The Best I’ve Ever Seen

                 Many years ago, when I was living in Highland Park, in a home for children, we had what we called a house father there who loved baseball. 

                     His name was Mr. Howell. He was from Connecticut, and he was a huge baseball fan, especially of the Dodgers. His favorite Dodger?  Dolph Camilli and Pee Wee Reese. But what I truly loved to listen too was when he would talk about some of the greats, he had seen play. 

                   He missed Ruth but saw Gehrig a couple of times. He loved watching Joe DiMaggio. Seems his dad liked to go to several Yankee games every year, and he would occasionally take his sons to Ebbets Field to see the Dodgers. 

                    He also had a lot of praise for the Tigers Hank Greenberg. He saw guys like Lefty Gomez, Van Lingle Mungo, Red Ruffing, and Spud Chandler pitch. Until Campy came along, he felt the best catcher he had seen was Bill Dickey. But being a true Dodger fan, he switched once Campanella established himself as one of the greats. 

                    He would go to Vero several times and had photos of many of the players. Seeing a photo of a very young Pee Wee Reese in those baggy uniforms alongside Dolph Camilli was a great thing to see. 

                   But when I asked him who the best he ever saw was, he did not even hesitate. DiMaggio. And the reason was simple. Joe D could do it all. Run, hit, field, hit for average and power. He was most impressed by the fact that he had never seen DiMaggio make a mistake in the field. I had read somewhere that someone had said the same thing about Ruth. 

                     I believe his love of the game got him through one of the toughest times of his life. He and his wife lost their son, Aubrey when he was killed on Okinawa in the last months of WWII. 

                    It got me to thinking about all of the baseball I have seen over the last six decades. Who is the best I ever saw? Well, you see great players every day of the week now on MLB.TV. Plus, you see slo-mo replays of their best plays. 

                  So, I have thought about it, and I will stick to a player or players I have actually been at the ballpark to see. For me, the choice is easy too. Willie Mays. He was as graceful as they come. He could run like the wind, and his cap was consistently flying off of his head when he ran. Remember, this was before batting helmets were mandatory. 

                Willie had a great arm and could make the hardest of catches look easy. There was a certain flair to the way he played the game. Even when he was beating your team, you had to admire the guy’s talent and love of the game. 

                         The first time I heard Vin Scully interview Mays, I was stunned and thought he was interviewing the wrong guy. Willie had such a high-pitched squeaky voice. But his play on the field was always top-notch. It was hard for me to watch him in his last year with the Mets. 

                      I have seen many greats play. Willie Stargell impressed me a lot. First, he was super nice to the fans, even the opposition. I went to a game at Dodger Stadium and before the game he autographed a ball for me despite me wearing my Dodger gear. I just respected the man’s talent. That night off of Alan Foster, he hit a ball over the right field pavilion roof. One of two he would hit in his career. The second one came off of Andy Messersmith. 

                    Hank Aaron never seemed to hit long majestic home runs. Hank would hit these line drives that never seemed to climb very high, but they would go into the seats anyway. He was also an excellent fielder. 

                     I never saw Griffey Jr. play in person, but he was on the highlight reel almost every night. I would put him, Mays and Andruw Jones as maybe the best defensive CF’s I have seen. I did not see Duke or Mickey play as often as I saw those guys. 

                     You can go to every era of the game and find so many great players. For years I thought Brooks Robinson was the best third baseman I had ever seen. But Greg Nettles looked a lot like him in a World Series against the Dodgers. It seemed like they could not get a ball past the guy. 

                    I look at Arenado the same way, and although I really cannot stand the guy, Machado is a top notch third baseman too. LA has had some good players at third, Cey was the longest tenured. But in my lifetime, they have not had a defender there as good as those two. 

                 Ozzie Smith was in my mind, the best defensive SS I have ever seen. There are some excellent ones now, but Ozzie had that little something extra and made plays that made you say, what just happened. Made himself into a decent hitter after he joined the Cardinals. 

                  I saw Roberto Clemente play maybe four times in person. And in every one of those games, he made a great play or throw. I remember watching the Pirates take fielding practice, and he would show off that cannon arm of his. Puig had that type of arm, so did Raul Mondesi.  The Dodgers have been blessed with three RF’s who could throw accurately to any base. Furillo was the other. Mookie is pretty good out there too, but he is an infielder now. 

              The meanest pitchers I have ever seen, Big D, Bob Gibson, Randy Johnson. Anyone of them would probably throw at their mom’s if they were hitting. There might be a couple more, but it is hard to remember them all. I do remember how competitive Juan Marichal was, and I also remember how hated he was by Dodger fans. 

                When you talk about catchers, it seems Bench is at the top of everyone’s list. Johnny Bench was a great catcher. He caught over 1700 games. But he moved to third and first later in his career. My choice would be Ivan Rodriguez and Yadier Molina. Two of the best, maybe not with a power bat, but as defenders, they were A-1. 

                Three injury prone seasons derailed Campy’s career. 3 MVPs, and the all-time highest career caught stealing percentage, 57.4, label him as one of the greatest. The most HRs as a catcher title belongs to Mike Piazza. Mike had 399, 39 more than Carlton Fisk, and 43 more than Bench. 

              But as usual, it comes down to personal preference. Willie will always be to me, the best all-around player I have ever watched on a baseball field. There is probably a player out there somewhere who could be that good, but so far, he hasn’t shown up.