Utley the best 2B of all time?

[Kaps]

SANDBERG all the way

[donjuan]

SANDBERG all the way

The question was not who is your favorite 2B from your home team.

[2Pac]

The question was not who is your favorite 2B from your home team.

No kidding. Must be something in the water up in Chitcago that makes them all irrational homers.

[jjgold]

Kent right now is the best ever

Now Utley has to do it for 10 more years then we can talk

I rather take Cano than Utley for long term productivity.

[3PtShooter]

Duane Kuiper or Jack Brohammer

[Willie Bee]

Utley the best 2B of all time? Yes or no?

No. I'll still take Rogers Hornsby, Larry Lajoie, Charlie Gehringer or Joe Morgan in front of Utley who needs to perform at a high level for a little more than 600 or so games to rank on any 'all-time' list of mine.

[rake922]

you atleast need a couple world series rings....

Roberto Alomar was pretty good.

Roberto Alomar has 10 gold glove awards and 12 all star selections.

He gets my vote

[LT Profits]

I think Joe Morgan was the best all-around when you combine hitting for power, hitting for average and defense.

[LT Profits]

Oh and I DO think that Utley is the best current second baseman. Jeff Kent may be a better hitter, but he is a liablitiy defensively.

[MadCapper]

I'm pretty sure Utley will never come close to RAJAH!

Hornsby is among the greatest hitters in baseball history. He is the greatest hitter who regularly played a position other than outfield or first base, and he is arguably history's best right-handed hitter. Until Barry Bonds reached the peak of his career in 2001, Hornsby was without a serious rival as the best hitter in the history of the National League. He is the only player to win the National League Triple Crown twice. His career batting average of .358 is the highest in National League history, and also the highest in major league history for any right-handed hitter. His batting average for the 1924 season was .424, a mark that no player since has matched. The Baseball Hall of Fame elected Hornsby in 1942.

The new "Live Ball" era reached the National League in 1921, and Hornsby led the charge, embarking upon a five-year hitting tear that is rivaled in baseball history only by Ruth's own performances during the periods 1920-1924 and 1926-1930, and by the hitting record of Barry Bonds during 2000-2004. Hornsby hit .397 in 1921, and his 21 home runs were second in the league, and more than twice his total in any previous season. He also led the league in on base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.639), runs (131), RBI (126), doubles (44), and triples (18).

Perhaps the highlight of Hornsby's career was his 1922 season, when he became the only player in history to hit over 40 home runs and bat over .400 in the same season. Hornsby won the first of his triple crowns that year, leading the league in almost every batting category including batting average (.401), home runs (42, a National League record at the time), RBI (152), slugging average (.722, another record at the time), on base percentage (.459), doubles (46), hits (250, again the highest in National League history to that point), and runs scored (141). His 450 total bases was the highest mark for any National league player during the 20th century. Hornsby also produced in the field, leading the league in putouts, double plays, and fielding percentage.

For the period 1921-1925, Hornsby's batting average was .402, a record for a five-year period that almost certainly will never be equaled. He led the league in batting average, slugging percentage, and on base percentage during each of those five years, having also led the league in those categories in 1920.

[MadCapper]

Ted Williams in his autobiography, "My Turn at Bat" (at page 118), stated that Hornsby was the greatest hitter for average and power in the history of baseball. One of the more remarkable aspects of Hornsby as a hitter is the fact that he accomplished his batting feats as a right- handed hitter. Throughout baseball history approximately 70% of the pitchers have been right-handed, thereby placing a right-handed hitter at a statistical disadvantage approximately 70% of the time. Most of Hornsby's serious rivals for the laurel of greatest hitter ever have been left-handed hitters (e.g., Ruth, Cobb, Musial, Bonds, Williams, Gehrig).

Hornsby was one of the more controversial characters in baseball history. Although he did not drink or smoke, he was a compulsive gambler. As with Ty Cobb, his photogenic smile belied a dark side. One writer characterized him as "a liturgy of hatred," and according to legendary baseball writer Fred Lieb, Hornsby confessed to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. His chief interest was in winning, and he could be as sarcastic and uncompromising with club owners as he was with his teammates. When Hornsby was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the New York Giants after the 1926 season, the deal was held up because Hornsby, as part of his contract as the manager of the Cardinals (he was a player-manager at the time), owned several shares of stock in the Cardinals. Cardinals owner Sam Breadon offered Hornsby a sum for the stock considerably lower than what Hornsby demanded for it, and neither would budge. Eventually, the other owners of the National League made up the difference, and the trade went through.

Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who had banned the Black Sox for life, was not sympathetic to the notion of ballplayers gambling at horse races anymore than at the ballpark. He called Hornsby into his office to reproach him for playing the horses--which was Hornsby's only real recreation outside of baseball (even after he retired). Landis did not intimidate Rogers; Hornsby recriminated Landis by pointing out that the commissioner was playing the stock market with funds from his office and this would cause a scandal if Hornsby exposed it. Naturally, Landis relented about Hornsby's horseplaying. (Source: The Great Baseball Mystery by Victor Luhrs)

[Doc JS]

Hall Of Famer Primary Team Primary Position Induction Year
Carew, Rod Minnesota Twins Second Baseman 1991
Collins, Sr., Eddie Chicago White Sox Second Baseman 1939
Doerr, Bobby Boston Red Sox Second Baseman 1986
Evers, Johnny Chicago Cubs Second Baseman 1946
Fox, Nellie Chicago White Sox Second Baseman 1997
Frisch, Frankie St. Louis Cardinals Second Baseman 1947
Gehringer, Charlie Detroit Tigers Second Baseman 1949
Grant, Frank Second Baseman 2006
Herman, Billy Chicago Cubs Second Baseman 1975
Hornsby, Rogers St. Louis Cardinals Second Baseman 1942

Lajoie, Nap Cleveland Indians Second Baseman 1937
Lazzeri, Tony New York Yankees Second Baseman 1991
Mazeroski, Bill Pittsburgh Pirates Second Baseman 2001
McPhee, Bid Cincinnati Red Stockings Second Baseman 2000
Morgan, Joe Cincinnati Reds Second Baseman 1990
Robinson, Jackie Brooklyn Dodgers Second Baseman 1962
Sandberg, Ryne Chicago Cubs Second Baseman 2005
Schoendienst, Red St. Louis Cardinals Second Baseman 1989

I think Utley is a very good baseball player but he's not even close to being the best of all time...

[jjgold]

Sandberg was a nice player but no hall of famer

[WileOut]

Mark Lemke? Glen Hubbard? Hubbard even doubles now as the first base coach, can utley do this? C'mon guys.