Who Are The Four Greatest Living Baseball Players?

Last night, I saw an amazing baseball documentary on the late, great Yogi Berra. The documentary, you can find it on Netflix, is called “It Ain’t Over.” Here is the trailer:

I learned a huge amount about the Yankee catcher – like he was from St. Louis (I always thought he was from Jersey), he was married and in super adorable love with his wife Carmen for over 60 years, and all the great stats that baseball fans like myself love to learn. The basis of the documentary was to establish, by mostly family and Yankee teammates and some other HOF players, that Yogi Berra deserved to be included in a ceremony of what was then a fan vote on who were the four greatest living baseball players. The fans voted:

Henry Aaron – I would have seconded that
Willie Mays – Debatable, tell you about this vote later
Sandy Koufax – Probably spot on
Johnny Bench – Good, not great choice

I watched the film end to end and then sat there with my notebook and began the time honored tradition of the baseball fan – coming up with my own list. Baseball fans are historically the same in that we all have our lists. Who was the best team? Who was the greatest hitter of all time? Who was the toughest pitcher to hit? What is the greatest ballpark in all the land? Baseball fans love to debate and back up their theories with facts and stats and opinions. It is a wonderful existence being a baseball fan. And to find a rival to debate baseball stuff with is just priceless.

So, without further ado, let the debate begin. In my opinion, in my baseball lifetime of over 50 years, for my money, here are my four greatest living baseball players.

Derek Jeter – On stats alone, Jeter is probably the best overall baseball player of the last 50 years. Couple this with his defensive prowess, his mental toughness on stressful plays, his clutch hitting, his ability to take the extra base, his ability to save a run. Jeter was a Yankee, to me that was his only downside.
Nolan Ryan – I may have mentioned this in another blog, but I once asked my mother if I could change my name to Nolan Ryan Roby when I turned 18. Ryan’s dominance on the mound, his fierce competitive fire, his blazing fastball were way too much for hitters in nearly 3 decades of work. Ryan could work on his farm in the morning and pitch a no-hitter that evening. A man’s man on the pitcher’s mound.
Greg Maddux – Is Greg Maddux the greatest pitcher of all time. In my opinion, yes. He took the art of manipulating the strike zone, toying with hitters, and produced 15 win seasons, Gold Glove Awards, like few peers or even predecessors. Maddux was cool, calm, and collected and hitters walked away confused, and more often than not, pissed off at their lack of results.
Carl Yastrzemski – My idol. Of course, he would be included in this list. I saw Yaz in person last year at the David Ortiz HOF ceremony at Fenway Park and almost lost it. His hustle, his windmill warmup swings, his left handed power – all things I tried to model my game around. He started a Red Sox and finished a Red Sox and is by far my favorite player of all time.

It is a fun debate that honestly has no right answer. Do I think after watching the Berra documentary that he was snubbed by the fans? Absolutely. But who do you take out to insert Berra? Obvious choice would be Bench, right? A catcher for a catcher? The others clearly deserved to be there – Aaron, Mays, Koufax. Mays, I have a small gripe with him because he snubbed my Uncle at a card show. I was never a big fan of his after my Uncle told me that story. So, maybe Mays comes out and Berra slots in. And what about more modern players like Pujols or Ohtani or Trout or Betts? Maybe you have them on your list?