Category Archives: Baseball

H2H 155: Phil Niekro vs. Gaylord Perry – Who was Better?

In baseball’s long and storied history, there are numerous examples of brothers who excelled at the MLB level, e.g. Paul and Lloyd Waner, the DiMaggios, the Alous, the Alomars, etc.  From the pitching side of things, the winningest brothers in MLB history are Phil and Joe Niekro (539 combined wins), followed closely by Gaylord and Jim Perry (529 wins); no other pair of brothers has even surpassed 400 total wins.  Among these standout siblings, Phil Niekro and Gaylord Perry were the more illustrious half of each pairing – with 5,000+ career innings pitched, 300+ wins, and 3,000+ strikeouts apiece, each hurler spent more than two decades in MLB and was among the greatest workhorses of the 1960s and 1970s; these parallels thus make for an interesting comparison:

Who was better – Phil Niekro or Gaylord Perry?

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Countdown 123: Top 10 Oakland Athletics of All Time

Who are the top Oakland Athletics of all time?  Here is our top 10 countdown:

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H2H 151: Ernie Banks vs. Eddie Mathews – Who was Better?

500 career home runs is one of baseball’s magical milestones, with only 28 players in league history having reached that mark as of the end of the 2021 MLB season; aside from those with issues of steroid usage during their careers (e.g. Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, etc.), it is also generally viewed as an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame.  Among this illustrious group, two of the first 10 players to achieve the milestone were Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews – both longtime NL stars and peers in the 1950s and 1960s, each played a non-traditional power position (shortstop and third base, respectively) and finished his career with exactly 512 home runs, which makes for an interesting comparison:

Who was better – Ernie Banks or Eddie Mathews?

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H2H 149: Scott Rolen vs. Ron Santo – Who was Better?

Note: Updated for Scott Rolen’s 2023 Hall of Fame selection.

In 2012, longtime Chicago Cubs star (and later broadcaster) Ron Santo was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the newly formed Golden Era Committee after never coming close during his 15 years on the regular writers’ ballot, a long overdue recognition for a third baseman who was equally adept with both the bat and the glove.  Fast forward a decade or so, and another all-around great third baseman in Scott Rolen faced a similar uphill climb since first becoming eligible in 2018, finally earning his induction in 2023. A closer look at their respective careers shows some striking similarities between the accomplishments of Santo and Rolen, thus prompting an interesting question and comparison:

Who was better – Scott Rolen or Ron Santo?

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Countdown 117: Top 10 MLB Players of the 1910s

Who are the top MLB players of the 1910s?  Here is our top 10 countdown:

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H2H 145: Carlos Delgado vs. Mark Teixeira – Who was Better?

First base in the 21st century MLB has traditionally been a premium power position manned by some of the game’s biggest sluggers (both literally and statistically), e.g. Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Ryan Howard, etc.  In addition to these aforementioned MVP winners, Carlos Delgado and Mark Teixeira also stand out from the past two decades as consistently excellent, yet perhaps sometimes underrated big boppers at the first base position – in their respective primes, each was a near-lock to hit 30+ home runs and drive in 100+ runs per year.  Moreover, both played the majority of their careers in the AL and finished up their playing days in the bright spotlight of New York – with similar career profiles, it is an interesting profile in comparison to make:

Who was better – Carlos Delgado or Mark Teixeira?

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Countdown 114: Top 10 San Francisco Giants of All Time

Who are the top San Francisco Giants of all time?  Here is our top 10 countdown:

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H2H 143: Bartolo Colon vs. Dennis Martinez – Who was Better?

With his 246th career win in August 2018, Bartolo Colon surpassed Dennis Martinez for most wins in MLB history by a Latin American-born pitcher; two decades earlier in 1998, Martinez himself had broken the previous record held by Juan Marichal.  While Marichal was a surefire Hall of Fame pitcher, both Colon and Martinez were longtime workhorses and at times, staff aces, who pitched more than 20+ years apiece and were consistently good, sometimes great.  As two of the best Latin American pitchers ever with similar overall careers spanning well into their 40s, it makes for a natural comparison:

Who was better – Bartolo Colon or Dennis Martinez?

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Countdown 109: Top 10 MLB Players of the 1920s

Who are the top MLB players of the 1920s?  Here is our top 10 countdown:

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H2H 139: Roy Oswalt vs. Jake Peavy – Who was Better?

The NL saw a plethora of elite starting pitchers during the 2000s – in addition to the overpowering dominance of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the early 2000s to Tim Lincecum’s back-to-back Cy Youngs at the end of the decade, other star pitchers included the likes of Roy Halladay, Brandon Webb, Chris Carpenter, Johan Santana, etc.  Notably, two young aces that came up at the beginning of the decade were Roy Oswalt and Jake Peavy – with nearly parallel careers, the duo were consistently among the top pitchers in the league year in and year out throughout the decade, thus bringing about an interesting comparison:

Who was better – Roy Oswalt or Jake Peavy?

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