Survey of Best Fielders since 1900

Fielding has been a long-neglected area in player evaluation.  To remedy this, the Sporting News began issuing gold glove awards in 1957.  But what about all those earlier years?  SABR thought some effort should be made to establish just who were the great fielders by position since 1900.  This would be done for each decade and each league since the turn of the century.  But how do you go about this?  Who knows who the great fielders were 50-60 years ago?

SABR sent ballots out to a selected list of old time writers, broadcasters, players, and some baseball historians of more tender years who at least knew how to research those early years.  Of more than 50 ballots sent out, only 24 were returned, including information from such authorities as Fred Lieb, Ken Smith, Leonard Gettelson, Ernie Harwell, and George Sisler.  While almost all selected their all-time fielding team, some did not fill out the early decades.  Therefore, it is not the most conclusive survey, but it did produce some results.  At least the voters did not automatically put down Tinker, Evers, and Chance for the NL 1900-09 team.  At the same time, readers should not assume that Fielder Jones was selected just because of his first name; he really was an excellent fielder.

Some voters complained about fitting certain good fielders into decades; others had problems picking an all-time fielding team because of the difficulties of comparing fielders of different generations such as Hans Wagner and Luis Aparicio.  The gloves have changed and the playing fields have changed.  Errors have been reduced about 50 percent since the early 1900’s.  Nevertheless, the voters have come up with a fielding team that is well balanced historically.

Carried below are the leaders by position, by decade, and by league since 1900.  Because of the small number of ballots, some ties resulted in the early periods.  For players to have competed in the decade listings, they must have played at least five years of that period.  Outfielders are chosen generally and not by specific position.  The team of the 1960’s is based primarily on annual gold glove winners and was not selected by the voters.  For the all-time team, the votes are given for the leaders and the chief contenders.

HISTORICAL SURVEY OF BEST FIELDERS BY POSITION

AL        1900	–	1909          NL		AL        1910	–	1919          NL
Hal Chase	1B	Fred Tenney		J.McInnis	1B	J. Daubert
Nap Lajoie	2B	C. Ritchey		B. Collins	2B	G. Cutshaw
Jim Collins	3B	Leach-Devlin		Fr. Baker	3B	Henry Groh
K. Wallace	SS	Hans Wagner		Donie Bush	SS	Maranville
Field .Jones	OP	F. Clarke		T. Speaker	OP	Max Carey
Sam Crawford	OF	J. Sheckard		H. Hooper	OF	D. Paskert
Elmer Flick	OF	Roy Thomas		Milan-Lewis	OF	Zack Wheat
B. Sullivan	C	John Kling		Ray Schalk	C	Jim Archer
Nick Altrock	P	C.Mathewson		W. Johnson	P	Slim  Sallee
AL        1920	–	1929          NL		AL        1930	–	1939          NL
Geo. Sisler	1B	Chas. Grimm		Joe Kuhel	1B	Bill Terry
E. Collins	2B	Fr. Frisch		C. Gehringer	2B	Bill Herman
Willie Kamm	3B	Pie Traynor		Os. Bluege	3B	Stan Hack
Ev. Scott	SS	D. Bancroft		L. Appling	SS	L. Durocher
John Mostil	OP	Edd Roush		Rog. Cramer	OP	Lloyd Waner
Sam Rice	OF	Ross Youngs		Al Simmons	OF	Mel Ott
T. Speaker	OF	T. Douthit		Sam West	OF	H. Cuyler
C. Cochrane	C	G. Hartnett		Bill Dickey	C	G. Hartnett
H. Pennock	P	Fitzsimmons		Ted Lyons	P	B. Walters
AL        1940	–	1949          NL		AL        1950	–	1959          NL
Geo. McQuinn	1B	F. McCormick		M. Vernon	1B	Gil Hodges
Joe Gordon	2B	Ed Stanky		Nellie Fox	2B	Schoendienst
Ken Keltner	3B	Stan Hack		Geo. Kell	3B	Willie Jones
Lou Boudreau	SS	M. Marion		P. Rizzuto	SS	Roy McMillan
Joe DiMaggio	OP	E. Slaughter		J. Piersall	OP	R. Ashburn
Dom DiMaggio	OF	Terry Moore		Al Kaline	OF	Willie Mays
Sam Chapman	OF	V. DiMaggio		M. Minoso	OF	Carl Furillo
Warren Rosar	C	Al Lopez		Jim Hegan	C	D. Crandall
H. Newhouser	P	H. Brecheen		Bob Shantz	P	H. Haddix
AL        1960	–	1969          NL		WHO WILL BE THE
Vic Power	1B	Bill White		FIELDING STARS
R. Richardson	2B	B. Mazeroski		OF 1970-1979?
B. Robinson	3B	Ron Santo		BENCH? CEDENO?
L. Aparicio	SS	Maury Wills
Al Kaline	OP	R. Clemente
Yastrzemski	OF	Willie Mays
Jim Landis	OF	Curt Flood
B. Freehan	C	J. Edwards
Jim Kaat	P	Bob Gibson

 

VOTING FOR ALL-TIME FIELDING TEAM, 1900-72

 

1B	SISLER	11		Chase	6		Terry	3
2B	E. COLLINS	8		Gehringer	7		Mazeroski	4		Lajoie	2
3B	B.ROBINSON	10		Traynor	9		Kamm	2
SS	WAGNER	8		Marion	6		Aparicio	5		E. Scott	3
OF	SPEAKER	19		Carey	3		T. Moore	2
OF	MAYS	15		Ashburn	3		Kaline	2
OF	J. DiMAGGIO	12		Clemente	11					Crandall	2
C	COCHRANE	8		Schalk	4		Bench	3		Dickey	2
P	SHANTZ	7		Gibson	6		Brecheen	4		Hegan	2