Barry Bonds, Aaron Judge and the 25 Greatest Corner Outfielders in Modern MLB History
Welcome once again to Bleacher Report's series of the 25 greatest players at each position in modern MLB history. Up next are the corner fielders, as we've opted to combine left fielders and right fielders into one list.
The first step in this exercise was to decide what "modern" means for the sake of this discussion, and we settled on everything from the 1969 season forward.
That was the first year of the "divisional era," when each league expanded from 10 to 12 teams and split those clubs into two divisions. That also meant an expanded playoff format, with the ALCS and NLCS played for the first time that year. The postseason had previously consisted of just the World Series.
That gives us 54 years of players to consider for a spot in our rankings, but we didn't simply ignore what happened prior to 1969. A pair of lists were also created for the dead-ball era (pre-1920) and the pre-divisional era (1920-68).
Players were ranked based on a combination of their overall body of work and their peak performance, with postseason success also taken into account.
Catch up on our other Top 25 All-Time lists: Catchers, First Basemen, Second Basemen, Shortstops, Third Basemen, Center Fielders
Top 10 Dead-Ball Era (Pre-1920)
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Top 10 Dead-Ball Era
1. Shoeless Joe Jackson
2. Sam Crawford
3. Willie Keeler
4. Ed Delahanty
5. Fred Clarke
6. Jesse Burkett
7. Zack Wheat
8. Elmer Flick
9. Jim O'Rourke
10. Sam Thompson
Shoeless Joe Jackson hit .356/.423/.517 for a 170 OPS+ over a 13-year career before he was banned from baseball for life at age 32 for his ties to the 1919 Black Sox scandal. His .408 batting average in 1911 will likely stand forever as the rookie record.
Sam Crawford holds the record with 309 triples, while Willie Keeler was a .341 career hitter with 2,932 hits and a pair of batting titles on his resume.
Ed Delahanty, Fred Clarke, Jesse Burkett, Zack Wheat, Elmer Flick, Jim O'Rourke and Sam Thompson were all elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
Top 15 Pre-Divisional Era (1920-68)
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Top 15 Pre-Divisional Era
1. Babe Ruth
2. Hank Aaron
3. Ted Williams
4. Stan Musial
5. Frank Robinson
6. Mel Ott
7. Roberto Clemente
8. Carl Yastrzemski
9. Al Kaline
10. Monte Irvin
11. Harry Heilmann
12. Al Simmons
13. Ralph Kiner
14. Paul Waner
15. Billy Williams
Sluggers Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron and Ted Williams all have a slam dunk case for ranking among the 10 greatest players in MLB history, and Stan Musial also belongs in that conversation as one of the greatest pure hitters to ever play the game.
Everyone on this list is a Hall of Famer, and several other Hall of Famers were excluded, including Lou Brock, Joe Medwick, Chuck Klein, Goose Goslin, Minnie Miñoso, Enos Slaughter, Kiki Cuyler and Tony Oliva.
One of the tougher players to slot in these rankings was Carl Yastrzemski, who had a terrific peak in the late 1960s, but has an overall resume largely built on the length of his career as he ranks second all-time with 3,308 games played.
Nos. 25-21
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25. Juan Gonzalez
A forgotten superstar of the 1990s, Gonzalez won AL MVP honors in 1996 and 1998 and posted five 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons. He finished with 434 home runs, 1,404 RBI and a 132 OPS+ over 17 seasons, and his peak performance was enough to edge out a long list of other viable candidates for the final spot.
24. Dave Parker
Parker was one of the most feared hitters of the late 1970s and 1980s, winning back-to-back NL batting titles with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1977 and 1978 and claiming NL MVP honors during the '78 season. He remained productive into his late 30s as a designated hitter and is widely regarded as one of the best players on the outside looking in for a spot in Cooperstown.
23. Dwight Evans
An eight-time Gold Glove winner in right field and a staple on the Boston Red Sox roster for 19 seasons, Evans piled up 67.2 WAR in his career. He made his MLB debut at age 20 and hit .272/.370/.470 with a 127 OPS+ with 2,446 hits, 385 home runs and 1,384 RBI, leading the league in OPS twice.
22. Jose Canseco
21. Sammy Sosa
Two of the faces of the steroid era.
Canseco became the first 40/40 player in MLB history when he tallied 42 home runs and 40 steals en route to AL MVP honors during the 1988 season. The admitted juicer launched 462 home runs over 17 seasons, earning six All-Star selections and winning a pair of World Series.
Sosa never tested positive or admitted to steroid use, but his physical transformation and inclusion in the infamous New York Times article has cast a cloud over his accomplishments. The only player with three 60-homer seasons, he hit 609 long balls in his career while posting a 128 OPS+ and 58.6 WAR over 18 seasons.
Nos. 20-16
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20. Jim Rice
Rice had some prolific power seasons while hitting in the middle of the Boston lineup during the 1970s and 1980s, peaking in 1978 when he led the league in hits (213), triples (15), home runs (46), RBI (139), OPS+ (157) and total bases (406) to take home AL MVP honors. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in his 15th and final year on the ballot in 2009.
19. Darryl Strawberry
Strawberry was on a Hall of Fame trajectory before injuries and substance use derailed his career. Through his age-29 season, he racked up 280 home runs, 201 steals and 40.3 WAR, but he had just 55 home runs and 1.9 WAR in 335 games the remainder of his career. The eight-time All-Star led the New York Mets to a World Series title in 1986, and won two more rings with the New York Yankees at the end of his career.
18. Giancarlo Stanton
Stanton is one of just 11 players in MLB history with at least 300 home runs before his age-29 season, and he still has a great chance of reaching 500 before his career is over. However, he has had a tough time staying healthy since winning NL MVP honors in 2017 with a 59-homer, 132-RBI season for the Miami Marlins, making him one of the tougher players to slot in these rankings.
17. Bobby Abreu
Abreu might be the most underrated player of the last 25 years. He had seven straight 5-WAR seasons during his peak with the Philadelphia Phillies, hitting .308/.416/.525 for a 143 OPS+ while averaging 41 doubles, 23 home runs, 92 RBI and 29 steals per year during that stretch. Despite his consistently elite production, he made just two All-Star teams in his career.
16. Albert Belle
Belle spent just 10 years as an everyday player in the majors before a degenerative hip condition ended his career at age 33. During that decade span, he posted a 146 OPS+ and averaged 38 doubles, 37 home runs, 120 RBI and 4.0 WAR per year while finishing in the top 10 in AL MVP voting five times. His short but productive career closely resembles that of Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner.
Nos. 15-11
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15. Aaron Judge
14. Mookie Betts
It's always difficult to slot active players among all-time greats, but given their career trajectory and current resumes, both of these guys belong in the top 15 of this list.
Judge dealt with some injuries between his stellar rookie season in 2017 and his epic 211-OPS+, 62-homer, 10.6-WAR season last year, but he still has 37.0 WAR over seven seasons. He is also now part of a short list of players who have called themselves captain of the New York Yankees.
Betts has 56.4 WAR for his career and has been a 6-WAR player in six of his nine MLB seasons. He won the AL batting title and AL MVP honors in 2018, is a six-time Gold Glove winner in right field and has two World Series rings.
13. Gary Sheffield
With a batting stance every '90s kid imitated in their backyard and some of the fastest hands in baseball history, Sheffield racked up 509 home runs and 1,676 RBI over 22 seasons in the big leagues. He played for eight different teams, posting eight 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons along the way, and he was the first true superstar to wear a Florida Marlins uniform. His ties to the Mitchell Report and BALCO scandal have kept him out of the Hall of Fame.
12. Tim Raines
One of the greatest leadoff hitters in baseball history, Raines posted a terrific .385 on-base percentage for his career while ranking fifth on the all-time list with 808 stolen bases. He was a seven-time All-Star and won the 1986 NL batting title when he hit .334/.413/.476 and recorded his sixth straight 70-steal season. He earned Hall of Fame enshrinement on his 10th year on the ballot in 2017.
11. Larry Walker
It's easy to point to Walker's prime with the Colorado Rockies as a cause for inflated stats, but consider for a moment his 1997 NL MVP season when he had a higher OPS (1.176 vs. 1.169) and more home runs (29 vs. 20) on the road. His 141 career OPS+ is an elite number, and that is a park-adjusted stat. All told, he finished with 2,160 hits, 383 home runs, 1,311 RBI and 72.7 WAR. He was also a seven-time Gold Glove winner with one of the strongest throwing arms in recent memory.
10. Bryce Harper
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Stats: 1,382 G, 142 OPS+, 1,379 H, 285 HR, 817 RBI, 122 SB, 42.5 WAR
Accolades: 7x All-Star, 2x Silver Slugger, 2x NL MVP
With 285 home runs, 817 RBI, 42.5 WAR and a pair of NL MVP awards already under his belt entering his age-30 season, Bryce Harper is clearly on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
Dubbed baseball's "Chosen One" when he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16-year-old, Harper has been saddled with sky-high expectations his entire career and has largely lived up to the hype.
He needs to average just 24 home runs per season over the remainder of his 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies to join the 500 home run club. After last year's unexpected trip to the World Series, it's not out of the question to think he could add a ring or two during that span as well.
9. Dave Winfield
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Stats: 2,973 G, 130 OPS+, 3,110 H, 465 HR, 1,833 RBI, 223 SB, 64.2 WAR
Accolades: 12x All-Star, 7x Gold Glove, 6x Silver Slugger
After a standout collegiate career at the University of Minnesota where he played baseball and basketball, Dave Winfield was drafted by the San Diego Padres (MLB), Atlanta Hawks (NBA), Utah Stars (ABA) and Minnesota Vikings (NFL), ultimately choosing to pursue a pro baseball career.
That was the right decision.
Just two weeks after going No. 4 overall in the 1973 draft, he made his MLB debut on June 19, 1973, never spending a single day in the minor leagues.
He made 12 straight All-Star Games during his prime with the Padres and New York Yankees, but it wasn't until his age-40 season in 1992 that he finally won his first World Series ring when he posted a 138 OPS+ with 26 home runs and 108 RBI as the designated hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays.
8. Vladimir Guerrero
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Stats: 2,147 G, 140 OPS+, 2,590 H, 449 HR, 1,496 RBI, 181 SB, 59.5 WAR
Accolades: 9x All-Star, 8x Silver Slugger, 2004 AL MVP
A free swinger with some of the best bad-ball hitting skills the game has ever seen, Vladimir Guerrero was a perennial 30-homer, 100-RBI threat in his prime with the Montreal Expos and Los Angeles Angels.
A hyped teenager who was No. 2 on the Baseball America Top 100 prospect list heading into the 1997 season, he finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting that year as a 22-year-old despite playing in only 90 games, and the following year he had a 38-homer, 109-RBI, 7.4-WAR campaign.
He hit 30 home runs eight different times, including back-to-back 30/30 seasons in 2001 and 2002, and he took home 2004 AL MVP honors in the first season of a five-year, $70 million deal with the Angels when he hit .337/.391/.598 with 39 home runs and 126 RBI.
Despite his free-swinging approach, he never whiffed more than 95 times in a season, finishing his career with a .318/.379/.553 line and a modest 10.9 percent strikeout rate.
7. Manny Ramirez
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Stats: 2,302 G, 154 OPS+, 2,574 H, 555 HR, 1,831 RBI, 38 SB, 69.3 WAR
Accolades: 12x All-Star, 9x Silver Slugger
One of the greatest run producers in MLB history, Manny Ramirez ranks in the top 20 all-time in home runs (555, 15th) and RBI (1,831, 20th).
However, he was more than just a slugger, hitting .312/.411/.585 for his career and winning the AL batting title in 2002 when he batted .349/.450/.647 with 33 home runs and 107 RBI in his second season with the Boston Red Sox.
He finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting eight years in a row in his prime, posting a 163 OPS+ while averaging 35 doubles, 41 home runs and 130 RBI during that span, and he remained extremely productive into his late 30s with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On top of his impressive regular-season numbers, he also logged a .937 OPS with 29 home runs and 78 RBI in 111 career postseason games, winning a pair of rings with the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007.
A pair of performance-enhancing drug-related suspensions at the end of his career have thus far kept him out of the Hall of Fame.
6. Ichiro Suzuki
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Stats: 2,653 G, 107 OPS+, 3,089 H, 117 HR, 780 RBI, 509 SB, 60.0 WAR
Accolades: 10x All-Star, 10x Gold Glove, 3x Silver Slugger, 2001 AL MVP
It needs to be said up front that we are only considering what Ichiro Suzuki accomplished during his MLB career in these rankings.
He was already 27 years old when he became the first position player to make the jump from the Japanese League to MLB, and he had 1,278 hits and a .353/.421/.522 batting line over nine seasons with the Orix Blue Wave before he joined the Seattle Mariners.
Despite that late start to his North American career, he still managed to reach 3,000 hits in the big leagues, thanks in large part to batting at least .300 with at least 200 hits in each of the first 10 years of his career.
He won AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in 2001 on a 116-win Mariners team, set the single-season hits record when he batted .372 with 262 knocks in 2004, and wrapped up his 19-year MLB career back where it started in Seattle in 2019.
He should be a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in 2025.
5. Tony Gwynn
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Stats: 2,440 G, 132 OPS+, 3,141 H, 135 HR, 1,138 RBI, 319 SB, 69.2 WAR
Accolades: 15x All-Star, 5x Gold Glove, 7x Silver Slugger
Simply put, Tony Gwynn was one of the greatest hitters who ever lived.
He won eight NL batting titles and hit .338 over a 20-year career spent entirely with the San Diego Padres, but that only tells part of the story.
The Hall of Famer never struck out more than 40 times in a season, and he struck out just 434 times total in 10,232 career trips to the plate. He had more four-hit games than he did multi-strikeout games, and he only struck out three times in a game once in his entire career.
He finished the strike-shortened 1994 season with a .394 average, the closest anyone has come to hitting .400 since the 1940s, and he batted .423 in 123 plate appearances after the All-Star break before the season was canceled. What might have been...
He won his final batting title in 1997, hitting .372/.409/.547 with 220 hits in his age-37 season, and he received 97.6 percent of the vote as a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2007.
4. Pete Rose
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Stats: 3,562 G, 118 OPS+, 4,256 H, 160 HR, 1,314 RBI, 198 SB, 79.6 WAR
Accolades: 17x All-Star, 2x Gold Glove, 1x Silver Slugger, 1973 NL MVP
Pete Rose played at least 5,000 innings at first base, second base, third base and both corner outfield spots, so he can be discussed at a number of different positions, but he was at his very best when he was manning left field for the Big Red Machine.
His resume is one that is built more on longevity than peak performance.
His 3,562 career games rank first on the all-time list, and he was a minus-1.2 WAR player over the final seven seasons of his career while he chased the all-time hits record.
That said, he also posted eight 5-WAR seasons during his career, winning three NL batting titles and taking home NL MVP honors in 1973 when he hit .338/.401/.437 with 230 hits and a career-high 8.3 WAR.
He won three World Series rings and hit .321/.388/.440 in 301 career plate appearances in the postseason.
3. Reggie Jackson
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Stats: 2,820 G, 139 OPS+, 2,584 H, 563 HR, 1,702 RBI, 228 SB, 74.0 WAR
Accolades: 14x All-Star, 2x Silver Slugger, 1973 AL MVP
One of the first high-profile players to change teams in free agency, Reggie Jackson already had 281 home runs, 53.7 WAR, 1973 AL MVP honors and three World Series rings under his belt before he joined the New York Yankees.
It was in the Bronx that he would earn his "Mr. October" moniker, launching five home runs during the 1977 World Series, including a three-homer performance in the clinching Game 6 to earn MVP honors.
He wrapped up his career with an .885 OPS and 18 home runs in 77 postseason games, winning five World Series rings, including back-to-back titles with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.
His 563 home runs ranked sixth on the all-time list at the time of his retirement, and while he also sits atop the all-time strikeout list with 2,597 career punchouts, he still posted a 139 OPS+ over his 21-year career.
2. Rickey Henderson
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Stats: 3,081 G, 127 OPS+, 3,055 H, 297 HR, 1,115 RBI, 1,406 SB, 111.1 WAR
Accolades: 10x All-Star, 1x Gold Glove, 3x Silver Slugger, 1990 AL MVP
Rickey Henderson is the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history.
Along with his record 1,406 steals, he is also baseball's all-time leader in runs scored (2,295) and ranks second in walks (2,190), which helped him post a terrific .401 on-base percentage over his 25-year career.
He set the single-season record with 130 stolen bases during the 1982 season and led the league in steals a staggering 12 times in his career, doing so for the final time as a 39-year-old in 1998 when he had 66 thefts in his fourth go-around with the Oakland Athletics.
He won AL MVP honors in 1990 when he hit .325/.439/.577 with 33 doubles, 28 home runs, 119 runs scored and 65 steals in a 9.9-WAR season, and he had a matching 9.9-WAR season in 1985 with the New York Yankees.
He is one of only 32 players in baseball history with at least 100 WAR.
1. Barry Bonds
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Stats: 2,986 G, 182 OPS+, 2,935 H, 762 HR, 1,996 RBI, 514 SB, 162.8 WAR
Accolades: 14x All-Star, 8x Gold Glove, 12x Silver Slugger, 7x NL MVP
Barry Bonds' legacy will forever be tainted by his ties to performance-enhancing drugs, and that kept him from earning the 75 percent of necessary voting support during his 10 years on the Hall of Fame ballot.
That said, even if he started using ahead of the 1997 season as has been reported, that would still mean he had 334 home runs, 380 stolen bases, 83.6 WAR and three NL MVP awards before he ever started juicing.
There is also the argument that steroids can only do so much to improve a player's game, and the numbers he posted when he won four straight NL MVP awards from 2001 through 2004 are simply otherworldly.
He hit .349/.559/.809 for a 256 OPS+ while averaging 52 home runs and 10.8 WAR during that span, setting the single-season home run record with 73 long balls during the 2001 season.
Tainted legacy or not, it's difficult to make a case for anyone other than Bonds to be slotted in the No. 1 spot on this list.
