Welcome, to the end of the…don’t worry not the world, just part 2 of our article series on the best players in MLB! So without further drama, let’s jump back into our lil’ ocean of the best ever to play in the American League:
7. Cleveland Indians(CD), Bob Feller, 1936-1956: from ’41-’44, “Rapid Robert” left the Indians to devote 3 years of his career to the US Navy. When he left, he was at the zenith of his career and when he came back it was as if he never left. The baseball scoreboards show that his career stats with the Indians went like this: 2,581 K, 44 SHO, 279 CG, and 266-162 with a 3.25 ERA. He also had 8 All-Star appearances.
8. Oakland Athletics(WD), Al Simmons, 1924-1944: he left the team 2 times during this period but he always came back. The Athletics have had some great players and the pick came down to Simmons and Rickey Henderson. Simmons set the baseball scoreboards alight, playing 1290 games and created career stats like: .356 BA, .584 SLG, .391 OBP, 1178 RBI, 209 HR, 98 3B, 348 2B, 1827 H and 969 R.
9. Chicago White Sox(CD), Ed Walsh, 1904-1916: You may not have heard of him, but he was the big fish in his region’s pitching pond of his time for 13 years, and the little fish feared him. His White Sox career line stands at: 0.860 WHIP, 269 K, 6 SV, 11 SHO, 42 CG, 66 G, and 40-15 with a 1.42 ERA. And to top it all off, he has the best ERA of 1.82 of all times in the MLB.
10. Los Angeles Angels(WD), Nolan Ryan, 1972-1979: he was with the Angels for a short 8 years, but in those 8 years he managed to win 324 games with 4 no-hitters in his career. He leads in the all time strike out record, had 5 All-Star appearances and stats that stood as: 1.294 WHIP, 2,416 K, 40 SHO, 156 CG, 138-121 and 3.07 ERA.
11. Arizona Diamondbacks(WD), Randy Johnson, 1999-2008: he left the team for 3 years during ’04 to ’07, but the 8 seasons he did play with the Diamondbacks he accomplished what most players would in a 15 season run! For those 8 seasons, his stats looked like this: 38 CG, 118-62, 2.83 ERA, 18 SHO, 416 BB, 2077 K, 1.068 WHIP. In 2001, he shared the MVP award with Curt Schilling for helping Arizona snatch the World Series.
12. Minnesota Twins(CD), Walter Johnson, 1907-1927: he played 21 seasons with the Twins, a very rare thing back then and became one of the greatest pitchers of all time. His stats stood at: 417-279, 531 CG 2.17 ERA, 3,509 K, 110 SHO, 1.061 WHIP. He also won 2 AL MVPs.
13. Detroit Tigers(CD), Ty Cobb, 1905-1926: he is a baseball legend, and why wouldn’t he be with stats like his: 3,900 H, 2,088 R, , 665 2B, 111 HR, 284 3B, 1,805 RBI, .434 OBP, 869 SB, .368 BA, .517 SLG, and .950 OPS. He leads the MLB in batting average, 2nd in hits and 3rd in steals.
14. Boston Red Sox(ED), Ted Williams, 1939-1942 and 1946-1960: “Ted Ballgame” is easily one of the greatest all-time hitters, with stats like: 2,654 H, 1,798 R, 521 HR, 525 2B, 1,839 RBI, .482 OBP, .344 BA, 1.116 OPS and a.634 SLG. He is 17 timer All-Star player and is also the last player to hit over an average of .400 3 times.
For more information on Ted Williams, go to:
en.wikipedia.org