Too late. Sorry. Gotta move on.
Doesn’t matter much anyway.
C— Johnny Bench
1B— Lou Gehrig
2B— Jackie Robinson
SS— Ozzie Smith
3B— Mike Schmidt
LF— Ricky Henderson
CF— Ken Griffey Jr.
RF— Roberto Clemente
RHP— Christy Mathewson
LHP— Randy Johnson
I’m curious if this is going to get into specialists like best hitters or best relievers/closers. Maybe even something like best sportsman or best infield or most clutch in the playoffs.
Nothing that specific. You can always include “best hitters” or “best fielders” (some have already done so) or “best anything,” really on the later lists, which will expand considerably in size. I will include relief pitching on a later list, and there will be opportunities to correct injustices.
C— Johnny Bench
1B— Albert Pujols
2B— Joe Morgan
SS— Honus Wagner
3B— Mike Schmidt
LF—Ted Williams
CF— Ty Cobb
RF— Hank Aaron
RHP— Tom Seaver
LHP— Randy Johnson
If Williams had played those five years, he might have gotten say 800 more hits and 100 more home runs, but then people would say, “Yeah, but all the good players were in the military.” His record - even though it would have been statistically better - would have been tarnished, just like Joe Louis was disparaged for his “bum of the month club” series of weaker opponents.
C— Johnny Bench: It’s closer than I thought between Bench and Yogi. They were essentially the same hitter, give or take. Yogi was an above average defensive catcher; Bench was among the best at the position of all time. It’s Bench.
1B— Stan Musial: Not sure how you’ll resolve stuff like this, but I’m putting Musial at first so I can put Williams in left. Musial played more innings at first than at any other single position, fwiw.
2B— Jackie Robinson: I’m as obsessed with numbers and statistics as anyone I know, but even I’ll concede that there are elements of “greatness” not fully reflected in the stats. Robinson might have been the best second baseman ever statistically, and he was definitely the greatest.
SS— Alex Rodriguez: You heard me.
3B— Mike Schmidt: For me, this is the easiest one of all. I understand that Brooks Robinson was a great defensive player, but Brooks was barely an above average hitter and Schmidt was a monster. Boggs is in there somewhere, too.
LF— Ted Williams: I don’t see a convincing argument for anyone else here, although I really want to vote for Rickey Henderson. Ted Williams had the second highest career OPS+ of anyone who ever lived (191! he was almost twice as a good as an average hitter!).
CF— Mickey Mantle: Mickey Mantle was better than I realized before I started this. Boy he was good. You know who else is really good? Mike Trout. Trout has basically the same career OPS+ as Mantle. But Mantle was better.
RF— Henry Aaron: Everyone loves Clemente, and I’d make him #1A if I could, but Hank Aaron is one of the five greatest players of all time (for me).
RHP— Roger Clemens: Excluding active players, has more pitching WAR than any post-dead ball pitcher; excluding relief pitchers, has a better career ERA+ than anyone but Pedro Martinez. Almost 5000 strikeouts. More than 350 wins. I think Roger Clemens is the greatest pitcher who ever lived, and I hate that dude.
LHP— Randy Johnson: I see a lot of votes for Spahn, which is surprising; Johnson seems to me to have been a much superior pitcher, and he’s even got that shiny World Series MVP to burnish his resume. Koufax might have been better but Johnson lasted a lot longer. Lefty Grove had slightly better numbers but his entire career was pre-integration. And Randy Johnson once disintegrated a bird. Johnson is my pick.
It’s all about votes. You could put Musial at shortstop if you like. A vote’s a vote.
I think the most compelling one would be that Williams is ineligible, since he got in in Round 1. 
C - Johnny Bench
1B - Lou Gehrig
2B - Jackie Robinson
SS - Honus Wagner
3B - Mike Schmidt
LF - Rickey Henderson
CF - Ty Cobb
RF - Hank Aaron
RHP - Walter Johnson
LHP - Randy Johnson
Apropos of the Yogi vs. Bench discussion, I would like to highly recommend It Ain’t Over - a documentary about Yogi.
Full disclosure: It was made by a relative of a friend of my wife’s, but it is, IMHO, a must-see for hard-core baseball fans.
C— Johnny Bench
1B— Lou Gehrig
2B— Joe Morgan
SS— Honus Wagner
3B— Wade Boggs
LF— Stan Musial
CF— Mickey Mantle
RF— Hank Aaron
RHP— Greg Maddux
LHP— Randy Johnson
C – Josh Gibson
1B – Lou Gehrig
2B – Rogers Hornsby
SS – Honus Wagner
3B – Mike Schmidt
LF – Rickey Henderson
CF – Mickey Mantle
RF – Hank Aaron
RHP – Roger Clemens
LHP – Randy Johnson
No action here for a while. I’ll start tallying up, and moving on with question #3 soon.
Okay, with 13 votes in (What exit?, OP, Munch, Wilson, southern yankee. Eric C., dirtball. Saint Cad, Lone rhino, storyteller0910, RickJay, John DiFool, sunup) our next team, in order of votes, is Gehrig and Aaron (tie—11 each), Schmidt (9), Bench and Wagner (8 each), Randy Johnson (7), Musial, Mantle and Henderson (6). No one got five votes, but Jackie Robinson got four, so I’m inclined to make it the even ten we were shooting for with group Two. No RHP and one extra outfielder, but I’ll call this our second group of inner circle HoFers, with again virtual certainties that all the close ones will get into Part Three.
Question #3:
Excluding the fourteen players already selected, name the all-time best player at each position. To make it easy to tally, please copy and paste the form below, or at least use the same order:
American League
C—
1B—
2B—
SS—
3B—
LF—
CF—
RF—
RHP—
LHP—
reliever
National League
C—
1B—
2B—
SS—
3B—
LF—
CF—
RF—
RHP—
LHP—
reliever–
If you’re not sure which league a player belongs in, go with the majority of his Plate Appearances or Innings Pitched, or else wait until a later time when we consider those who split their time between leagues. We’re shooting for roughly twice as many in group three as were in group two.
Already in
Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Gehrig, Aaron, Schmidt, Bench, Honus Wagner, Randy Johnson, Musial, Mantle, Henderson, Jackie Robinson
C— Yogi Berra He’s better than Bench
1B— Jimmie Foxx
2B— Eddie Collins Often forgotten about
SS— Derek Jeter For his Post Season stuff and intangibles
3B— George Brett as Boggs loses points for his defense
LF— Carl Yastrzemski Even a Yankee fan like me, has to give classy Yaz his due
CF— Joe DiMaggio
RF— Frank Robinson as I’m putting Clemente in the NL slot
RHP— Walter Johnson Should already be in, by far the greatest pitcher of all time.
LHP— Lefty Grove
reliever Mariano Rivera Easily the best Reliever of all time, also a great fielder
National League
C— Gary Carter
1B— Albert Pujols
2B— Rogers Hornsby
SS— Earnie Banks Banks was awesome, let’s play two
3B— Eddie Mathews
LF— Willie Stargell as Rose is not eligible
CF— Oscar Charleston as the next best NL CF is Duke Snider
RF— Roberto Clemente Incredible player and incredible man
RHP— Bob Gibson
LHP— Warren Spahn after him dropping down to Carlton
reliever– Trevor Hoffman 2nd most saves, but saves are a weak stat. But should be the NL entry for Reliever
Thanks, W_E?
For those wondering about the Negro Leaguers, and other exclusions, there is coming up the chance to nominate players who’ve been excluded categorically so far, and another chance to correct for “mistakes” you feel have been made in the selections. You’re perfectly free to nominate Negro Leaguers, Japanese Leaguers, Federal Leaguers, 19th Century players, etc. but I’m pretty sure those votes will be not getting majority or plurality support in the current set-up.
American League
C— Yogi Berra
1B— Jimmie Foxx
2B— Rod Carew
SS— Alex Rodriguez
3B— George Brett
LF— Carl Yaztremski
CF— Ken Griffey Jr.
RF— Frank Robinson
RHP— Cy Young
LHP— Whitey Ford
Reliever - Mariano Rivera
National League
C— Mike Piazza
1B— Albert Pujols
2B— Rogers Hornsby
SS— Ernie Banks
3B— Chipper Jones
LF— Willie Stargell
CF— Duke Snider
RF— Roberto Clemente
RHP— Nolan Ryan
LHP— Steve Carlton
Reliever - Lee Smith
American League
C— Berra
1B— Foxx
2B— Eddie Collins
SS— Ripken
3B— Brett
LF— Cobb
CF— DiMaggio
RF— Kaline
RHP— Walter Johnson
LHP— Grove
Reliever Rivera
National League
C— Campanella
1B— Pujols
2B— Morgan
SS— Banks
3B— Mathews
LF— Raines
CF— Snider
RF— Frank Robinson
RHP— Seaver
LHP— Spahn
Reliever-- Hoffman
Actually, I’ll change “Frank Robinson” to “Mel Ott”–FRobby belongs in the “Both leagues” category, I think.