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Who are the top third basemen in MLB history? Here is our top 10 countdown:
10. Ron Santo: finally elected to the Hall of Fame by the Golden Era Committee in 2012, Santo was a model of excellence at third base throughout the 1960s, winning five Gold Gloves and setting a positional record with eight straight years of 90+ runs batted in.
9. Adrian Beltre: consistently underrated throughout much of his career, Beltre was equally terrific with both the bat and the glove (4x Silver Slugger and 5x Gold Glove), and is the all-time MLB hits leader by a foreign-born player.
8. Home Run Baker: arguably the best power hitter of the dead-ball era, Baker played every single inning of his career at third base and led the AL in home runs in four straight years from 1911 to 1914.
7. Paul Molitor: though he played other infield positions and spent a number of years as a designated hitter, Molitor is nevertheless a Hall of Fame third baseman who is one of only five players in MLB history with 3,000+ hits, a .300+ career batting average, and 500+ stolen bases.
6. Wade Boggs: a member of the 3,000-hit club, Boggs won five batting titles during his career and has the highest career batting average among third basemen (.328).
5. Chipper Jones: the face of the Atlanta Braves franchise for nearly 20 years, Jones was one of the best switch-hitters in MLB history and is one of five players ever with 2,500+ hits, 1,500+ walks, 500+ doubles, 450+ home runs, and 1,500+ runs batted in with a .300 batting average, .400 on-base percentage, and .500 slugging percentage.
4. Brooks Robinson: the greatest defensive third baseman ever, Robinson won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves at the hot corner; he was also a strong offensive player, nearly reaching 3,000 career hits and winning the 1964 AL MVP.
3. Eddie Mathews: the only player to represent the Braves in three different cities (Boston, Milwaukee, Atlanta), Mathews teamed up with Hank Aaron to form one of the greatest power-hitting duos of all-time and was the first third baseman with 500 career home runs (512).
2. George Brett: the leader in career hits among third basemen (3,154), Brett is one of only four players in baseball history with a .300 career batting average, 3,000 career hits, and 300 home runs (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Stan Musial being the others) and is the only player to ever win batting titles in three different decades.
1. Mike Schmidt: the prototype third basemen, Schmidt was a virtuoso with both the bat (8x home run king with 548 career home runs) and the glove (10 Gold Gloves) en route to three MVP titles during his Hall of Fame career.
Agree/Disagree? As always, debate/discuss, and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Note: While Alex Rodriguez played both shortstop and third base during his career, he is being classified as a shortstop and thus is not included as part of this list.
Note: All statistics as of time of publication.
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