid era seems like a black-eye in baseball now, but like all other eras when we’re so many years removed from it, we’ll forget about all that bad stuff and romanticize about good stuff that happened.

Like the 2004 Red Sox’s unbelievable comeback over the Yankees, the amazing run by the Colorado Rookies to the 2007 World Series, the farewell of maybe baseball’s greatest player Ken Griffey Jr.

Those are the things that will be remembered 20 years down the road, not the scandals.

Take steroids for what they are.  You either care or you don’t, me I’ll admit I loved seeing all those balls fly out of the park, tradition or no tradition, it was fun to watch.

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