Best-fielding 2B

[VNV Nation]

Carrying on the theme in the SS thread, who are the best second basemen you've ever seen?

Mine:

1. Frank White -- never saw Maz, but can't see how he was any better than White.
2. Alomar
3. Manny Trillo -- best arm of this group
4. Jose Lind
5. Lemke*

Best at DP: Lemke, Randolph, Robby Thompson.

*I know Glen Hubbard rates as a great second baseman, but I used to watch the Braves then, and he was a fine fielder, but didn't strike me as any better than, say, Tommy Herr. I always thought Lemke was the most underrated fielder in baseball.

And oh, you know, Jose Oquendo should get an honorable mention here somewhere. He was a great shortstop with the Mets early on, but Ozzie won all the Gold Gloves, and then he had to play second because of Ozzie.

[pwdennis]

I assume you are speaking of defense only:

1) Bill Mazeroski
2) Frank White
3) Robby Alomar
4) Jose Lind


- if you are speaking of the whole package it's

1) Joe Morgan
2) Robby Alomar
3) Ryne Sandburg
4) Bobby Grich
5) Nellie Fox

[JamesI]

Alomar
no one else even close.

1. Alomar
2. White
3. Oquendo
4. Lemke
5. Lind

[KCBOOMER]

Maz was the best fielder followed by White. Alomar might be next but not close to the first two.

[sweaver]

Originally posted by BigKlu
1. Alomar
2. White
3. Oquendo
4. Lemke
5. Lind

Same list, but with (1) Mazeroski, (6) Morgan, (7) Alomar.

[qtlaw]

Fielding only:

1. Alomar
2. Lind
3. Dick Green
4. trillo
5. White

Its a shame that glovework has been deemphasized in favor of big bats; Kent, Boone, et al. No one has been sweeter in the field than Alomar since the early 70's; one of the few to excel on both turf and grass.

[Max Power]

I think that Frank White and Julio Cruz deserve some credit for putting up good range numbers - playing in turf where more balls scoot by you..................

[padresfan19]

I never saw Mazeroski play, but there is no way he could have possibly had the range of Alomar. I'd say #1 is Alomar, and no one else is even close.

The best that I've ever seen(defense only)?

1. Roberto Alomar
2. Bret Boone
3. Frank White
4. Manny Trillo
5. Steve Sax (hehe, just kidding) - Pokey Reese
6. Joe Morgan

[poorme]

Ryno is getting the shaft here. I've been baseball hardcore since about 1981, so I'm limiting my analysis to that. Alomar is the best followed by Sandberg. C'mon Smed, back me up on this one. Why is a Sox fan put in the position of defending a Cubs player?

[soxfan121]

Alomar is certainly the best I've seen. He makes more "no one else could have done that" plays than anyone other than Ozzie and Vizquel.

[moose]

Originally posted by padresfan19
I never saw Mazeroski play, but there is no way he could have possibly had the range of Alomar. I'd say #1 is Alomar, and no one else is even close.

pad -
I agree that alomar has crazy range. but why couldn't someone be a little better? just wondrin'

[SmedIndy]

I liked Ryno, but I didn't think he was all that and a bag of chips at second.

Guys like Frank White, Jose Lind, Dick Green (a forgotten man), Maz and Alomar are better than Ryno.

[VNV Nation]

Ryno, I think, was the best example of a guy winning Gold Gloves strictly on reputation. He was very good, after adjusting to the position, early on with the Cubs, say from 1984-1988 or so...but he was still winning Gold Gloves into the 1990s, when he was probably no better than the 4th-5th best guy in the league. Overall I agree 100 percent with James' assessment of him as a B/B+ second baseman.

Actually that might be the best way to describe him: He was a B+ at everything. He was a good average hitter, had power, had speed, good defense, good strike-zone judgment, but he didn't hit .340 or hit 50 homers or steal 80 bases or walk 140 times.

Writing this out...that may be why he won those Gold Gloves. It is striking that Sandberg, obviously the most complete player at his position and possibly in the league for most of his career, was mostly competing for All-Star berths against good hitters who had defensive problems (Ray, Sax, Sandberg) or guys you never heard much about since they didn't hit at all, but they could field a storm (Lind, Oquendo, Hubbard). Sandberg was the best fielder whose batting stats were in the NL leader boards.

[sweaver]

Originally posted by padresfan19
I never saw Mazeroski play, but there is no way he could have possibly had the range of Alomar.

You haven't seen second base played, if you haven't seen Maz play it. Man, he was smooth. Like silk. Too cool to be white.

Forgot about Trillo, darn it. Here's a revised list:

(1) Mazeroski (2) Frank White (3) Manny Trillo (4) Jose Oquendo (5) Mark Lemke (6) Chico Lind (7) Joe Morgan (8) Roberto Alomar.

Dick Green belongs on there somewhere. He almost won a World Series MVP without getting a hit, just with the glove.