MLB Prime 9: Best Hitting Duos

welcome to prime9 the countdown show that covers the very best in baseball guaranteed to start arguments not in this episode features the nine greatest hitting duos why nine that's baseball nine players nine innings prime nine rest assured there are more than nine sweet swinging run producing hitting duels one more formidable than the rest so it was awfully tough to gain membership into this exclusive club obviously we took into account both players entire hitting repertoire beginning of course with their combined ability to reach base the line drive into the stands joe turned a new page in baseball history we looked at their batting averages and their and you power find any one-year wonders here either our tandems all played together for quite a few years it's no surprise that there are some very big names on this list including quite a few hall of famers one fellow who is not in cooperstown happens to be half of our first dynamic hitting duo number nine on prime nine in the pantheon that houses the greatest hitters ever to play the game you will surely find the name joe dimaggio yes it's the yankee clipper himself jose joe dimaggio this all-time great goes much of the credit for the success of the yankees you must be special to be an all-star every single season you play in the majors joe d was one of the best hitters in the game he hit a lot of home runs drove in a lot of runs he was very charismatic everything he did was with with class and dignity and when you look at him he just admired him so much dimaggio smashes a long drive just inside of the foul pole into the lower left field stand joe dimaggio is a superstar and the reason why the yankees were so successful is because dimaggio had a teammate in charlie keller keller the man they called king kong was the perfect compliment to jolt and joke he was strong and he just had that appearance of a guy that had tremendous power and of course when he swinged the bat and hit it he was quite destructive the rookie right fielder lifts a long high fly which sails into the right field bleachers keller could do it all hit for a good average get on base at a wonderful clip head for power drive and runs charlie keller a power hitter plenty of home runs in this bet for eight years they wreaked havoc including four in which they both had an ops plus of 140 or more the two of them were really wonderfully complementary ball players both very adept at driving the ball both wonderful run producers together they led the yankees to five pennants and four world series titles dimaggio and keller are truly one of the great hitting duos of all time [Music] one of the game's greatest center fielders was a man known as the kid ken griffey jr was a guy who had one of the most beautiful amazing swings you've ever seen nobody could mess with him junior belts a ball deep to right field he was just a natural athlete very smooth his hitting was something that was he was born to do that and during ken's time in seattle he was blessed to have by his side the greatest designated hitter of all time in edgar martinez i don't think there's any doubt although there have been great designated hitters besides him that he was the best a fastball down the middle of the plate and maybe he deep sexton he really turned d.h into science this one is what we call the lead hand he just turned into this hitting machine and he hated to see him come up there [Applause] [Music] in their 11 seasons together these hit machines produced some astounding numbers you had to pick your parts edgar was good at taking the inside pitch and driving it and griff was hitting balls no matter where you threw it having those guys back to back in that lineup you're almost happy when junior would hit a double then you could walk edgar a tough spot for sure for when they were mariners one or the other led the league in runs and batting twice on base percentage three times and home runs four times they put together great at bats and you know both of them were very clutch guys too like in the 95 ds when they worked together to create one of the most indelible moments in seattle mariner's [Music] history their partnership ended after 99 when griffy left for cincinnati but their legacy in the northwest will live on forever those two hitters ken griffey jr and edgar martinez were the two best hitters that i played with they were professional hitters to the max [Music] welcome back to prime nine featuring the greatest hitting duos we've made our case for nine and eight which brings us to number seven from 1925 through 32 few players packed more power than a pair of connie max a's jimmy fox and al simmons were the same kind of hitter now fox would hit more home runs simmons might drive in more runs but the two were basically a double-barreled machine simmons was one of the best players of his era at his peak was a legitimate 380 hitter with good power in 1930 drove in 101 runs just in his home games alone half the schedule and then in 1932 he did it again he drove in 100 runs in just his home games he's the only player in baseball history who in two different seasons had 100 rbis just in home games phenomenal and next to simmons was the man they called the beast jimmy fox was an overwhelming power hitter that he was just the physical presence that really intimidated a lot of pitches of his time common saying in baseball that every batter loves his base hits i'm no exception i love to take my cuts which he did to the tune of 12 straight 30 home run 100 rbi seasons with four home run titles and two batting problems jimmy fox when you adjusted for everything players did you adjust for park and you were just for error wasn't just great he was one of the 10 best hitters in baseball history in their time together fox and simmons were a marvel to behold i think when we look back at the numbers they're almost mind boggling these two men were perennial contenders for batting titles extra bass hit titles leading the league in total bases rbi runs scored slugging behind this powerful duo the a's won three straight pennants and two world series titles fox and simmons all of their talents and capabilities were indeed excellent almost 20 years before simmons and the beast the a's had frank baker and eddie collins they were one half of the one hundred thousand dollar in field and they also were key ingredients to connie mac's philadelphia athletics from 1910 to 1914 eddie collins was one of the greatest players of all time definitely one of the greatest second baseman ever a no doubt hall of famer just hit for high averages every single season what a stolen base machine in fact eddie stole 741 bases in his career to go with his 3 315 hits eddie collins was the perfect top of the order hitter a player who could get on base 40 percent of the time almost at will a guy who could create havoc on the base pass and then up came frank homerun baker [Music] frank baker was actually one of the best players in baseball right there with collins he hit for power mostly doubles and triples in an age when the big swing was frowned upon he got the name home run the 1911 world series after he hit home runs in consecutive games off two hall of famers rube marcard and christy matthewson but he also led the american league and homers in four straight seasons from 1911 to 1914. he also led the league in rbi and he did this all while playing a position third base that at that time was really seen as primarily a defensive position baker and collins ran roughshod through the league during their seven years together leading the a's to four pennants and three world series championships in the dead ball era when you're looking at a second baseman and a third baseman that consistently hit 300 and a third baseman that is arguably considered a power hitter for the day that's an impressive duo [Music] welcome back to prime nine featuring the greatest hitting duos joe and joe and charlie keller were followed by junior and edgar next came jimmy fox and al simmons and eddie collins and home run baker which means it's time for number five it's also time for the 21st century to chime in via saint louis he had pools from the right-hand side edmonds from the left-hand side and they were just consistently coming up with big hits really solidifying the middle of that order albert grew up and matured very quickly and of course jimmy had all the experience in the world you know you just couldn't help but see two leaders one younger and the other one a little bit older that stabilized a ball club for seven years together they proved to be a living nightmare for opposing pitchers and they really fed off each other you couldn't pitch around alberta to pitch around jimmy because one of them was going to beat you edmund was very very strong left hand hit her watch him rock and roll he's going to rock and roll with his leg roll explodes blue holes all-around hitter you know that gives you power they have the ability to wait for their pitch pitchers would try to be careful find themselves behind in the count and then you're in trouble edmonds drills one to right center albert and jim are one of just two duos on our list to have a season in which both hit at least 40 home runs and have a slugging percentage above 600. they get for average they hit the power they drove runs in [Music] both runwell both smart base runners how about that they put the double steal on and edmond steals home behind albert and edmonds the cardinals made five playoff appearances won two pennants and captured a world series title the world champion when you go back and look at the times when those two were together they really became a pretty legit tandem for 14 years willie mays and willie mccovey gave pitchers a case of the willys i used to call them thunder and lightning willie mays was the lightning and then of course mccovey being the thunder they were the guys that you definitely wanted to try and keep off the base and keep in the park hall of famer willie mays was more than just a 24-time all-star willie mays was the best player i believe i ever saw you just hated to see him come to the bat willie mays digs in he could run the bases as good as anybody he could hit for average and power willie really had a sense of what a situation would bring up if with mccovey behind him i've seen maze many times he had doubled but stop it first and a lot of my teammates said man he should have been at second base hey if he goes to second they're gonna walk mccovey and who could blame them for the other willie was a giant amongst men willie mccovey carried his stature to the plate with him the whole ballpark took on a different proportion it seemed like he was right out there in front of you mccovey connects solidly with all his 200 pounds behind the swing he had a big arc on his swing it's going going it's gone with that arc and that big swing of his he hit the ball a long way mccovey just had the confidence most fear hitter i saw while i was playing 10 years i played with him he didn't have a bad year imagine a tandem that combined to average 58 home runs and 167 rbis a season that was the show giants fans got to witness for 14 years maize and mccovey together right there they were awesome those two men are to this day the most cherished figures in san francisco giants history every time they come out to the ballpark they get nothing but love from the fans and they truly deserve it two of the best players from the early 1900s could be found on the tigers in sam crawford and ty cobb cobb and crawford in the same outfield in the same lineup were a deadly duel and they flourished in the dead ball era with their combined numbers during the 13 seasons they played together crawford was one of those ball players who just naturally evoked respect from the people around him equals us great power and many old-timers say if he was playing with today's lively ball he would rewrite the home run record his contemporaries described him as a powerful powerful hitter in the dead ball era that did not result in home runs what it did result in in sam crawford's case was triples crawford who had been a barber in wahoo nebraska still holds a major league record for three days hits in a lifetime but not even that career mark of 309 triples could match the overall prowess of the greatest hitter of his generation cobb was a unique player probably is as well known for how fierce he was and unrelenting he was as a base runner and an outfielder as a hitter cub is second all-time in hits and no one has a higher lifetime batting average i did lead the league in batting average 12 times in a 13-year segment nobody has had a 13-year segment in which they led the league 12 times he did it in what was the most important category of his day six times cobb and crawford each had an ops plus of 150 or more and they consistently led the league in triples very rarely have you seen two outfielders of that high level caliber in the same outfield at the same time now return to prime nine where in this episode we're featuring the nine best hitting duels these are men who during their time together produced some mind-boggling numbers and did so for an extended period of time [Music] we've covered the first seven so now it's time for the duos that did it better than the rest the very best we begin with number two when eddie matthews and hank aaron were up home runs were the order of the day eddie matthews and hello erin comprised baseball's best 1-2 power punch henry aaron and eddie matthews were two great hitters playing in milwaukee too all the home runs they hit it was not a hitters ball park so they accomplished a lot between the two of them like averaging more than 60 home runs and 200 rbis a season in the 13 years they played together the sound of batting practice is like a candidating and you have a feeling that eddie or hank will hit one today henry was very laid back he was not flamboyant he was a quiet person and his playing reflected that cameron is in a class by himself so steady so solid so strong so good when he gets made things look so easy that people overlook him but he was as good as anybody hammer and hank got many of the home run headlines but matthews was just as often the story eddie matthews was one of the hardest working individuals that i ever met eddie matthews the santa barbara bomber booms his 40th pound rebel of the season making him for the second straight year the home run king of the blaze great player beautiful hitting stroke one of the toughest competitors i've ever met he was really fun to watch and he's the man of the hour the hero of the game three times they finished with the most home runs by teammates and those totals soon added up matthews and aaron most home runs as career teammates they hit 863 home runs between 1954 and 1966 as teammates also what's even more intriguing is the fact that on 75 occasions they homered in the same game we'd be hard-pressed to track down a more powerful duo aaron and matthews were probably as potent a one-two punch as you're gonna find but we did and they check in at number one for there was never a more frightening pair of hitters than lou gehrig and babe ruth there were two great hitters and it was a one-two punch ruth had changed the face of baseball before gehrig even got to the team he dominated the game like no one ever will dominate the game people had never seen a ball hit so hard never seen a ball hit so far and he did it with such tremendous flair still today no one has led the majors in home run slugging percentage ops or extra base hits more times than ruth it was hitting that went beyond the furthest extremities of the imagination he just tore up the record book threw it out the window and started writing new pages while ruth drew all the attention another yankee was also playing wondrously for the fans at yankee stadium his name was lou gehrig lou carrick was a low-key man so he played second fiddle but blue garrick was really out of this world there's no question about it the greatest first baseman to ever play the game is still in the top five all time in both on base and slugging percentage and ops gary was one of the most prolific rbi men in baseball history in 1927 ruth hit 60 home runs so gary came to bat 60 times that year after ruth had cleaned the bases and he still knocked in 175 runs gerrigan ruth had a nine year span in which they finished one two overall in home runs rbis extra base hits slacking percentage and ops so similar yet so different babe ruth and lou gehrig are complementary opposites interacting to create the perfect hole ruth always had the flair for showmanship gary was just a day by day performer it's only with the bat in the hands are they similar babe ruth and lou gehrig combined to create the most concentrated and most sustained run of offensive excellence the game has ever seen or ever will see it nine years in a row both ruth and garrick had an ops plus above 150. no other dubo in modern history had more than three straight they are the gold standard when it comes to offensive duos i don't care who comes after him they'll never match him ruth and gary are the dominant players of their era babe ruth and lou gehrig are the absolute greatest hitting duo the game has ever seen when ruth blasted 60 home runs and garrick hit 47 in 1927 their total of 107 set a new one-year record for teammates they held that honor for 34 years until another pair of yankees named roger maris and mickey mantle closed out the 61 season with a combined 115. rest assured that we considered the eminem boys for this show they simply did not have enough high level years to qualify but a few took just the 1960 and 61 seasons during which marist and mantle finished 1-2 in mvp voting both years led the yankees to penance in both years and combined for an astounding two-year total of 194 home runs they'd be right there in the running for the greatest two-year hitting duo of all time that's our prime nine what's yours [Music]

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Views: 18,454

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Id: CMyz1tSlgQU

Length: 22min 29sec (1349 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020