#31 Joe Morgan

 

Joe Morgan
2B
1963-1984
2X MVP, 10X All Star
Baseball Hall of Fame 1990

Has there ever been a better second baseman? Depends on what kind of stats you're into and what kind of player you're into, but for my money you're at least talking about Joe Morgan in the discussion. The 1975 and 1976 Reds are widely regarded as some of the best teams of all time, who was the league MVP both of those years...Joe Morgan. 

Although he's shy of some of those magic numbers like 3000 hits (he had 2517) he was an on base monster in a time before it was valued (.392 lifetime). He hit over 20 homers 4 times (a huge amount for a 2B in that era) and stole 40 or more bases 8 times and for his career stole bags at an 80% plus clip. 

He won 5 gold gloves for his play at second base, and if you're a modern metrics guy he's #18 in offensive WAR all time. 

He's 11th all time in steals and 5th all time in walks. Joe Morgan could beat you a lot of ways. 

He was inducted in Cooperstown in 1990


Anthony Leonelli is a 37 year old College Basketball Coach and amateur baseball arguer. If you wanna know how this list came together check here criteria. He thinks that George Brett winning batting titles in 3 decades is pretty awesome. 





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