MLB History: 11 Greatest Shortstops of All Time, Part 1

Honus Wagner (240), Alex Rodriguez (109), Derek Jeter (73), Allan Trammel (102), Ozzie Smith  (127), Omar Vizquel (72), Luke Appling (130), Ernie Banks (115), Lou Boudreau (108), Joe Cronin (120), George Davis(170), Pee Wee Reese (98), Phil Rizutto (75) , Joe Sewell (107), Arky Vaughan (134), Robin Yount (112), Barry Larkin (110), Cal Ripken Jr. (127), Joe Tinker (121), Dave Bancroft (116), Dave Concepcion (98), Luis Aparicio (91), Bert Campaneris (91), Bill Dahlen (180).

The first round: Clearly, there is one shortstop who is far and away ahead of the class, and that is Honus Wagner. According to WARP, Wagner was literally twice as valuable to his team as most of the rest of the list.

I included a number of these, not because I consider them in the Top 10, but more to prove a point. While I understand that shortstop has historically been a position of defensive specialists, all of the top contenders (with the arguable exception of Ozzie Smith), brought a fair amount of offense to the position as well.

Luis Aparicio, for example, really does not deserve the status he has been accorded as a baseball legend, and in fact, seems no more deserving than Bert Campaneris, or Dave Concepcion, other defensive minded speedsters who brought a great deal of value to their teams, if not enough to put them over the top.

Bill Dahlen and George Davis's stats are clearly less impressive than they appear, due to the conditions in which they played (less organized baseball, no black players, etc). Nevertheless, their numbers are impressive enough that they must be put into the Top 10.

Phil Rizzuto, I know he missed time due to war, but he still only had 75 WARP, Pee Wee missed the same years, and had 97 WARP. The Scooter was great, but not quite great enough.

Without thinking too much about it, I imagine we can all agree that the Top 10, beyond Wagner, Dahlen, and Davis, absolutely must include Ozzie Smith, Ernie Banks and Cal Ripken Jr. as well. The Same is true for Arky Vaughan, who has largely been forgotten by history, but who Bill James considered the second greatest shortstop (after Wagner), in the history of the game.

Omar Vizquel. Vizquel is absolutely not a candidate for Top 10 all time status, and I included him in the discussion mainly to illustrate the point that, comparisons between Vizquel and Ozzie Smith are entirely unfounded. Vizquel has saved 99 runs above average in his career, this is a fantastic total. He has also been 155 runs below average at the plate, (it is easy to forget, given his late '90's offensive contributions, that he was once labeled "Omar the outmaker").

Ozzie Smith was 33 runs above average at bat. This is not so impressive, but is, as you can easily figure out, 188 runs more than what Vizquel was able to produce. Ozzie stole more bases (by far), and did so with a much better success rate. Ozzie drew more walks, and produced a similar batting line in an era of much lighter offense.

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