Image: Wiki Commons by Arturo Pardavila III
About This Quiz
Who do you think is the biggest star in today's game? If you're like most people, you'd probably say somebody like Mike Trout, Christain Yelich, or Clayton Kershaw. As easy as it is to see how great the top active players are, it can sometimes be difficult to appreciate how dominant the players who played before we were born were. Guys may be throwing and hitting the ball harder today, but that's mostly thanks to improved technology and training.Â
For example, Mike Trout has finished no lower than fourth in the MVP voting since coming into the league. At the time of this writing, he had a lifetime OPS of exactly 1.000. His numbers look shockingly similar to another player who retired more than 50 years ago. Mickey Mantle took home three MVP awards and finished his career as a 16-time All-Star. Over his 18-year career, he had a .977 OPS, but if you took away his declining years, he might have the same OPS as Trout.Â
It's time to swing for the fences and see if you can hit a home run with all 40 of these players. Don't worry; we'll give you three hints for each of them. Think that's enough? Then let's get started and see how you do!
Mark McGwire
Big Mac is best remembered for his monstrous 1998 when he edged out Sammy Sosa for the all-time home run record. But his record didn't last long. Barry Bonds broke McGwire's home run record five years later, in 2003.
Sammy Sosa
Ichiro Suzuki
Derek Jeter
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Willie Mays
Pete Rose
Pete Rose had an amazingly consistent career. He came into the league as a 22-year-old in 1963 and played every year until 1986 when he was 45. He had more than 200 hits in 10 of his 24 seasons.
Derek Jeter
Cal Ripkin Jr.
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Randy Johnson
Gaylord Perry
Gaylord Perry played for 22 seasons with eight different teams. He played half his career with the Giants but won his only Cy Young award with the Indians in 1972. One of the tricks for which he was known was loading baseballs with rosin so the ball would make a cloud of smoke when leaving his hand. This later became illegal.
Bob Gibson
Cy Young
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Roberto Clemente
Clemente holds the distinction of hitting the only walk-off inside-the-park grand slam in baseball history. He also holds 12 outfield Gold Gloves, which is a record he shares with Willie Mays.
Don Drysdale
Harmon Killebrew
Brooks Robinson
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Steve Carlton
Carleton took home the NL Cy Young award in 1972, 1977, 1980 and 1982. He led the league in strikeouts five times in his career with a career-high 310 in 1972. Of course, his career 90.2 WAR was enough to get him into the Hall of Fame.
Rollie FIngers
Walter Johnson
Bob Gibson
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Cy Young
Walter Johnson
Bob Gibson
Gibson was nearly impossible to hit in the prime of his career. In 1968, a season when he took home the MVP and Cy Young award, he finished with a 1.12 ERA and 22 wins. He also led the league with 268 strikeouts.
Dizzy Dean
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Ichiro Suzuki
Vladimir Guerrero
Ken Griffey Jr.
If he didn't spend most of his career on the disabled list, who knows how high Griffey would have been on the all-time lists. He retired with 524 home runs, 2781 hits and a career .907 OPS. He hit over 40 home runs seven times.
Alex Rodriguez
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Jeff Bagwell
Sammy Sosa
Barry Bonds
Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas hit over 40 home runs five times in his career. He won back to back MVPs in 1993 and 1994. In the second of those seasons, he had an insane 1.217 OPS, which is sixth-highest ever recorded by somebody who isn't named Barry Bonds or Babe Ruth.
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Albert Pujols
Albert Pujols may be near the end of his career, but it seems like he's hitting a lifetime milestone in every game. He has an outside chance at becoming the fourth player to hit 700 home runs, and he has already surpassed the 3,000 hit and 2,000 RBI milestones.
Mike Trout
Jim Edmonds
Scott Rolen
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Rickey Henderson
Mike Schmidt
Mike Schmidt was one of the greatest players of the 1980s. He hit over 30 home runs 13 times in his career and led the National League in eight of those seasons. He played his entire 18-year career with the Phillies.
Nolan Ryan
Dale Murphy
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Tom Seaver
Gaylord Perry
Randy Johnson
Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan is one of the hardest pitching players of all-time. Some people believe that if his fastball speed was clocked with modern methods, he would have reached as high as 108 mph. He pitched seven no-hitters in his career. No other pitcher has more than four.
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Randy Johnson
Roger Clemens
Roger Clemens is one of the only pitchers to win a Cy Young award in his 40s. At 41, he won the National League Cy Young award with an outstanding 1.87 ERA. He played most of his career with the Red Sox and Yankees.
Greg Maddux
John Smoltz
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Joe DiMaggio
Fred McGriff
Ted Williams
Hank Aaron
Hank Aaron, Mr. Consistency, was named to the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975. He also finished in the top 20 in the MVP voting in every one of those years. He took home the MVP award once in his career, in 1957.
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Hank Aaron
Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb played in an era during which home runs were almost non-existent. He led the league in dingers in 1909 with a whopping nine homers. His home run totals may not be overwhelming by today's standards, but his .366 career average is nothing to sneeze at.
Alex Rodriguez
Joe DiMaggio
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Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki is arguably the greatest contact hitter since 2000. Since his rookie season in 2001, he amassed 3089 hits. He didn't come to America until he was 27 years old. If he had played in the MLB throughout his 20s, he likely would have gotten 4,000 hits.
Vladimir Guerrero
Alex Rodriguez
Derek Jeter
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Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle goes down in history as one of the greatest Yankees to play the game. He hit over 50 home runs twice in his career. He had his career-high of 54 in 1961, which was the same year his teammate, Roger Maris, broke Babe Ruth's single-season record with 61 home runs.
Joe DiMaggio
Honus Wagner
Stan Musial
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Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth is arguably the greatest player ever to play baseball. Before he came along, the single-season home run record was 27. He first broke that record in 1919 with 29 home runs and topped himself the following year with 54. He would eventually hit 60 home runs in a season, a record that stood for 34 years until Roger Maris broke it in 1961.
Joe DiMaggio
Alex Rodriguez
Jimmie Foxx
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Ted Williams
Stan Musial
Honus Wagner
Honus Wagner hit a career-high .381 in 1900 as a member of the Pirates. He won eight batting titles in his career, including the season in which he was 37 years old. He was also known for his speed, and he swiped more than 40 bases eight times.
Babe Ruth
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Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig held the record for most games played in a row until Cal Ripkin Jr. broke that record with 2,632 games played consecutively. Gehrig was forced to retire when he was 37 years old after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is now commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease."
Cal Ripkin Jr.
Ty Cobb
Hank Aaron
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Yogi Berra
Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio is one of a long list of Yankee legends. He is a 13-time All-Star who won a staggering nine home run titles with the Yankees from the 1930s to 1951. He is also a two-time batting champion and league home run leader.
Derek Jeter
Babe Ruth
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Ted Williams
Ted Williams put up some the highest career totals of any player despite missing some of his prime years to serve in the war. He ranks second only to Babe Ruth is OPS+, and his career .482 is the highest OBP of any player.
Babe Ruth
Barry Bonds
Joe DiMaggio
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Willie Mays
The Say Hey Kid was one of the most well-rounded players to ever play center field. He finished his career with 660 home runs and a lifetime .302 batting average. He was also an excellent defensive outfielder with one of the highest career WARs of all-time.
Babe Ruth
Joe DiMaggio
Jimmie Foxx
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Randy Johnson
Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson played in an era before the Cy Young award was around, but he was unanimously known as the best pitcher in the league throughout much of his career. He also holds the unique record of hitting the most batters.
Sandy Koufax
Babe Ruth
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Carlos Santana
Mike Piazza
Mike Piazza is often considered the best offensive catcher to ever play the game. He is a 10-time Silver Slugger and had his No. 31 retired by the Mets. Not surprisingly, he was also voted into the Hall of fame in 2016.
Yadier Molina
Melky Cabrera
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Walter Johnson
Randy Johnson
Cy Young
Cy Young won 511 games in his career. In today's game, getting 20 wins in a season is rare for a pitcher. However, Young won more than 30 games five times in his career. He also holds the record for games started, complete games, innings pitched, hits allowed, runs allowed and batters faced.
Sandy Koufax
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Joe DiMaggio
Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds is most known for his legendary home run totals. However, he had won the MVP award three times before he broke the single-season home run record. He had more than 20 stolen bases in 12 of the first 13 seasons in his career.
Babe Ruth
Willie Mays
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Babe Ruth
Ted Williams
Joe DiMaggio
Stan Musial
"Stan the Man" is a legend in St. Louis. He had a career .331 batting average and took home the MVP award three times. His most dominant season came in 1948 when he hit .376 with 131 RBIs and 39 home runs.
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Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson goes down in history as one of the hardest throwing pitchers of all time. Johnson is a 10-time All-Star and led the league in strikeouts nine times. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.
Curt Schilling
Bob Gibson
Felix Hernandez
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Joe DiMaggio
Ted Williams
Babe Ruth
Rogers Hornsby
Rogers Hornsby hit over .400 three times in his career, including an astounding .424 in 1924. His on-base percentage that year was .507, putting him in the elite company of players who've gotten on base more than half the time.
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RIckey Henderson
Craig Biggio
Jimmie Foxx
Alex Rodriguez
Love him or hate him, Alex Rodriguez has put up career numbers that few other players have accomplished. He is currently No. 4 on the all-time home run list, and he was voted an All-Star 14 times in his career.
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Fred McGriff
Fred McGriff was one of the best hitters for most of the 1990s. Throughout his career, he hit 300 home runs with a .895 OPS. In 1992, he led the National League in home runs with 35.
Ichiro Suzuki
Mark McGwire
Ted Williams
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Tom Glavine
John Smoltz
Greg Maddux
Greg Maddux is one of only 10 pitchers to get 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts while giving up less than 1,000 walks. He also led the National League in wins three times and led the league in ERA four times.
Craig Kimbrel
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Rickey Henderson
Rickey Henderson was best known for his speed. He had a pretty modest career average of .279, but his 1,406 career stolen bases made him a constant threat on the base paths. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2009.
Fred McGriff
Craig Biggio
Jimmie Foxx
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Craig Biggio
Biggio was a lifetime Astro who put up some impressive numbers during his 19-year career. His career 3,060 hits and 291 home runs were enough to get him voted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2015.
Fred McGriff
Jose Bautista
Brian Jordan
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Fred McGriff
Joe DiMaggio
Joe Morgan
Morgan won the MVP award twice. In both years he was MVP, the Reds won the World Series. These days, you'll likely hear his voice calling games on ESPN where he currently works as a broadcaster.
Yogi Berra
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Edgar Martinez
Craig Biggio
Fred McGriff
Jimmie Foxx
Jimmie Fox was the youngest player to hit 500 home runs until Alex Rodriguez beat his record in 2007. Foxx was an All-Star in nine seasons and won the MVP award in three of those seasons.
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Babe Ruth
Cy Young
Walter Johnson
Dizzy Dean
Dizzy played the first seven years of his career with the Cardinals before playing with the Cubs and the Browns. He was one of the most dominant pitchers in the league from 1932 until 1937. He won more than 20 games four times during this stretch.
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Bob Feller
Bob Feller lost two seasons to military service. However, when he came back, he went on to be equally as dominant as he had been before he left. He recorded at least 15 wins every year from 1946 to 1951.
Walter Johnson
Dizzy Dean
Cy Young
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Fred McGriff
Edgar Martinez
Edgar Martinez was one of the best hitters in the league throughout the 1990s. He hit a career-high .356 in 1995 to lead the American League. He also led the league in 1992 when he hit .343.
Craig Biggio
Sammy Sosa
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Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter Berra played with the Yankees from 1946-1963. He played one season at the end of his career across town with the Mets, but he will always be remembered as a Yankee. The Yankees retired his No. 8 in 1972.
Joe DiMaggio
Roy Campanella
Early Wynn
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