MLB Prime 9: Greatest Center Fielders

welcome to prime 9 the countdown show that covers the very best in baseball guaranteed to start arguments not in this week we spotlight the top 9 center fielders in the history of the game why 9 that's baseball nine players nine innings prime not like any ball game we've got ground rules for starters you had to have played in the modern baseball area which we define as since 1901 and in this episode our centerfield selections were based on the players entire major league career that includes defense [Music] offense and longevity dozens of the greatest players ever to patrol centerfield were considered Gold Glove winners Hall of Famers living legends a lot of guys that have asked me who's the best baseball player in the world I have said me many times but there can only be nine you just might be surprised by the results but that's what makes prime 9 so much fun it's the ultimate water cooler show because everyone has their own baseball's best the best player I ever saw and we have ours so let's begin with the ninth best centerfielder of all-time on pride was probably one of the most popular players in his home city of anybody in the modern history of the game well you'd think they'd like this guy here provided that sort of intangible effervescence that made you want to watch him this little guy this pudgy guy this guy looked like maybe built like a bear cake yeah that short squatty body looked like a fire hydrant you look like the little bowling ball but man could he get everything done it needs to be done having a 5/8 body jump over fences and robbed opposing players at the homeruns and you did that numerous times oh my goodness yeah tremendous speed great instincts great power hitter [Applause] you couldn't throw a ball by him it could be high and it could be on the ground it was not a pitch he couldn't hit it doesn't matter he was mr. clutch at all times Kirby was a World Series winner in 1987 and his heroics led the twins to still another title in 91 in Game six to send the World Series into a seventh game Kirby Pucket made a phenomenal game saving catch in centerfield and then he homers in the 12th and 9th to win the game Game six it was the Kirby Pucket show Kirby kind of single-handedly won the game glaucoma and and Kirby's career when he was just 35 but he relished the years he had he loved the game of baseball enjoyed every day that he put on a major-league uniform you play with pride and integrity just don't take it for granted because you never know tomorrow's not promised to any of us although a stroke took Kirby from us when he was only 45 we remember him in his prime [Music] one of the sweetest players to watch I think play that position sacrifice your body at times and he covered so much ground was not afraid to run into a wall and maybe even run through a wall probably one of the great kitchens I've ever seen it was the one he made in Kansas City for Jim Edmonds just a complete diving catch straight backwards that may be the best catch I have ever seen Jim's phenomenal fielding skills have often overshadowed his prowess at the plate I don't think a lot of people will give him credit for his offense he's had some great years in Anaheim look at this there's no doubt it's gone and he did have a couple of enormous years in st. Louis they just went about his business in a professional way watch the rock'n'roll watch you go rock and roll with it Rock roll explode beautiful so tell the truth is Jim Nathan's on your list of the greatest center fielders of all time well consider his credentials I guess because Jimmy's approaching as we speak 400 home runs and 2,000 hits to go along with this Gold Gloves this is a guy that had just as much natural talent as as anybody in the game Duke Snider was certainly one of the great center fielders of all time as his Hall of Fame induction suggested Schneider happened to play in a period when there were three great center fielders in baseball Willie Mays Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider well they're making the Duke people try to leave Duke out but Duke was a tremendous hitter he could hit the ball hard Duke was the king of the homerun in the fifties he had five straight seasons in which he hit 40 or more and had more than 100 RBI six times Snider also had the most homeruns of any major league player in the 1950s and was a very good defensive centerfielder this center fielder was the centerpiece of those great Brooklyn Dodger teams that won 5 pennants in became a very well-polished machine quite a few times we had a very talented ballclub and with a World Series title to his credit and 55 Duke is truly worthy of the prime Niner one of the defining players on one of the most significant teams in baseball history a tremendous Hall of Fame player and that's more than good enough [Music] ken griffey jr. when you start talking about the all-time great centerfielder how can he not be one of the top three or four guys that you're going to bring up he at one point in the game did pretty much anything he wanted to great talent great bloodlines they had the good fortune to grow up around the game in the game he was the son of Ken Griffey senior he wasn't in awe being in the major leagues really enjoyed the game one of those nicknames was the kid any active looking changes to watch him go after a ball up the wall over the wall I saw the guy cover basically a left field in right field there wasn't a ball that went the air that he didn't think he could catch he was so good and so natural he was just so graceful and doing everything the griffeys grace was not confined to the outfield the man put up some big-time numbers with one of baseball's sweetest swingers very effortless very smooth his hitting was something that was he was born to do that he'd do his little deal and get his hips go on and get that little swagger with his bat and also he gets set you can see it his face would light up and you'd be like [Music] probably a lot of times he would tell you I'm not a power hitter you might have heard him say that on occasion and that if I just tried to make contact I'm not a home run hitter I don't worry about hitting home runs hoon Uryu are a home run hitter and have been your entire career unfortunately a rush of injuries hit Griffey just as he was being mentioned as the best to ever play the game he earned the spot on the all century team I remember at the time thinking that this is a guy who could make two all century teams of course things didn't work out that well in the 2000s because of injuries there is no doubt in my mind had he not had all the injuries in his career that he would have been the man that someday will hit seven hundred and fifty sixth on run Joe DiMaggio was so amazing skilled in all five tools that fans can only wonder where the likes of him have gone he control he did run he could hit hit with the power and made it look easy he was my idol Joe DiMaggio I thought it was the greatest all-around ball player of all time he was probably instinctively the best outfielder there lived he would look over there bring it in he was the smoothest centerfielder I ever stopped joltin Joe led the Yankees to four straight titles he had a lifetime batting average of 325 and a streak that may never be matched in 1941 the guy hits in 56 straight games wins the MVP over Ted Williams with 406 that year and in 621 plate appearances strikes out 13 times this is a power hitter a truly rare breed that harness both power and discipline there aren't many people who have form run totals that are that similar to strikeouts 361 homers 369 strikeouts per his career and more homers than strikeouts in seven different seasons I saw the March play five years you never did anything wrong he was perfect ball / [Music] now there's been a lot of good center fielders too down through the years Chris peak at optimal we've got him number four a man whose career speaks for itself the speaker was the last the nineteenth-century outfielders he played the style that everybody played before 1900 speaker might have been the extreme case the guy who played the shallowest even among those colleagues in that era 450 career assists from the outfield playing so shorty would catch a line drive and then just take a few steps and step on second to record the back end of the double play during his 22-year career speaker amassed more than 3,500 base hits and finished with a lifetime batting average of 345 a power hitter for his day now that didn't mean home runs in the dead bullier that meant doubles in fact speaker hits 792 doubles in his career still the most in Major League history he's one of those guys who sort of falls through the cracks but it is clear by the fact that he was an almost instantaneous hall-of-famer that those who saw him remembered it and remembered him very well the mchip no pressure on him in 51 after all he was just replacing Joe DiMaggio it's hard to imagine any team seamlessly passing the baton from one all-time great player who will always be in the discussion of the greatest center fielders of all time to another who is also in that same discussion you can run he could throw hit well from both sides of the plate right or left man I thought he was the best player of our era certainly baseball's greatest switch hitter mantle could stunned one of his tape measure of homeruns you could close your eyes with Mickey Mantle at bat during batting practice and the sound of the ball coming off his bat was different than other hitters every time I come up I was trying for a homerun I love to sit go a long way there's a lot of times I was wanting to get a single but I still swam as hard as I could mantle was such a stallion in the outfield it's hard to believe he played most of his career on bulky knees he hurt his knee in 51 and he played the rest of his career without a real good leg and that was unbelievable that he played as well as he did with that kind of an injury but mantle played through his myriad injuries he had a greater purpose in baseball the good of the team I couldn't have stood it if I thought I was sitting on a bench and whitey Ford was pitching the shutout game and we was getting shut out if I could have been out there and maybe hit a homerun or made a catch of something to help him and I didn't do it that would have bugged me to death so I would like to be remembered as a team man I think I was welcome back to trim' 9 where we're showcasing the British center fielders in the history of baseball Kirby kicked it off of number 9 followed by Jim Edmonds and Duke Snider and checking in at number 6 is Ken Griffey jr. joltin show is our fifth best centerfielder followed by Tris speaker and with the number three spot secured by of the lake it brings us to the final two in the early 1900s Tiger Stadium was home to a legend his feats defied belief and folks came from far and wide to witness their Tiger Stadium that was the stadium that copy of thousands of people swamped the park every day in every game to see Kop playing wonder what miracle he'd perform next Cobb was a demon on the base pass and the wizard with the bat he did lead the league in batting average 12 times in a 13-year sick think about that nobody in baseball histories had a thirteen-year segment in which they led the league 12 times he did it in what was the most important category of his day Cobb owned the all-time hit record for more than half a century his numbers were the product of his passion for the game Ty Cobb was a player that did everything at heart as soon as he got his uniform on he was ever been he hit those bases hard and he went after that pitcher hard all the time that's just kind of a ballplayer he was I think you've got a pretty bad rap because he was mean and nasty in the early part of his career it was that competitive fire that made him so great you could talk about all you what I don't care anybody cop was by far the greatest ballplayer ever lived well we've got him at number two which isn't bad but if this show aired fifty years ago he'd be the man in 1950 there was a poll of who the greatest players were in various sports Ty Cobb was the winner in baseball he beat out Babe Ruth and that sort of confirms the original Hall of Fame in 1936 Cobb got the most votes 222 and that's how he was regarded by people who saw him play [Music] baseball is just a wonderful game it's like we're walking in the park sometime you go out and you look up in the sky and you said to yourself what this is a beautiful day faceball to me was that way you knew when you went to the game that he would do something spectacular package like really made this five-tool player was best summed up by his longtime manager there's only five things you can do to be great and that's hit hit with power run field and rope maze could do it all he's the best centerfielder that I ever saw along with his great ability was the fact that he he just seemed to be having a time of his life out there every time I went on the field I enjoy what I was doing and I enjoy throwing out people I enjoy hitting a home run he understood that the game demanded more of him than mere excellence his cap was always flying off his head so that that he must be faster than his cap I gave everything I had my father he said defense is the number one thing in baseball if you catch everything comes out there and you can score one run they've got a score two so I said to myself that's a pretty good idea that advice let me is to make the most iconic fielding play in baseball history when the ball was hit I wasn't even worried about catching the ball I was worried about the two guys on babe and I will Santa myself as I'm running I have to get this ball back into the infield what's so amazing about that catch is that all in one guy advanced by Willie Mays is indeed our greatest centerfielder of all time but there are those who would argue that his greatness goes beyond even that several years ago at the Baseball Writers dinner they were honoring mantle Snyder and mace and mantle got up and said I'm sure that Duke will agree with me that Willie was the best of the three of us you know people asked me who I think is the greatest player that I've ever watched and I really don't hesitate and I say Willie Mays I asked Joe DiMaggio who he thought the greatest player that he'd ever seen was and he thought for a minute and he said Willie Mays and almost 40 years since he last played a game Willie is still revered by his fans they seem to love what you did for 22 years you're trying to reward me with their love I appreciate all that the say hey kid tops off our list of the greatest center fielders of all time and it sure is tough to argue with that despite their greatness not one of our prime 9 center fielders ever collected 500 foot outs in a season but hall-of-famer richie ashburn who just missed making our list they did four times in his career the only man in baseball history to do so more than once that's our prime 9 what's yours

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Views: 24,687

Rating: 4.8565021 out of 5

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Id: kXRm-5WRP-A

Length: 21min 59sec (1319 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 10 2019