Top 10 Second Basemen of All-Time (2015) List

Next on our list of counting down the top players by position are the second basemen.  This is our 3rd position to date, and it was the first to cause some real debate among the three of us as to which players made the cut.  A note to anyone that has been following our lists: We are softening just a little on our rule that a player had to have 75% or more of their games at the position to qualify.  Although longevity at the position will carry substantial weight, we will also be looking at each player's prime.  We also did make two exceptions to the pre-1920 rule as you'll see below, as this was one of those few extraordinary cases.  Here's the list...

1.  Rogers Hornsby
2.  Joe Morgan
3.  Charlie Gehringer
4.  Roberto Alomar
5.  Nellie Fox
6.  Ryne Sandberg
7.  Eddie Collins
8.  Craig Biggio
9.  Frankie Frisch
10. Bobby Doerr

Hon Mention - Jeff Kent and Chase Utley 

Second base is one of the weakest in terms of fielding an all-time team.  There have been great players to man the position, but not nearly the wealth we had to choose from at first base.  Even so, we were still able to get 10 HOF players on the list.  The two pre-1920 players are #1 Hornsby and #7 Collins.  Hornsby ranks among the greatest hitters of all time and could do it all, putting up numbers that the players of today would covet.  In his career, he led the league in hits and doubles 4 times, triples and homers 2 times, and won 7 batting titles.  Collins was the second exception, and frankly, it's hard to turn away someone with 3300 hits.  Joe Morgan was considered by many the engine that propelled The Big Red Machine in Cincinnati.  He took back to back MVP and led them to several pennants and 2 World Series wins.  Sandberg and Fox both had MVP seasons and were great hitters in their day.  Biggio played a few positions in his career amassing over 3000 hits and 668 doubles.  He did play nearly 70% of his games at second which was good enough for us. 

The debate came into play more toward the end of our list and somewhat in the particular order of the middle of the list.  There was a debate on the floor as to the legitimacy of Kent making the list over Doerr and Utley.  We'd love to hear comments from our readers as to who they would have put in at the #10 spot among Doerr, Kent, Utley, or even another player.  Let us know what you think!

1 comment:

  1. I would go with Collins and Gehringer ahead of Joe Morgan. Little Joe's peak with the Reds was phenomenal, but his pre and post Cincinnati time was not as impressive. Gehringer and especially Collins were more consistent throughout their careers.

    I remember Alomars' time with the Mets. I know it was the end of his career, but Its hard to fathom a lower effort output being possible. That's my enduring memory of him.

    I agree with Doerr over Kent and Utley, but it is very close.

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