ESPN recently ranked the greatest players at every position and all-time. One special name cracked the top 10 of ESPN’s Senior Baseball Writer Dave Schoenfield’s list.
Mike Schmidt came in at number 10 on the all-time player list, beating out Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, and Pete Rose among others.
Here is the quick blurb from Schoenfield’s ranking of Michael Jack Schmidt:
"He hit just .267 in his career? As Bill James once said, if he’d hit for a higher average, he’d be the greatest player to play the game. Schmidt led the National League eight times in home runs and was first or second nine times in WAR among NL position players. He drew walks, won nine Gold Gloves and played on a lot of good teams. And, yes, this could have been Honus Wagner or Stan Musial or Lou Gehrig or Rickey Henderson or Mantle or Roger Hornsby. This wasn’t easy! But none of them had the best cry ever."
Schmidt was also named the best third baseman of all-time on ESPN’s positional rankings. They laid out his individual achievements quite nicely:
"Honors12-time All-Star (1974, ’76-77, ’79-84, ’86-87, ’89), 10 Gold Gloves (’76-84, ’86), World Series MVP (’80), three-time MVP (’80-81, ’86), six Silver Sluggers (’80-84, ’86), Hall of Fame (’95)Championships1 — Philadelphia (1980)Career stats.267/.380/.527, OPS — .908, Hits – 2,234, HRs — 548, RBIs – 1,595"
Tim Kurkjian also lauded Schmidt’s career in the rankings, which placed our favorite Phillie just ahead of George Brett.
"Mike Schmidt was one of the great combinations of power and finesse with 548 home runs and 10 Gold Gloves at third base: He could play the piano, and move it, too."
On the ESPN overall top 100 list, only the first couple of names have begun to trickle out. Among them are former Phillies Grover Cleveland Alexander (97th), Ryne Sandberg (95th), and Curt Schilling (91st).
Jim Thome was listed as an honorable mention, and the remainder of the top 100 list will surely include several more former Phillies players.
Steve Carlton, Jim Bunning, Robin Roberts, Pete Rose, and Richie Ashburn could each make an appearance on the remaining 80 players, although I suspect only two or three of them will.