Who Is Baseball's Greatest Living Player?

At a dinner to honor the 100th Anniversary of professional baseball in 1969, 2 all-time teams were named: The Greatest Players, and the Greatest Living Players. Babe Ruth was named the Greatest Player, and Joe DiMaggio was named the Greatest Living Player -- and, for the rest of his life, he insisted upon being introduced as "Baseball's Greatest Living Player."

When he died in 1999, the title of "Baseball's Greatest Living Player" was, for most fans, passed to Willie Mays. Willie died this week. So who holds the title now?

By looking at the list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players compiled in 1999 by The Sporting News, we can say that, with the death of Willie Mays, ranked 2nd behind Babe Ruth, the greatest living player is the man then ranked 16th, Johnny Bench.

It was a bad ranking. They had him ahead of his fellow Oklahoman, Mickey Mantle (17th, and dead in 1995), and ahead of the actual greatest catcher who ever lived, Yogi Berra (40th, still alive then, died in 2015).

Next on that list among players still alive: At 25th, Pete Rose. No. Just no. And that's got nothing to do with the reason he was banned from baseball -- or with the other reason he has become a pariah.

Next, at 26th, is Sandy Koufax. I have a hard time accepting a pitcher as the greatest living player, especially one whose legend is essentially based on just 5 seasons, maybe 6.

Next, at 28th, is Mike Schmidt. Here we go. Almost certainly, the greatest player ever to play 3rd base. Definitely the greatest player in Phillies history, and, given how many of the old Philadelphia Athletics' legends split their careers with other teams, probably also the greatest player in Philadelphia baseball history. 548 home runs. 10 Gold Gloves. 3 Most Valuable Player awards. Led his team to 6 Playoff berths, 2 Pennants, and its 1st World Series win.

You want another candidate? The next one still alive, at 30th, is Schmidt's Phillies teammate, Steve Carlton. A pitcher. Let's move on. The next living player, and the top player then active, at 34th, was Barry Bonds. This was before Bonds started setting records like crazy. This was also before we knew he had started using steroids. So, he's disqualified, even if he was "a Hall-of-Famer before he started cheating." After all, the appearance that he didn't need to cheat to be great, and then cheated anyway, makes things worse.

Next, at 39th, is Greg Maddux. Another pitcher. Next living, at 41st, is Nolan Ryan. Another pitcher. Next living, at 48th, is Reggie Jackson. He's my favorite athlete of all time, and he has been known to show some ego. But I don't think even Reggie would call himself "baseball's greatest living player."

Next, at 51st, is Rickey Henderson. Here is another legitimate candidate, even if he surpassed Reggie, DiMaggio, Ty Cobb and everybody else as baseball's supreme egotist. Baseball's greatest base stealer (1,406), he collected over 3,000 hits (3,055), had a surprising amount of power (297 home runs), and is baseball's all-time leader in runs scored (2,295).

His lifetime batting average is just .279, but, A, that's higher than Schmidt (.267), Bench (also .267) or Reggie (.262); and, B, his on-base percentage is .401 (higher than Schmidt at .380, Reggie at .356 and Bench at .342), because he was once the all-time leader in walks (2,190, surpassed by Bonds, mainly due to the intentionals, a backlash against his cheating). And he was a winner, reaching the postseason 8 times with 5 different teams. (In 1985, the Yankees fell just short, so it was almost 9 times with 6 teams.) This also includes 3 Pennants, which includes World Series wins with 2 different teams.

In 2022, ESPN had an updated list. Their top 10 players who are alive as of Mays' death are: Bonds, 8th; Pedro Martinez, 11th; Ken Griffey Jr., 13th; Maddux, 14th; the still-active Mike Trout, 15th; Roger Clemens, 17th; Schmidt, 18th; Henderson, 23rd; Randy Johnson, 24th; and Alex Rodriguez, 26th.

After that: Derek Jeter, 28th; Bench, 29th; Albert Pujols, 30th; Mariano Rivera, 31st; Koufax, 32nd; Rose, 34th.

First, let's dump the pitchers: Pedro (11th among all players? A damn joke), Maddux, Clemens, Johnson, Rivera, Koufax. Next, let's dump the steroid cheats, Bonds and A-Rod. Finally, those we've already considered: Schmidt, Henderson, Bench, Rose.

That leaves Griffey, Trout, Jeter and Pujols. All 4 of whom, as far as we know, were or, in the case of the still-active Trout, are, clean.

Okay, let's get serious: Trout doesn't make the Top 100 players. If, for whatever reason, he never plays another game, he leaves with 1,648 hits, 378 of which are home runs. That's fewer home runs than Frank Howard and Dale Murphy, for whom home runs were kind of their thing, and neither one is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I don't care that he already has 3 MVPs: Trout is not a Hall-of-Famer yet.

That leaves Griffey, Jeter and Pujols. Jeter has more hits than any human being who, today, is both alive and eligible to be in baseball: 3,465. He had a .310 lifetime batting average and 358 stolen bases. And, in his time, he was baseball's biggest winner. But he only hit 260 home runs, and never won an MVP, although he was robbed of at least 2 and maybe a 3rd.

That leaves Griffey, with 630 home runs, and Pujols, with 3,384 hits (not that far behind Jeter), 703 of which were home runs. Griffey had 10 Gold Gloves, Pujols 2. Pujols had the postseason success, Griffey didn't. (Remember the 1995 ALDS all you want, but he never played in a World Series.)   

Is it just me, or does this picture look like

one of those baseball cards of players who recently changed teams,

we used to call "Topps airbrush jobs"?

So, I would say that, for the title of Baseball's Greatest Living Player, there are 4 legitimate candidates. In chronological order, they are: Mike Schmidt, Rickey Henderson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Albert Pujols.

If Junior hadn't tailed off a bit when he went to the Cincinnati Reds in 2000, he could have made the question easy to answer. Same for Phat Albert, if he hadn't tailed off a bit when he went to the Los Angeles Angels in 2012: He could have put it away. If Junior hadn't had so many injuries, and if Albert hadn't gone to Anaheim, one of them might have hit 763 home runs to surpass Bonds, and make this an easy answer.

So, of the four, which one is Baseball's Greatest Living Player? Henderson would tell you it's him. The other 3 wouldn't claim that for themselves. Perhaps that's another reason why each of them might deserve it.