Countdown to the Best Players by Team

We're going to start the clock. Over the next nine weeks, covering twelve franchises per week, we'll give you a taste of the best career players and best pitchers by all teams in history, highlighting one of the top twenty for each. Yes, this is only a taste. All teams have their top twenty or so listed in the Stat Geek Baseball, Best Ever Book, now on sale in ebook or at your favorite online store. We're trying to promote what the reviewers are saying is a great read, but, hey, we're new at this, and need you to see what we're talking about. Then if you like it, please check out the book. It will make a great Father's Day gift for a baseball dad, or a great summer read for the baseball fanatic of any age.

But let's get on with the countdown. Each week we'll focus on either batters or pitchers. In week one, today, it will start out with the batters of the top of the alphabet teams, including the long gone franchises like the Altoona Mountain City, plus today's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, and Baltimore Orioles. So there's something there for the deep baseball historian and the historian of today as well. You can read the webpage of the sample for the first twelve teams at the page listed below, but right now we're going to focus on the bonus coverage of one team among that twelve, the Baltimore Orioles and their best batters in the long history of that franchise.

The Top Five
1. Cal Ripken. It will come as no surprise to most that the best player in franchise history played not long ago, and captured the city's hearts, and still does, like no other player in their history. Yes, Cal Ripken plied his craft on the left side of the infield for that longest consecutive games streak and put up numbers and class that has not been outclassed by any other batter, or pitcher for that matter, on the club. He would accumulate 320.188 PEVA Career Rating Points, make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, and run the gauntlet of all the many qualities of what a baseball hero should be. He hit 431 Home Runs, knocked in 1695 RBIs, and collected 3,184 hits.

2. Eddie Murray. For thirteen seasons in Baltimore, Eddie came to the park and plate with remarkable consistency and a dogged determination to create runs. No, he didn't do it with the style and panache of Ripken, although the similarities in day to day production are really a lot closer in quality than one would think. And while his Oriole career was shorter than Ripken's 21 seasons, his per year production was not. He would average 18.435 PEVA rating points and total 239.660 PEVA for his Oriole playing days. All in all this added up to Cooperstown, 343 HR, 1224 RBI, and 2,080 hits through his final Baltimore year of 1996.

3. Brooks Robinson. Prior to that Ripken fellow coming along, you'd have to say that Brooks held the favor of Oriole fans as their best player ever. Much of that came from the spectacular plays Robinson made in the field; his hitting always took second fiddle to the backhand stab behind the bag and seed to first for that out highlights. But while his hitting played that second string, it still accumulated to some great stats; 268 HR, 1357 RBI, and 2,848 hits. Gold Gloves, Cooperstown induction, and 239.660 PEVA Career Ratings points for Baltimore to boot.

4. George Sisler. It's always hard to reach back to a career that ended in 1927 and compare them to more current compatriots. But it's really not that difficult to see why George Sisler rises to the rank of the 4th best position player in Baltimore Oriole franchise history. He batted 0.344 for his Oriole career, which spanned 12 seasons. And while the home runs hit were low by comparison, with 93, to the three listed above, those 2,295 hits were not. This added up to 175.399 PEVA Rating Points for his Maryland career.

5. Ken Singleton. He didn't play that long ago, but for many, becomes the forgotten man in the Oriole current legend. And that's not fair. Because for the ten years he played with a bird on his shoulder, he collected 159.850 PEVA Rating Points, while knocking out 182 HR, 766 RBI, and 1455 hits. Yes, he was a better Oriole than Boog Powell, at least by the numbers, and ranks as the 5th best batter in their history.

Go to the Week One countdown to see the rest of the Top Ten, and the Best Ever Book for the Top Twenty batters and pitchers in Baltimore Orioles (AL) history. And before you get there, see if you can rank the remainder of the Top Twenty in order. Listed alphabetically, they are ...
Brady Anderson, Paul Blair, Al Bumbry, Harland Clift, Baby Doll Jacobsen, Melvin Mora, Rafael Palmeiro, Boog Powell, Frank Robinson, Burt Shotton, Vern Stephens, George Stone, Jack Tobin, Bobby Wallace, and Ken Williams. Good luck!

Best Players by Team (Angels, Diamondbacks, Braves, Orioles)
Week One Countdown Sample

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