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EVIL~! alkeiper

Greatest Living Ballplayers

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Guest Agent of Oblivion

Edited my team to add Bruce Matthews. Bad oversight on my part.

 

 

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NBA:

 

Starters:

PG - Magic Johnson

SG - Michael Jordan

SF - Larry Bird

PF - Tim Duncan

C - Bill Russell

 

Bench:

PG - Oscar Robertson

PG - John Stockton

SG - Clyde Drexler

SG - Reggie Miller

SF - LeBron James

PF - Kevin Garnett

C - Shaquille O'Neal

 

NHL:

 

Howe-Gretzky-Lemieux

Lafleur-Messier-Bossy

Ovechkin-Esposito-Jagr

Zetterberg-Bobby Hull-Dionne

 

Orr-Lidstrom

Bourque-Robinson

Coffey-Potvin

 

Brodeur-Roy-Hasek

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QB: Peyton Manning (Though Brady, Marino, and Elway are all acceptable choices)

So you're saying you wouldn't have Montana in your top 4 living QB's? I know you probably hate the guy but...c'mon man. Let me guess, he's overrated because of Jerry Rice and the West Coast Offense, right?

 

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QB: Peyton Manning (Though Brady, Marino, and Elway are all acceptable choices)

So you're saying you wouldn't have Montana in your top 4 living QB's? I know you probably hate the guy but...c'mon man. Let me guess, he's overrated because of Jerry Rice and the West Coast Offense, right?

 

For me, Montana falls under the same category as Troy Aikman and Steve Young. Yes they won Super Bowls, but they also had great TEAMS around them. I don't see them up on the same level as a Tom Brady, John Elway, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, etc. because all of those guys put up great numbers, won titles (except Marino) without the complete teams on both sides of the ball as the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys had. Hell, even Tony Romo has put up better numbers in a single season than Montana ever has. Joe Montana's team has won Super Bowsl, but I think that his team had more to do with their success than he did.

 

Favre, Brady, and Marino have all had to deal with the majority of their careers without a lot of offensive talent around them. Aside from Randy Moss and Wes Welker in the past year, Brady never really had a lot of talent around him on offense but was still able to rally his team to 3 Super Bowl wins. Great defense, but little offense. Whereas Montana and Aikman had guys like Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, John Taylor, Brent Jones, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Jay Novacek, Daryl Johnston etc. Same with Favre and Marino. Not a lot of big time offensive weapons for them to work with, but still put up great numbers and enjoyed success, save or a Marino Super Bowl win.

 

During Elways first Super Bowl runs, he didn't have a Terrell Davis or a Shannon Sharpe to help him out. He really didn't have much around him either, but good quarterbacks find a way to win even when they aren't given a lot to work with.

 

 

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From time to time I've tried coming up with an MLB Dream Team. Always a fun idea, but it leads to a lot of tough cuts. Particularly when it comes to an established ancient player like Honus Wagner or Babe Ruth where the statistical evidence is overwhelming. If we limit the player pool strictly to surviving players though, we get players who are still relatively fresh in the memories of the fans. Players of whom we actually have footage. Let's see what we come up with.

 

LINEUP

C: Johnny Bench

1B: Stan Musial

2B: Joe Morgan

SS: Alex Rodriguez

3B: Mike Schmidt

LF: Barry Bonds

CF: Willie Mays

RF: Hank Aaron

DH: Frank Robinson

 

BENCH

C: Yogi Berra

C: Mike Piazza

IF: Frank Thomas

IF: Cal Ripken

IF: George Brett

OF: Ken Griffey Jr.

OF: Manny Ramirez

UT: Pete Rose

 

STAFF

SP: Roger Clemens

SP: Greg Maddux

SP: Tom Seaver

SP: Randy Johnson

SP: Pedro Martinez

CL: Mariano Rivera

RP: Goose Gossage

RP: Rollie Fingers

RP: Bruce Sutter

RP: Dennis Eckersley

RP: Billy Wagner

P: Sandy Koufax

P: Bob Feller

 

M: Earl Weaver

 

Feel free to come up with NBA, NFL or NHL versions if you wish. Or post criticisms of this one.

 

I'd take Seaver and Pedro off the list and replace them with Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. Also I'd replace Wagner with Lee Smith.

 

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And here I was, after a night of KoaBoarding and Faceboozing, thinking: Hey, nothing wrong, embarassing, or otherwise nonsensical! Oh, edit button. :wub:

 

 

Doug Harvey is also dead. And which Richard are you talking about? Henri or Maurice?

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I'd take Seaver and Pedro off the list and replace them with Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. Also I'd replace Wagner with Lee Smith.

 

Wagner's on there because I needed as least one lefty reliever.

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Guest Agent of Oblivion
QB: Peyton Manning (Though Brady, Marino, and Elway are all acceptable choices)

So you're saying you wouldn't have Montana in your top 4 living QB's? I know you probably hate the guy but...c'mon man. Let me guess, he's overrated because of Jerry Rice and the West Coast Offense, right?

 

I wouldn't have him in my top five. I'd put Favre ahead of him, too, and I sports-hate Brett Favre like no other.

 

Manning, Marino, Elway, Favre, and Brady* have him beat in every significant statistical category. Hell, Drew Bledsoe and Vinny Testaverde were more prolific passers. Montana never had a 4,000 yard season! It's not a case of "football era" either. Marino started his career just a couple years after Montana's started in earnest, and Dan had 6 4,000 yard-plus seasons, including FIVE THOUSAND yards and 48 TDs in 1984, which is just insane. He had jack shit for a supporting cast, too. Mark Clayton and Mark Duper, and I'd hardly call either of them superstars.

 

*Compared to Montana at the same stage in their careers, plus he (Brady) has three rings.

 

I'll get more in-depth later.

 

Edit: (It's Later) What really chaps my ass about Montana is that he's so iconic that some rejects consider him the greatest football player ever, full stop. He wasn't even the best player on his team. At any statstically measurable position, there's no one more head and shoulders over everyone else than Jerry Rice. Almost 23,000 receiving yards and a few TDs shy of 200? Fuggetaboutit.

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I'd take Seaver and Pedro off the list and replace them with Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. Also I'd replace Wagner with Lee Smith.

 

Wagner's on there because I needed as least one lefty reliever.

 

That's what Franco is for!

 

And replacing Tom Seaver and Pedro Martinez would not be even a little bit smart. Seaver had more wins, a lower ERA, and more strikeouts than Gibson, and I feel like Al would have included Steve Carlton if he could, ya know. Pedro, meanwhile, actually has an ERA identical to Gibson, and was the best pitcher of our era. Pedro and Seaver stay, I say!

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I definitely agree that Montana isn't the greatest player of all-time like so many say. I don't even think he's the undisputed #1 QB (although I personally have him #1). But not even top 5? That seems kinda harsh for a guy that's accomplished as much as he has. I know he doesn't have the Marino-like video game numbers, but it's not like he's Troy Aikman either.

 

Over 40,000 passing yards (10th all-time)

63.2 comp pct. (9th...him and Steve Young are the only non-active players in the top 15).

93.2 QB rating (7th...him and Young are the only non-active players in the top 10)

273 pass TD's (9th)

Six 3,500-yard seasons (two of them with over 3,900)

 

That doesn't even take into account his MVP's, winning percentage, rings, or the fact that he has a 127.8 QB rating (including 0 INT's) in 4 Super Bowls (2 of them before Rice arrived in San Fran).

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And replacing Tom Seaver and Pedro Martinez would not be even a little bit smart. Seaver had more wins, a lower ERA, and more strikeouts than Gibson, and I feel like Al would have included Steve Carlton if he could, ya know. Pedro, meanwhile, actually has an ERA identical to Gibson, and was the best pitcher of our era. Pedro and Seaver stay, I say!

 

Yeah I disagreed with the pitchers. But considering how hard it is to rank pitchers, I wouldn't get terribly argumentative over it. Gibson and Carlton were very good.

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Guest Agent of Oblivion
I definitely agree that Montana isn't the greatest player of all-time like so many say. I don't even think he's the undisputed #1 QB (although I personally have him #1). But not even top 5? That seems kinda harsh for a guy that's accomplished as much as he has. I know he doesn't have the Marino-like video game numbers, but it's not like he's Troy Aikman either.

 

Over 40,000 passing yards (10th all-time)

63.2 comp pct. (9th...him and Steve Young are the only non-active players in the top 15).

93.2 QB rating (7th...him and Young are the only non-active players in the top 10)

273 pass TD's (9th)

Six 3,500-yard seasons (two of them with over 3,900)

 

That doesn't even take into account his MVP's, winning percentage, rings, or the fact that he has a 127.8 QB rating (including 0 INT's) in 4 Super Bowls (2 of them before Rice arrived in San Fran).

 

Brady has just as many playoff wins and Manning and Favre both have more MVPs. I'm not saying Montana isn't great or anything, just that I've seen five QBs that I can make an argument for being better. (I never saw Unitas or Tarkenton or any old-timer play, so I can't fairly compare them.)

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LINEUP

C: Johnny Bench

1B: Stan Musial

2B: Joe Morgan

SS: Ernie Banks

3B: George Brett

LF: Willie Mays

CF: Ken Griffey Jr.

RF: Hank Aaron

DH: Frank Robinson

 

BENCH

C: Yogi Berra

C: Ivan Rodriguez

IF: Paul Molitor

IF: Alex Rodriguez

IF: Cal Ripken Jr.

OF: Andre Dawson

OF: Robin Yount

UT: Pete Rose

 

STAFF

SP: Bob Gibson

SP: Greg Maddux

SP: Sandy Koufax

SP: Randy Johnson

SP: Pedro Martinez

CL: Dennis Eckersley

RP: Goose Gossage

RP: Rollie Fingers

RP: Bruce Sutter

RP: Marino Rivera

RP: Billy Wagner

P: Nolan Ryan

P: Bob Feller

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Frank Thomas over Albert Pujols is pretty funny.

Look at the first half of their careers. Frank Thomas from 1990-1997 was one of the greatest pure hitters of all time. I think Pujols will have a better career, but this is a merit list, not speculative.

 

I'll take Eddie Murray over both of them. Pujols needs to continue putting up the numbers for a few more years.

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