CJ Abrams Lists His Mount Rushmore of Shortstops… MLBbro.com Lists Ours

CJ Abrams Lists His Mount Rushmore of Shortstops… MLBbro.com Lists Ours

There is not a hotter MLBbro these days than Washington Nationals shortstop, CJ Abrams. Recently our MLBbro shared his Mount Rushmore of current shortstops that shine on the field. One of them is a MLBbro and of course he added himself.

MLBbro.com came up with our own Mount Rushmore of shortstops. While Abrams was listing current shortstops, we went ahead and compiled an All-Time list.

The combination of professionalism, the evolution of the position and an underrated aspect to the list… longevity and loyalty to one franchise got these four MLBbro shortstop icons the spotlight.

Maury Wills:

The fact that this MLBbro icon is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame is just as big a travesty as Barry Bonds being blacklisted from the honor. Even though he was nominated by the Golden Era committee in 2014, he still didn’t make the cut. Wills brought the art of the stolen base.

His story of maximizing his skills to overcome the fact that many teams (including the Dodgers at the beginning) didn’t believe he had the physical tools to play professional baseball.

  • He won six straight stolen base titles.
  • His 104 steals in 1962 was a record until fellow MLBbro Lou Brock tallied 118 in 1974.
  • Won the NL MVP award AND All-Star MVP in the same season!

Maury Wills sadly never got the call for the Hall of Fame before passing in 2022 at the age of 89. But the essence of the MLBbro battling the undercurrent of the system of racism puts him on this list.

Ernie Banks:

While the aforementioned Maury Wills used his craftiness and speed to make this list under peculiar circumstances, Ernie Banks brought power to the city of Chicago and became the first MLBbro since Jackie Robinson to put fans in seats (also read: the only reason to watch Chicago Cubs baseball). Before Banks came on to the scene, the shortstop position never knew power.

Ernie Banks played 19 years for a terrible Chicago Cubs team that never made the playoffs. Mr. Cub created his legacy in 1957-60 collecting back-to-back NL MVP awards in 1958-59. The resume tells it all…

  • 14 time All-Star (1955-62, 1965, 1967, 1969), Gold Glove winner in 1960, and Hall of Fame Inductee in 1977.
  • Hitting slash of .274/.330/.500…2,583 hits…512 homers…1,636 RBI.

 

Ozzie Smith:

There is a theme going on here if anyone has noticed. Maury Wills is on the list for the intangibles of playing the game of baseball. Ernie Banks brings offensive firepower that brought box office influence to the shortstop position. Now let’s discuss the MLBbro icon that brought defensive wizardry to the position. Who else but…

The Wizard of Oz…Ozzie Smith!

He is the greatest defensive shortstop ever. He is one of one. There can’t be an all-time discussion without his name being mentioned. His range, athleticism and ability to get the ball away quickly landed him 13 Gold Gloves, a .978 fielding percentage and a 43.4 defensive WAR. He was a part of the MLBbro crew in St.Louis that lit up the base paths to the tune of 580 steals.

The Wizard’s .262 career average with 2,460 illustrates the work he put in to be a solid hitter.

 

Derek Jeter:

This MLBbro icon took all of the ingredients of the previous players on this list and with the addition of marketing and business in a huge city of New York with the Yankees changed the landscape of how athletes make money in endorsements.

While his stats don’t pop out like Babe Ruth, Aaron Judge or Reggie Jackson, the ability to be consistently there in the big moment on five World Championship Yankees teams makes him an icon that transcends to all MLB greats.

His clutch play is embedded in the DNA of the Yankees franchise and his leadership and respect will lead on as long as MLB is in business.

MLBbro.com Honors the Godfather of the Stolen Base | MLBbro Icon Maury Wills Passes Away

MLBbro.com Honors the Godfather of the Stolen Base | MLBbro Icon Maury Wills Passes Away

Major League Baseball lost a legend this week when former Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills passed away at the age of 89. Let MLBbro.com put this on the record:

Maury Wills is the most underrated and underappreciated superstar in Major League History. This MLBbro icon reintroduced the stolen base as a weapon in baseball in his era and the fact that he was snubbed by the Hall of Fame Golden Days Era voting committee last year cements this fact.

Before Rickey Henderson dazzled the MLB fan base with his 130 stolen bases back in 1982, it was Maury Wills that set the blueprint of the “art of the steal” on the basepaths, breaking Ty Cobb’s record for stolen bases (96) with 104 in 1962. Based on this statement to The New York Times that year, his mindset was different from the other players in that era…     

“Stealing is a matter of confidence, even conceit,” he told The New York Times in September 1962. “It’s more than getting a good jump, a big lead. It’s being in the right frame of mind. I run with the thought that the pitcher will make a perfect throw and the catcher will make a perfect throw and I’ll still beat them. I don’t have a doubt.”

 

 

Forget the load management that baseball players have today, Wills played an MLB record (that will never be broken) 165 games that year due to the three game playoff series against the New York Giants that ended with “The Shot Heard Around the World.”

After spending most of the 1950’s working his way through the minor leagues, Wills got his “Lou Gehrig” break by inheriting the shortstop position left by a retired Pee Wee Reese in 1959. He replaced supposed starter Don Zimmer when the future manager broke his toe. Like Gehrig’s career in a New York Yankee uniform, Maury’s career took off and Zimmer’s job went the way of Wally Pipp. 

The MLBbro icon helped the Dodgers win the NL Pennant and a World Series title defeating the Chicago White Sox in six games.

Maury Wills never looked back, when he broke Cobb’s record that stood since the 1915 season. Our MLBbro icon also won the National League Most Valuable Player award in ’62 and won the first MLB All-Star Game MVP that year. Let’s not forget the lightening quick Willis’ soft hands and Gold Glove. In his 14 MLbbro season, Wills collected 20 homers, 458 RBI, 2,134 hits, 1,067 runs, 177 doubles, 71 triples and 552 walks in 1,942 games. Add on seven All-Star games, that should wrap up a Hall of Fame career.  

This MLBbro icon’s legacy will always be connected to the stolen base and how it influenced the 1960’s. Over the next 30 years it’s amazing how teams added the philosophy to their offensive strategies. 

Just look at Wills’ influence on the game over this 15-year period…

 

Stolen base leaders from 1960-65:

  1. Maury Wills: 376
  2. Luis Aparicio: 258
  3. Lou Brock: 146
  4. Willie Davis: 139
  5. Vada Pinson: 137
  6. Henry Aaron: 129
  7. Frank Robinson: 115
  8. Chuck Hinton: 109
  9. Dick Howser: 102

 

Through this period, outside of Wills, no one on the list topped the 100 stolen base mark for a season. But thanks to Maury’s popularity, it allowed other players the opportunity to steal bases more often. In the time period covering the 1966 to 1970 seasons, 4 players stole more than 100 bases. 

Wills was traded before the 1966 season and spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Montreal Expos before returning to the Dodgers to complete his career. But his legacy will live on through Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts. Wills impacted Roberts’ career in so many ways.

 

 

“He just loved the game of baseball, loved working and loved the relationship with players,” Roberts said. “We spent a lot of time together. He showed me how to appreciate my craft and what it is to be a big leaguer. He just loved to teach. So I think a lot of where I get my excitement, my passion and my love for the players is from Maury.

“And in a strange way, I think I enriched his post-baseball career as far as watching every game I played or managed. I remember even during games I played, He’d come down from the suite and tell me I need to bunt more, I need you to do this or that.

“It just showed that he was in it with me, and to this day, he would be there cheering for me.”

 

 

Dodgers Nation now has lost two legends this season — broadcasting icon, Vin Scully being the other — just before their postseason run. But if the players have the same mindset that Maury Wills had and shared with Sports Illustrated in 1965, the Dodgers will be just fine… 

“I know when I have had a lousy day just by looking down at my uniform,” he told the magazine. “If it isn’t dirty, I haven’t scored two runs, I haven’t done my job.” 

 

#HIGHFIVE | Top 5 Stolen Base Kings

#HIGHFIVE | Top 5 Stolen Base Kings

The art of stealing bases is a skill that’s synonymous with the Black Athlete. The Top 15 greatest bag swipers in MLB history (After Jackie Robinson integrated the game) are all African-American, with the exceptions of Cuban speedster Bert Campaneris and Brett Butler, who is an aberration — like the Larry Bird of base stealing.

Once they started letting brothers in the game, it became a skill that is dominated yearly by the African-American or Afro-Latino athlete. (There are six MLBbros in the Top 20 in stolen bases so far this season.)


The Best To Ever Do It

1. Rickey Henderson

 

 

Simply the greatest base-stealing technician that ever lived with 1,406 steals on his resume.  Henderson is the only player to ever eclipse 1,000 swipes for a career. Marinate on that for a sec.

Pretty Rickey swiped 66 bases at the age of 40 and stole 31 at the age of 44, never deviating from his classic head-first slide.     

 

 

He led the American League in stolen bases from 1980-1991. His combination of speed, power and bat savvy makes him hands down the greatest leadoff hitter to ever put on spikes, but also one of the deadliest multi-faceted weapons MLB has ever seen. A dynamic five-tool package with golden legs, unapologetic swag and soul.

 

2. Lou Brock

 

 

“Lightening” Lou Brock was the blueprint for the emergence of Rickey Henderson. In the ’60s and ’70s, the eight-time NL stolen base king played with the St. Louis Cardinals. With Brock on the move, pitchers saw nothing but streaks of red flying by them. He had 938 swipes in his career.

Brock was the standard-bearer for stolen base supremacy before Henderson obliterated his record, but due to the way the game has changed, Brock’s second-place position on the all-time list is pretty safe.

 

 

It takes a rare athlete, executing a combination of supreme athleticism and profound intellect to steal 50 bases for 12 straight seasons as Brock did from 1965-76. A Tribe Called Quest gives Brock a shout on their classic hip-hop joint Check the Rhyme.

 

3. Tim Raines

 

 

Nobody in the ’80s rocked a Jheri Curl better than Rock Raines, who also knew how to handle a bat as evidenced by his 2,605 hits and .294 career batting average.

As a leadoff missile, his stolen base prowess made him a lethal weapon. Raines swiped over 70 bases each season from 1981-86 and he led the NL in steals from 81-84, until Vince Coleman hit the scene.

 

ROCK RAINES WAS READY ALL THE TIME 

 

Raines, a 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, was not only multi-faceted and down to pound the pavement for a bag, but he was the most precise base stealer among the sultans of swipe, finishing his big league career with the best-stolen base percentage (84.7) of any player with 400-plus steals.

 

4. Maury Wills 

 

 

Wills is one of the most underrated players in history and egregiously still hasn’t been voted into the Hall of Fame. He won six consecutive National League stolen base crowns (1960-65). His 50 steals in 1960 marked the first time an NL player had eclipsed the half-century mark in swipes since Max Carey in 1923.

Wills is known as the principal offensive weapon of the Dodgers three championship squads between 1959 and 1965. Wills gained fame and respect as a stolen base king by swiping 104 bases in 1962, eclipsing a 47-year-old MLB record.

MAURY WILLS REFLECTS ON HOW THE SPIRIT OF JACKIE ROBINSON HELPED HIM ENDURE RACISM WHILE HE WAS A PLAYER

 

5. Vince Coleman

 

 

Coleman stormed the MLB scene winning NL Rookie of the Year in 1985, swiping 110 bases.

He swiped over 100 again for the next two seasons before tailing off with seasons of 81, 65 and 77 steals for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Coleman never stole more than 50 again after leaving St. Louis and he once said he didn’t know who Jackie Robinson was, but his bag-swiping omnipotence didn’t allow me to exclude him for his ignorance.

VINCE COLEMAN JOINS EXCLUSIVE 100-STEAL CLUB 

 

Honorable Mention: Jackie Robinson (King of Stealing Home), Joe Morgan  (HOF, 608 career steals), Luis Aparicio (HOF, nine-straight AL stolen base titles)

#HIGHFIVE | Top Black Shortstops In MLB History

#HIGHFIVE | Top Black Shortstops In MLB History


 1. Ernie Banks

Mr. Cub is probably the greatest African-American shortstop to grace the MLB diamond. Banks not only set the standard for black shortstops, but he was the first true power-hitting shortstop in MLB. Banks was A-Rod before A-Rod, an icon who changed the game by providing uncanny power at a position previously reserved for slap hitters.

 

Banks played 19 years for a losing Cubs franchise and was Wrigley Field’s only bright spot for two decades as he clubbed 512 career homers. In his prime from 1957-1960, averaged a .293 batting average, 44 HR, 123 RBI and won back-to-back NL MVP awards in ’58 and ’59.

A true legend and pioneer of the game.

 

2. Derek Jeter

 “El Capitan” is one of the greatest winners MLB has ever seen. He was the Captain and clutch catalyst for a Yankees Dynasty that won five World Series rings between 1996 and 2009 and lived in the postseason.

Jeter, a 14-time All-Star, is the Yankees all-time hits leader with a whopping 3,465. He has a .310 career batting average and has won five Gold Gloves. His stats are Hall of Fame worthy, but don’t begin to tell the story of his marketing and cultural impact as the flawless face of baseball for 20 years. He led the Yankees to the top of the sports landscape by performing at his best in the biggest moments. “Ice in the veins” should be Jeter’s middle name.

 

 

He is arguably the greatest postseason hitter of all time, with a career .308 BA, 20 HR, 61 RBI, 18 SB line in 158 postseason games, earning the name “Mr. November.”

3. Barry Larkin

He was a Black Knight in beast mode as the premier National League shortstop of the 1990s. Larkin was a consistent offensive boss and formidable glove for an inconsistent Cincinnati Reds lineup. He was elected to the All-Star team every year from 1988-2000, winning eight Silver Slugger awards during that span.

 

 

Larkin, who played every one of his 19 seasons with the Reds, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2012, with a .295 career average, 2,340 hits, 1,329 runs scored and 379 stolen bases. Larkin scored at least 80 runs in a season seven times, hit 30-plus doubles in six seasons, and stole 30-or-more bases five times. He won his three Gold Glove awards at shortstop en route to a career fielding percentage of .975 and won nine Silver Slugger awards.

Larkin won a World Series in 1990 and then did something that Jeter couldn’t accomplish when he took home NL MVP honors in 1995.

 

4. Ozzie Smith

The Wizard is simply the greatest defensive infielder in MLB history and his 43.4 career defensive WAR is the best by any player at the position. Even with the defensive metrics on smash, his .978 fielding percentage and 13 Gold Gloves support his claim to the title of glove king.

Smith is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime talent that you would never understand based on numbers. He was truly a magician with the glove. He was also a huge personality in the game and understood the essence of entertainment as he began each game with his patented backflip.

 

 

Smith had artistry, flair, and athletic superiority that put him in another stratosphere. His fielding was so good that people often dogged him for his hitting, which is not shabby at all. Smith had a .262 career average and 2,460 hits. He’s also among the greatest base stealers of all-time with 580 career swipes.

5. Jimmy Rollins

“J-Roll” is one of the most offensively prolific shortstops the game has ever seen. He has 2,455 hits, which includes 511 doubles (53rd all-time), 115 triples, and 231 home runs. He ranks 103rd in career total bases and 83rd in extra-base hits. He’s also stolen 470 bases, good for 46th in MLB history. His 1,421 runs are good for 86th and 936 RBI from pretty much always being in a table-setting position is pretty solid as well.

 

 

He makes the all-time Top 20 in almost every offensive statistic for a shortstop and was the centerpiece of a Phillies team that won two NL pennants and a World Series in 2008. He has four Gold Gloves and four seasons of at least 10 Defensive Runs Saved.

J-Roll was a true soul patroller. His 2007 NL MVP award was the stamp that at some point he was the best at his position. Standing a diminutive 5-foot-7, 175-pounds, Rollins defied the odds and continues to be a living example of skills over scales when it comes to the sport of baseball.

Honorable Mention: Maury Wills

Wills didn’t get his Hall of Fame props from the writers, but he was an MLB pioneer and one of the fastest players in history.

Wills was finally nominated by the Golden Era committee in 2014, which could induct managers, umpires, executives and long-retired players for possible election in 2015, but he fell three votes short.

The barn-burner made a living off of his superior wheels as he stole 586 bases in his career, good for 20th all time.

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The lack of respect for his career is indicative of the lost appreciation in the modern game for the stolen base, which was a staple of black excellence in baseball ever since No. 42 broke the color barrier in ’47. In 1960, Wills won the first of six straight National League stolen base crowns.