GREATEST Pirate Baseballer

[Salty Again]

... G'day Younzer-mates,

Lookin' for YOUR opinions on who may be the
Greatest Pittsburgh Pirate baseballer of all time.

Reckon it's NOT that Bell bloke - who sailed-away on his yacht.

... Opinions, please:

### Salty

[Grace Preston]

Gotta be Roberto Clemente.

[chizzy]

Many great pirates thru the years but IMHO, clemente was the greatest right fielder in baseball history. I have never seen a stronger arm than his. He
Was not only a great player but an even greater person in his concern for others.

[Loretta77]

So many legends played for us in the 70’s but that was before my time so I’ll say my favorite Bucco from more recently is obviously Andrew Mccutchen. What a great player on such garbage teams with typically zero protection in the lineup.

[berryberry]

Roberto Clemente was great and I know many will say him but Honus Wagner is the greatest Pirate of all time.

He had more Hits, Runs, Rbi's, SB's, a higher career batting average, OBP, OPS and Slugging percentage than Clemente while playing a tougher position

That is not to take anything away from Clemente - but of all time it is Honus Wagner and it is not close

[Grace Preston]

Clemente is always going to get that title for many-- because he had his career cut tragically short. One always has to wonder just how many of those stats Clemente could have broken if he had played to the same age that Wagner retired at (43).


Can't deny those stats of Wagners, though. But-- a .317 batting average compared to a .318 is really splitting hairs

[berryberry]

Originally Posted by Grace Preston

Clemente is always going to get that title for many-- because he had his career cut tragically short. One always has to wonder just how many of those stats Clemente could have broken if he had played to the same age that Wagner retired at (43).


Can't deny those stats of Wagners, though. But-- a .317 batting average compared to a .318 is really splitting hairs

The only ones who would give Clemente that title are those who have a recency bias. No one alive today watched Wagner play. But history and statistics don't lie

Clemente played 18 full seasons
Wagner played 19 full seasons and two half seasons

You could eliminate the one extra full season and two half seasons from Wagner's total and Clemente stats still would not come close to Wagner's in nearly every category

Oh and for the record - Wagner had a career BA of .328, not the .318 you mentioned. So no, not splitting hairs

[Grace Preston]

Eh-- given the fact that I'm not a lifelong Pirates fan, all I have for stats is Google, which lists him at a .318

[flows-with-water]

Geno Cimoli

[berryberry]

Originally Posted by Grace Preston

Eh-- given the fact that I'm not a lifelong Pirates fan, all I have for stats is Google, which lists him at a .318

Welp Google is wrong. Much better resources than Google

[Grace Preston]

And Baseball Almanac has him at a .329


LOL


No matter what-- he's a pretty impressive player. Always fun to learn more about players from the days of old.

[berryberry]

Yeah - he is either .329 or .328 depending on the site. Probably a difference in how each site rounds the results

To make it more impressive, Wagner was actually born in the Pittsburgh area - Carnegie to be exact

[Salty Again]

...But no doubt tougher pitching when Clemente was playin'...
the telly and video to help the managers coach the players
and what-not.

#### Salty