Greatest Third Baseman of all time?

Brooks was a better fielder but Schmitty was a much better hitter and the best player to play 3rd base in baseball history.

If you go by analytics it’s Schmidt.

Brett was great too but Schmitty was a better fielder and hit for more power - which is what you want from the corners of your infield.

Search YouTube “George Brett tells story of shitting his pants”. He was a hilarious dude.

Graig Nettles gets no love. He retired with the most home runs by an American League 3rd baseman. When leagues meant something. His glove was legendary. No one could get anything past him at 3rd. 78 World Series.

brett simply because he carried the royals for a decade.

Schmidt was a Cubs killer in his career - but despite that I’ll have to go with him.

I didn’t watch a ton of AL when I was growing up so I didn’t see Boggs or Brett all that much - but both were beast mode for sure.

One of my all time hidden gems people rarely talk about was Gary Gaetti who was a two time World Champion w/the Twins. He got golden gloves and hit for power. Always productive at bat cleaning up for the hitters who got on base before him. Small market team means he didn’t get attention like those other guys, but he’s a hall of famer.

Schmidt. Spent my childhood sitting behind 3rd base at Veterans stadium watching Schmitty.

Hit, field, do it all.

Schmidt probably is objectively the best all around but I think George Brett had an epic .400 batting year and plus gets big kudos for the infamous pine tar tv moment.

Here's my top 5 in order, but honestly I can see an argument for any of the 5 being considered the greatest.

1 George Brett
2 Mike Schmidt
3 Wade Boggs
4 Chipper Jones
5 Paul Molitor

Brooks Robinson and Eddie Matthew's were both before my time but from what I've heard over the years they both deserve to be in the conversation as well.

Nolan Arenado deserves some notice as well. He's won 10 gold gloves and, while a relatively new award, 6 Platinum gloves. The Platinum glove is given to the best fielder, regardless of position. He's also a damn good hitter.

He's never been on a team I root for but I've seen him make some spectacular plays against my team.

I’d go with Schmidt as the best. Brett second best. Brooks Robinson after that.

Schmidt is probably the best but I agree about Arenado. I saw Robinson play but was just a kid. Baseball people whose seen both play say Arenado’s defense is on par with Brooks and he’s a better hitter. I’ve watched Arenado play a lot and I’ve never seen make as many spectacular plays

Always loved George Brett. Mike Schmidt hit more homeruns than any third baseman in history and twice as many as Brooks Robinson Brooks Robinson was better than both. Brooks Robinson made 15 all-star teams when it meant something. Brooks Robinson won 16 consecutive gold gloves and his 16 are the most of any position player in history and second to Greg Maddux' 18. He was simply the single best defensive player in the history of the game. While compared to Cal Ripken he seems like a slacker for only playing an average of 157.5 games per year from 1962- 1973. In the 1970 world series he had the finest defensive world series in history and hit 429 with 2 home runs and 6 rbi's in 5 game series. He won a car. Johnny Bench later said that if the Reds had known he needed a car they'd have bought him one. He loved playing the field and caught everything. Despite that he was known for the ability to make long throws from anywhere. If you never saw him play, you never saw the best fielder ever. Wade Boggs wasn't close. I met him when I was 9. He was my second favorite baseball player then and my second favorite Robinson. He spent 5 minutes talking to me and my Dad while signing my baseball. He was a regular guy. Seemd like anyone else. God bless Brooks.

Mike Schmidt and it's not even particularly close. Power, patience, and excellent defense (though not to Robinson's level defensively). 3 MVPs and the analytics will tell you there were several other years that he was clearly the best player in the NL and would have been a deserving MVP in those years as well.

No slight to Robinson. Great player, great career, all around regarded as a quality person, and his legend is secure on his performance in the 1970 World Series alone.

The names here trump the name I’m putting out, but he’s worth mentioning. Jim Thome. He started out at 3rd but was moved to 1st, then eventually to DH. You mention his name most people are going to think of him as a 1st but I think of him as a 3rd.

Brooks was an excellent clutch hitter and probably unparalleled defensively. Schmidt was definitely stronger overall.

Jim Thome is rumored to have a big bat - both on the diamond and off