Saturday, July 07, 2012
'Ladies and gentlemen, I give you baseball’s best player: Mariano Rivera,' Hendrickson, Forbes
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7/5/12, "Major League Baseball: Who's The Best Now, Who's The Best All Time?," Forbes, Mark Hendrickson, op-ed
"Greatest player today: This question is complicated by the fact that we are talking about players at different stages in their careers. Pujols, with 10 years under his belt, is a viable candidate, but in my book, there is one player today whose statistics elevate him so far above his peers that he deserves to be recognized as baseball’s best. Today’s greatest baseball player is a pitcher.
As baseball evolved, scoring increased. Thus, the list of pitchers with the lowest career ERAs is dominated by pre-World War II pitchers. In fact, of the 100 lowest career ERAs of all time, only six belong to players who have competed during my lifetime. Four of those are found near the bottom of the list: Whitey Ford, ranked 87th; Dan Quisenberry, 93rd; Sandy Koufax, 94th; and Ron Perranoski, 100th. Only two pitchers who have played during my lifetime managed to crack the top 50: the great knuckleballer, Hoyt Wilhelm, at #45,
7/5/12, "Major League Baseball: Who's The Best Now, Who's The Best All Time?," Forbes, Mark Hendrickson, op-ed
"Greatest player today: This question is complicated by the fact that we are talking about players at different stages in their careers. Pujols, with 10 years under his belt, is a viable candidate, but in my book, there is one player today whose statistics elevate him so far above his peers that he deserves to be recognized as baseball’s best. Today’s greatest baseball player is a pitcher.
As baseball evolved, scoring increased. Thus, the list of pitchers with the lowest career ERAs is dominated by pre-World War II pitchers. In fact, of the 100 lowest career ERAs of all time, only six belong to players who have competed during my lifetime. Four of those are found near the bottom of the list: Whitey Ford, ranked 87th; Dan Quisenberry, 93rd; Sandy Koufax, 94th; and Ron Perranoski, 100th. Only two pitchers who have played during my lifetime managed to crack the top 50: the great knuckleballer, Hoyt Wilhelm, at #45,
- and today’s greatest player.
- I give you baseball’s best player: Mariano Rivera.
Enjoy the All-Star game, all you baseball fans. And feel free to nominate your own baseball “bests” in the “Comment now” link."
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Ed. note: The 2.21 ERA is of course regular season only. Rivera's 141 post season innings have a .70 ERA.
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Hendrickson says Babe Ruth is the best player of all time.
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"Mark Hendrickson, Contributor
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer."
