Disclaimer: I am well aware that Andy Pettitte was alleged to have used steroids in the Mitchell Report and later admitted to it in his testimony to Congress. With all of this background in mind, this head-to-head between Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia is meant to compare them based solely on their career numbers and achievements without judgment on Pettitte’s steroid use during his career.
Historically, lefties are over-represented in baseball for strategic reasons: left-handed hitters generally have the advantage in matchups vs. right-handed pitchers and thus, left-handed pitchers are a prized commodity because they can neutralize that perceived advantage. From Warren Spahn to Sandy Koufax to Randy Johnson to Clayton Kershaw, great left-handed pitchers are nevertheless far harder to come by than their right-handed counterparts due to their relative dearth overall in society (lefties are ~10% of the total population). As such, Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia were two of the most valuable pitchers of their era in the 2000s and 2010s – not only were they coveted for being southpaws, but both players also accumulated 250+ career victories apiece; between these two great left-handed starting pitchers, the question is:
Disclaimer: I am well aware that Manny Ramirez tested positive numerous times for steroids during his MLB career and this is the primary reason why he is currently not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. With all of this background in mind, this head-to-head between Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez is meant to compare them based solely on their career numbers and achievements without judgment on Ramirez’s steroid use during his career.
The end of the 2011 MLB season marked the last time that baseball fans would see two of the greatest Dominican-born players ever suit up for a major league game – for nearly two decades apiece, Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez were two of the game’s best sluggers. Moreover, they were among the unique characters in the game, from Guerrero’s penchant for swinging at anything to Ramirez’s personality of “Manny being Manny”. Even though Ramirez’s legacy has been tarnished by a number of positive steroid tests, he and Guerrero still sit at or near the top of most career hitting categories among their countrymen, thus making this an apt comparison:
Who was better – Vladimir Guerrero or Manny Ramirez?
During World War II, many of MLB’s biggest stars lost years of their playing careers to military service, e.g. Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, etc., just to name a few. Two of the most productive first basemen of the 1930s, Hank “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg and Johnny “The Big Cat” Mize, both served in the war effort for three plus seasons during their prime and consequently, their overall career numbers were impacted greatly by the prolonged absence. Nevertheless, when they were in the lineup, the duo were among the best first basemen to ever play in the major leagues – in addition to thinking about what could have been, let us compare these two great sluggers and ask:
The stolen base has become a lost art in the game of baseball – case in point, during the 2019 MLB season, teams averaged 226 home runs, but only 76 stolen bases; in contrast, going back to the heydays of speed in the 1970s and 1980s, there were individual PLAYERS stealing 76 bases in a season! While Rickey Henderson is widely regarded as the greatest base-stealer ever (he is the only player with more than 1,000 career stolen bases and is nearly 500 ahead of #2), two other prolific speedsters from this era were Lou Brock and Tim Raines. One was previously the career record-holder for stolen bases and the other was overshadowed in his prime by Henderson, but likewise incredible on the basepaths – with similar career profiles and statistics, both can stake a claim to being the second-best base-stealer of the modern era, thus the question is:
While Mike Schmidt was the dominant third baseman in the NL during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s (and arguably the best at the position in all of baseball), the AL also had its share of elite players at the hot corner during this time, chief among them Wade Boggs and George Brett. Even though their careers overlapped for more than a decade and both are members of the rarified 3,000-career hit club, the two were very different types of players – Boggs the ultimate hit machine and Brett more of an all-around hitter. Nevertheless, as two of the greatest third basemen in MLB history, the question that thus arises is:
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