Five Fielders
The best by era, regardless of position played
This week’s FIVES entry is an attempt to provide some perspective on this question: Who was the greatest fielder in baseball history? While I reserve the right to treat each of the skill positions in a separate column, this week is a market basket of fielders, evaluated by the standards of the five specific eras that are locked in for this season’s columns.
Statistics are less useful for fielders than for batters or pitchers, so legend will play a larger part. Was Tris Speaker better than Willie Mays? Rabbit Maranville better than Ozzie Smith? In the five-era construct of this series, each star defender earns plaudits as the best of his era.
In the game’s earliest days the best fielder, by acclamation, would have been a catcher, vulnerable to all the blows of the position without benefit of mitt, mask, or mattress. By the time MLB began, the game was marked by ground balls, with infield assists and putouts reaching levels not equaled since … so keystone artists (slipping into old-time sportwritese) became highly prized, too.
A low batting average combined with a long career at a skill position (up the middle) was, until the age of the shift, a great indicator of defensive excellence. Brooklyn’s catcher Bill Bergen is perhaps the exemplar for this bit of deduction (11 years despite a .170 batting average), but so is Omar Vizquel (24 years, with an OPS+ of 82).
Conversely, high batting proficiency combined with a long career at a corner position (first base and third, left field and right) will tend to be defensively suspect, though of course there have been notable exceptions, such as Roberto Clemente in right field or Keith Hernandez at first base.
It is pleasant if unrealistic to think that George Wright, the nonpareil of the 1860s, would excel at shortstop today. Oldtimers would continue to extol his virtues, or that of Honus Wagner, for decades after their playing days were over. But memory plays tricks, so numbers come into play. In short, I offer 25 fielders — the best in each of five eras, plus four runners-up — who may be said to represent the greatest baseball had to offer in their day and, in many cases, well beyond.
1876–1919
Tris Speaker
Legend will tend to take precedence over stats in this era, with claims for great fielding plays by Billy Sunday, Paul Hines, Bill Lange, Red Murray, and legions more. But in Tris Speaker’s case the numbers don’t lie: tops all-time in outfield assists and double plays, second in career putouts, and the best of his day in range factor. Oldtimers will agree that there has never been another like him, unless it was Willie Mays, the legendary center fielder of our era. Of Speakers’s glove it was said (for the first time) that it was “the place where triples go to die.” (See: https://bit.ly/3fJJ5yy.)
Runners-up: Bid McPhee, George Davis, Bill Bergen, Joe Tinker
1920–1946
Rabbit Maranville
When a shortstop is not moved to second base or third in his twilight years in the game, that is a sign of continued effectiveness, even dominance. It was true for Dickey Pearce in the 1870s, Honus Wagner in the 1910s, and Rabbit Maranville in the 1920s. Though frequently mocked by the unknowing fan, like Joe Tinker, as an undeserving Hall of Famer, the Rabbit was honored by all who saw him play. In five of his last six years as a regular in Boston, enduring into his forties, he won MVP votes.
Runners-up: Dave Bancroft, Frankie Frisch, Everett Scott, Joe DiMaggio
1947–1976
Bill Mazeroski
While other players were elected to the Hall of Fame for primarily defensive accomplishments, particularly catchers and shortstops, Maz was the first in recent years (McPhee was the second, having had the door opened for him). Like those who preceded him, he was derided for his low batting average (Tinker, Maranville, Ferrell). Maz was further derided as a one-hit wonder among HOFers, that hit being the home run that won the 1960 World Series. But sabermetrics reveal his greatness: he is first since 1953, by a wide margin, in Total Zone Runs among second sackers.
Runners-up: Willie Mays, Brooks Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Mark Belanger
1977–2002
Ozzie Smith
Was Ozzie the greatest fielder at any position, at any time in baseball history? In my view, yes, and I am not alone. Acrobatic yet reliable, Ozzie excelled in the old metrics (fielding percentage, total assists) and the new. We recall him as The Human Highlight Reel, doing backflips and backhand tosses to his second-base partner. But he had the arm to record outs on balls hit in the hole an the agility to patrol short left field or scoop up balls dribbled past the mound. Prose superlatives, even when buttressed by stats and video, do not capture his grace.
Runners-up: Johnny Bench, Dwight Evans, Cal Ripken Jr., Ivan Rodriguez
2003–2020
Andruw Jones
A better center fielder than Willie Mays or Tris Speaker? Maybe. The very idea is upsetting — that a ballplayer who retired within recent memory might be the best of all, hidden in plain sight. Even HOF electors accorded him only 7.3 percent of their ballots in his first year of eligibility. Viewed by many as a flash in the pan whose career was in steep decline by age 30, Jones in fact dominated his peers almost from the time he broke in, at age 19. Though he hit as many as 51 homers and twice drove in nearly 130 runs, it is for his glove that Andruw Jones may one day win a plaque.
Runners-up: Ichiro Suzuki, Yadier Molina, Andrelton Simmons, Mookie Betts
