A simple one vote poll and feel free to explain your vote or argue over others.
Hornsby. Too good with the bat.
Ain’t nobody good enough with the glove to match a guy who leads the league in everything for six consecutive years and doesn’t also field with his bat.
Second base is the most important position on the field. You can put a good hitter with only a mediocre glove anywhere on the field except second base. For that reason only, .200 career hitters are acceptable in 2nd base, long as they don’t commit errors. You want someone who doesn’t commit errors, you go with Ryno.
Hornsby was one of the greatest offensive forces ever, next to Babe Ruth. His statistics from 1921-1925 are astounding – .402 BA, .474 OBA, 204 OPS+
I picked Hornsby even though I really wanted to say Jackie. Just couldn’t ignore those offensive numbers.
3B & 2B were making a transition in terms of defensive value during Hornsby’s career. In the dead-ball era 3B was more important, because of all the bunts and the concomitant decline (SB too) in double-play opportunities. As fewer teams bunted and stole bases and more baserunners were on 1st, the double play became more important. Hornsby did have trouble with popups, but apparently his 1B and SS would cover for him; he still rates as one of the worst 2B to have a long career there.
The difference between Sportsman Park in the 1920’s and the Astrodome in the 1960’s (and, to a lesser extent, Riverfront in the 70’s) is stark enough to disguise the actual differences between Hornsby and Morgan, long story short (I just got called into work so I have to cut short the long post I was about to make).
I’m curious … what’s your rationale for that?
Joe Morgan was a crazy good hitter and his 1975-76 (when he led the league in OPS while playing second base) is among the best 2-year sequences in baseball history. OTOH his glove wasn’t the greatest, either.
More than Short, CF or Catcher? I would put any of those three ahead of Second in terms of defensive value. Not that second is unimportant, and maybe you can make a case that it is more important that CF, but why do you think it is most important?
I am a homer, I am voting for Robinson even though he probably doesn’t strictly deserve it.
I’m going with Eddie Collins. Very good line drive hitter, very good baserunner, and an ace on defense. Hornsby was a better hitter, but very problematic in the field–the only reason he didn’t get moved to the outfield was that he was even worse at catching fly balls. Also, Hornsby habitually peed in the shower, which disqualifies him from consideration.
Brandon Phillips.
Hornsby has to be listed as number one for his incredible offensive prowess, which more than makes up for his shortcomings defensively.
I’d call Ryno a close second, however. Ryno and Hornsby are the only two second basemen (to my knowledge) to ever hit 40 homers in a season. Ryno was a peerless fielder during his prime (although he won a couple Gold Gloves later in his career on reputation alone) who is the only two-bagger to ever record 900 chances in a season. Mix in his hitting and his running and you have a guy who simply dominated his position during his era.
From that list, I’d then go with Morgan, Collins, and Lajoie to round out my top 5.
While futzing around with BR’s play index for 2B, I got results that Morgan’s Runs above replacement Fielding stats were quite poor, other than 1973-75. He ends up with -5.6 career dWAR, compared to Hornsby’s 4.5 career dWAR. OTOH, Hornsby’s range factor at 2B (5.36) was quite a bit worse than the League RF of 5.82.
Is this just another case of dWAR being on crack?
My vote’s for Hornsby, regardless, and Morgan if we limit it to post WW2.
On the defensive numbers you absolutely have to consult other sites and metrics, or apply a huge grain of salt to those from a single site.
There’s quite a few reasons why a second baseman’s fielding skill is more important than a shortstop’s, in my opinion. They have approximately equal “chances” for errors or bad judgment because they handle the ball about as equally often, but the shortstop ends up making fewer decisions. Shortstops rarely have a difficult decision between trying to catch the runner at 2nd or 1st, and less frequently have to deal with base runners crossing between them and the ball they’re trying to field. You can see how managers mostly agree with me, as they’re unwilling to let go of competent 2nd basemen even with sub-par offensive stats, but they’re willing to put people in shortstop even if they have sub-par fielding stats for the position, as long as they have strong offensive stats.
Also, comparing the difficulty of 2nd to the difficulty of center field is trivial. Anyone who has to field sharply struck ground balls from a short distance has a more difficult job than someone who mainly gets to field fly balls or longer distance ground balls. The reaction time and reflexes required isn’t even close.
I’m not sure I follow you here at all. Shortstop is almost universally considered to be the most difficult position to field well (with the exceptions of pitcher and catcher whose responsibilities are so unique). The skillset for shortstops and second basemen is essentially identical, except that the shortstop must have a stronger throwing arm and the second baseman must (usually) have a quicker release on the double play. If you look at the careers of top shortstops, it is not unusual to see them move to second base as they get a little older or have arm trouble–or move to teams whose managers value defense. (See Joe Sewell for one example; there are several more.) Conversely, college second basemen have trouble being taken seriously by pro scouts, who reason that the elite middle infielders are all shortstops. You will almost never see a career second baseman move to shortstop, though they may temporarily fill in when the team is short-handed.
To put the case differently, Mark Belanger was the worst hitter in the American League in several seasons, but kept his starting position as Orioles shortstop because of his defense. Ozzie Smith was a perrenial all-star at shortstop while batting in the .240s with no power. I can’t remember too many second basemen who had that level of success while making almost pitcher-level contributions at the plate.
No, What is. Who’s on-- oh, never mind.
No, Hu’s on second. 
Well, I have pictoral proof that he was on first. (Yes, as a baserunner, but still…)
