I only saw the "original superstars" - Mays, Mantle, Aaron, Clemente - at the end if their careers. So for me, it has to be Albert Pujols. For the first 10 years of his career, he was remarkably consistent in his ability to hit the baseball. No one can match what he did statistically over that span. Not the players I mentioned nor Ted Williams or Musial.
And he was great defensively. He came up playing 3rd base and the outfield but made himself a Gold Glove first baseman.
Saw Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargill, and Phil Niekro all in the same game. But seeing Bob Gibson in 1968 was special.
The nearest major league ballpark was 4 hours away.
Motor - But Gibson lost to the Tigers, but the road getting getting there was pretty cool.
Shadow - Saw your greatest (Bailey) when he played for Asheville in the early 60s.
If I was a man of vision and kept all the baseball cards in mint shape from my youth, I could have a enough bucks to have a good month or so in a club VIP.
I saw Nolan Ryan pitch toward the end of his career. He still had sum stuff. While his fastball didn't pop as much as some younger pitchers, batters never knew what was coming so even the heat was a surprise. I also noticed that batters tended to be a bit more jittery with Nolan on the mound. I didn't understand that, he hardly ever actually hit anyone!
Impossible to answer, for the most part. As an example, I ever saw anyone before the mid to late 50's. That eliminates many. Does TV count, or a picture in a magazine? See what I mean?
Not the greatest players, but I always enjoyed watching the pitchers with odd deliveries (Hideo Nomo, Pat Neshek, Carlos Perez) and batters with exaggerated pre-swing movements (Julio Franco, Gary Sheffield).
mikeya02, I wasn't there but saw it several times on TV replays. I shook hands with Nolan Ryan in Dallas, at a fan day, while he was still playing in Arlington. He is not small!
I saw the great Dodger team of the 1950s (Reese, Robinson, Hodges, Campanella, Snider, Furillo et al) play the Cardinals (Stan Musial et al) at Ebbets Field -- quite an array of all-time greats.
I also saw Ted Williams play many times at Fenway Park -- IMHO he was the greatest hitter of all time.
@Bellman-You just named names that bring joy to a Dodger fans heart. I was a kid during the Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes, Sax, Baker, Yeager late 70's-early 80's era. I remember when 76 gave away free Dodger memorabilia.
I must say that I saw the 88' Dodgers play about ten games during that championship year. I saw RamonMartinez pitch his first game, ever. I saw Hersheiser throw two shutouts. When Gibson homered against Eckersley, us 8th graders went insane!
On a family vacation to Disneyland when I was a young teen in the very early 1960s I saw the only major league baseball game of my life at Dodger Stadium.
Sandy Koufax pitched a complete-game two-hitter for the Dodgers. The entire nine inning game took less than 2 hours to complete.
Sandy Koufax is my family player. I still rock a Koufax jersey to this day. He wouldn't pitch on the Sabbath. He was given hell. The next day, during the playoffs, he pitched a shutout. Nuff said.
When Barry Bonds was juicing he was the greatest hitter who ever lived. Had no protection in the lineup, barely saw 1 good pitch a game and he'd hit that one out. You'll never see a guy get pitched around as much as he did, and he still put up staggering numbers. Yes, he was juiced but so were 1/2 the other players in that era and Bonds was still so much better than everyone else it wasn't even funny.
As for pitching, Greg Maddux was truly an artist. There have been many pitchers with more overpowering stuff but no one had the command and precision he had. What a pleasure it was to watch him perform.
The answer to the question: Don Drysdale. I happened to get ticket for the game in L.A. when he pitched his record-breaking 58 2/3 scoreless innings. He and I were both from very nice Van Nuys, California.
I went to college with Ozzie Smith and Mike Krukow. Saw them both play then.
CG,
I saw Ozzie play and thought he was great. Can't tell you how many times some would say, yes, he was a great SS, but not a great hitter. I'd counter with, guess how many runs he prevented being a great SS?
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