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So it's the Splinter in LF, Say Hey in CF, and over in RF, well, remember, this is greatest RF, not greatest player. So your vote is for ...

Hank Aaron 18 (12.50%)
Roberto Clemente 24 (16.67%)
Andre Dawson 0 (0.00%)
Reggie Jackson 0 (0.00%)
Al Kaline 2 (1.39%)
Mel Ott 0 (0.00%)
Frank Robinson 4 (2.78%)
Babe Ruth 92 (63.89%)
Dave Winfield 1 (0.69%)
Other (who?) 3 (2.08%)
So it's the Splinter in LF, Say Hey in CF, and over in RF, well, remember, this is greatest RF, not greatest player. So your vote is for ... | 7 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mick Doherty - Wednesday, February 14 2007 @ 11:36 PM EST (#163544) #
As with all the others, the candidates are culled from the rankings done by The Baseball Page.

Changes: Dawson (#12) and Clemente (#11) bump #8 Paul Waner and #9 Harry Heilmann for no particularly defensible reason other than it seemed the right thing to do ... besides, there are only two guys on the list who are going to get more than a token vote or two, right?

Jays in the rankings: Winfield, of course; but also Dave Parker at #21, Jose Canseco at #33, Shawn Green at #44, Raul Mondesi at #68, Jeff Burroughs at #71 and Jesse Barfield at #75. Did I miss anyone?
SNB - Thursday, February 15 2007 @ 12:04 AM EST (#163545) #
I think we should prepare for the biggest blowout yet...
Magpie - Thursday, February 15 2007 @ 12:17 AM EST (#163546) #
greatest RF, not greatest player.

You could let that complicate the issue, if you like, and I can help. Ruth never - not once - played 100 games in RF. Huggins' Yankees had an odd outfield arrangement. Bob Meusel, who had by far the best outfield arm in baseball while he was active, appears to have played LF in Yankee Stadium (with the immense distances in the left-centre power alley) and RF in most of the other parks. Essentially, Ruth started out as the Yankee RF in 1920, was moved to LF when Meusel arrived to stay in 1921 - but when they moved into Yankee Stadium in 1923, this flip-flop arrangement began.
zeppelinkm - Thursday, February 15 2007 @ 09:33 AM EST (#163548) #
Who got the other votes? Speak up!
Bruce Wrigley - Thursday, February 15 2007 @ 09:40 AM EST (#163549) #

The actual story on Ruth is that he wouldn't play the sun field because he didn't like the sun in his eyes (who does?) so he had Miller Huggins (or whoever) flip he and Meusel depending on the park they were in.  That's why Meusel played left field at home - the sun field at Yankee Stadium in day games is left field.

(Which you can check by looking at this map.  Note how the left fielder will be looking towards the aouthern sky, which is where the sun will be in the afternoon.  The right fielder will have his back to the sun most of the time.  My understanding is that the YS renovation in the 1970s didn't affect the field placement at all).  Conveniently, that map also shows what was meant above about the huge left field in Yankee Stadium... all that stuff in front of the seats in left-center used to be in play before it was cut down by successive renovations.  No wonder it was a paradise for left-handed pitchers!

After all, while Meusel was generally acclaimed as the best-throwing outfielder of his era, Ruth's arm was good enough to win 94 games in the majors - and he wasn't moved off the mound because his pitching was bad.  Ruth could bring it from the outfield.

Mick Doherty - Thursday, February 15 2007 @ 01:30 PM EST (#163552) #
I admit I voted for Aaron -- but am nevertheless shocked that Ruth has so far dropped under 70 percent. Also surprised that Clemente is in third -- as great as he was, I'd think F-Robby would've been a slam dunk for third, unless the youngsters went for Winfield or the Canadian influence leaned toward Dawson, but that hasn't happened. Are the "Other" votes for Vlad Guerrero? It is a little weird not having an active player on the list at all.
Mike Green - Friday, February 16 2007 @ 09:26 AM EST (#163558) #
Ruth, Aaron, Robinson, in that order for me.
So it's the Splinter in LF, Say Hey in CF, and over in RF, well, remember, this is greatest RF, not greatest player. So your vote is for ... | 7 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.