I wish that I had seen Mantle and Mays at their peaks, rather than the hobbled/old late 60s version that I did. I am pretty sure that Mantle of 55-57 had the same skill set as Barry Bonds 91-93 but that he was stronger.

Griffith Stadium in Washington was the home of the Nats / Senators between 1911 and 1961. In its entire history, only five balls were hit over the 30 ft. high centerfield wall, which was 438' from the plate at its farthest point.

On Opening Day 1956, I was sitting on the centerfield fence, which was an extension of the left field bleachers, just to the left of that wall. In his first time at bat that day, Mickey Mantle hit one of those five balls over that centerfield wall. And then a few innings later, he hit another.

At that point only two other balls (one by Ruth and one by Larry Doby) had been hit over that wall. It took Mantle six innings to match what the rest of the American League had managed to do in the previous 45 years.

And then six weeks later, he missed by about two or three feet being the first batter to hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium. Yeah, he had a little power. But that one I only saw on TV.

Mickey was not a guy who drew attention to himself on the field. He did two things that got people to ooh and aah: swing and miss and hit long home runs. Otherwise, he got the job done better than almost anybody.

Now you want a player that drew your attention it was Willie.

Example:

Willie Mays on first.

Takes an aggressive lead.

Pitcher looks at him. Looks at him again. Throws to first.

Willie goes back in standing up.

Throw goes back to the pitcher.

Willie takes a bigger lead.

Pitcher throws over.

Willie goes back into first, standing up.

Ball thrown back to pitcher.

Willie takes an even BIGGER lead.

Pitcher now clearly flustered. Looks over. Shakes off catcher's sign. Looks over. Finally throws over.

Willie goes back into first, STANDING UP.

Never saw it before.

Haven't seen it since.

Don't believe me? Ask around. There are other fans of that era.

WILLIE got your attention.

Mickey just did his job really, really, REALLY well........

Mickey was not a guy who drew attention to himself on the field. He did two things that got people to ooh and aah: swing and miss and hit long home runs. Otherwise, he got the job done better than almost anybody.

I'm not quite old enough to have seen Mantle in his prime (I was born in 1951). I did get to see Mantle frequently on TV in the 1960's (then, as now, the Yankees were the prime attraction on the national game of the week). What I remember the most was that the Mick seldom got cheated at the plate; he nearly always took a full cut. This created a lot of swinging strike outs, but of course it also resulted in some tremendous home runs as well.

I remember as a kid, Gooden was the guy who I found most exciting.

More recent guys -

Soriano when he was on the Yankees. Hated those teams but that guy just always seemed ready to uncoil/explode.

Jose Reyes - I remember a game where he's on third and the opposing team tries to do their Carlos Delgado shift, which left third base uncovered. Reyes starts taking this enormous lead, and the pitcher is staring at him and completely freaked out, but knows he can't do anything about it, and everyone in the stadium is waiting to see whether he'll try to steal home.

Hideo Nomo

Albert Pujols - I am terrified every time he comes to bat. I still remember the game in 2006 when he hit two home runs against John Maine for 7 RBIs. And that shot against Lidge in the playoffs.

Speaking of Lidge, here have been some pretty damn exciting closers in recent years, too.

Le Samourai - Re #100, that's not my stat. Someone else can take credit. But Clark, 1987, was certainly plenty feared.

Harvey, how would you compare Mays to Robinson? I only saw Mays in a few All-Star games plus a couple of World Series where "The Catch" was his only highlight, but I saw Jackie in four different World Series where he dazzled the snot out of the Yankees with exactly the sort of baserunning you describe about Mays. In fact, to this day I still believe the turning point of the 1955 Series was the way he completely unraveled Bob Turley in game three, by charging down the third base line, screaming like a banshee while Turley was in his (then) double pump windup. Then later he then rounded second on a single to left and conned Elston Howard into throwing behind him while he went to third. After that point, the Yankees just went through the motions for those three games in Brooklyn and were never really in any of them. It had the same effect on the Dodgers that that Varitek "fight" with A-Rod allegedly did in 2004.

Most exciting? Lots of dogs have had their day. But I've been watching since 1958 and here are mine.

C- Munson can you say fiery
1B- McGwire
2B- Morgan
SS- ARod
3B- Brett
LF- Rickey
CF- Mantle
RF- Reggie
DH- Teddy Ballgame even as late as 1958ish you sat up when he came to the plate
Bench--Bench, Carew, Yount, Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Bonds, Mays, Junior, Kirby, Tony Oliva (my bias is showing), Clemente, Rose

SP- Koufax easily
Clemens
Gibson
Ryan most of the time exciting means also really really good, Nolan was the one guy who was exciting even though not as good as advertised
Mark Fidrych
RP- Goose hands down
Bench--Seaver, Palmer, Whitey Ford, Unit, Marichal, Mariano and (locally) Camilo Pascual

For a guy like Eric Davis who had a short time in the sun, I'd say that Freddy Lynn for me would be that guy or maybe Lenny Dykstra. What was it about Lenny Dykstra?

Andy:

Alas, I only saw Jackie a few times.

But he was an edgy player. Both clearly were looking to force the action and keep their opponents off-balance. Willie was just more pleasant about it. But Mays was always looking for the edge like Jackie.

Harvey #102:

Absolutely freaking right.

I only saw Mays in his twilight, 35-and-over years. But even at that advanced age he was still the very single most cat-quick, pitcher-agonizing, and electrifying baserunner I have yet seen. His leadoffs and pickoff foilings were better than Brock's, better than Henderson's, better than Vince Coleman's, better than any other I have ever seen.

It was utterly indescribable.

It was said that he was faster too (and his low GIDP totals suggest that might be true). I would have liked to have seen it with my own eyes.

Some of the stories about his home to first times support that too. I wish I could go back and see the young Mick with my own eyes (and stopwatch). The times reported (3.1 from left handed box) don't seem humanly possible, and perhaps there is some exaggeration there.

Link

Bill James's phrase for trying to get Willie Mays in a rundown was "like trying to assassinate a squirrel with a lawnmower."

Uh, the name you're all missing is Lonnie Smith.

Since somebody else has brought up James:

Bill James on Lonnie Smith

I would try to tell you what a bad outfielder Lonnie is, except that I confess that I would never have believed it myself if somebody had tried to tell me. I will say, though, that the real cost of Lonnie's defense is not nearly as great as the psychic impact of it all. He makes you wail and gnash your teeth a lot, but he doesn't really cost you all that many runs.

One reason for that is that he recovers so quickly after he makes a mistake. You have to understand that Lonnie makes defensive mistakes every game, so he knows how to handle it. Your average outfielder is inclined to panic when he falls down chasing a ball in the corner; he may just give up and sit there for a while, trying to figure it out. Lonnie has a pop-up slide perfected for the occasion.

Another outfielder might have no idea where the ball was when it bounded off his glove. Lonnie can calculate with the instinctive astrophysics of a veteran tennis player where a ball will land when it skips off the heel of his glove, what the angle of glide will be when he tips it off the webbing, what the spin will be when the ball skids off the thumb of his mitt.

Many players can kick a ball behind them without ever knowing it. Lonnie can judge by the pitch of the thud and the subtle pressure through his shoe in which direction and how far he has projected the sphere.

He knows exactly what to do when a ball spins out of his hand and flies crazily into a void on the field. He knows when it is appropriate for him to scamper after the ball and when he needs to back up the man who will have to recover it.

He has experience in these matters; when he retires he will be hired to come to spring training and coach defensive recovery and cost containment. This is his specialty, and he is good at it.

(In a different Abstract he listed "balance" as one of Smith's weaknesses)

Or Lonnie Smith on Lonnie Smith, "I can still hit. I can still run. I can still make errors."

I have to admit though that Kevin Reimer was my favorite player to watch in the field. His play was just jaw dropping. I think his problem was that he simply couldn't judge the ball in flight, because his initial break was random. He did everything at full speed, and is the only major league player I can think of to dive for a ball and miss by yards.


On the actually good at their job side, Shawon Dunston on a play that rated to be close. He didn't always dial things up, but when he did, amazing.

And THAT was what made Bill James so damn special.

On Dunston, I'm going to exaggerate a bit in hopes that it makes a good description:

Ball hit to short, Dunston fields. Batter about halfway up the line. Dunston pauses. Batter now 25 feet from first. Dunston waits. Batter is now 10 feet away. Dunston thinks to himself "that guy really thinks he can beat out an infield hit on me?" Batter now 2 steps away from the bag.

Dunston fires. Batter is out, 1st baseman shakes off his glove hand.

And THAT was what made Bill James so damn special.

Yes, absolutely amazing.

Pedro, Pedro, Pedro. 1997-2001.

I have to admit though that Kevin Reimer was my favorite player to watch in the field. His play was just jaw dropping. I think his problem was that he simply couldn't judge the ball in flight, because his initial break was random. He did everything at full speed, and is the only major league player I can think of to dive for a ball and miss by yards.

I can't believe I forgot about Kevin Reimer. I wonder if he was blind in one eye or something, because his inability to come to grips with flyballs was astounding. Not only was he utterly lost in the outfield, he managed to butcher an alarming percentage of the flyballs he DID somehow get within reach of. One of the very few major league players who might have been worse defensively than a fair number of the fans in the park. Especially sad since it really looked like he was trying. Solid hitter for a couple of years though. Probably should have brought his bat out to left field...

I can't believe I forgot about Kevin Reimer. I wonder if he was blind in one eye or something, because his inability to come to grips with flyballs was astounding. Not only was he utterly lost in the outfield, he managed to butcher an alarming percentage of the flyballs he DID somehow get within reach of. One of the very few major league players who might have been worse defensively than a fair number of the fans in the park. Especially since it really looked like he was trying. Solid hitter for a couple of years though. Probably should have brought his bat out to left field...

Was it just the highlights I caught, or did Kevin Reimer hit more than his share of absolutely mammoth home runs? I don't really recall the Reimer spectacle in the field, but I do remember what seemed like an inordinate amount of bombs off his bat.

#113, I remember interesting body language on slow rollers.

Dunston: Good, I get to air it out.

First baseman: God, he's going to air it out.

Batter: Damn, it's Dunston.

The Cubs took Dunston as the #1 pick of the 1982 draft, allowing Dwight Gooden to fall to 5th. I line I heard in the mid 80's when I visited Chicago: the Cubs took Dunston over Gooden because he had the better arm.

My personal all-exciting team:

C: Tony Pena, based entirely on one at-bat in the 1995 ALDS
1B: Pete Rose (though the excitement was largely gone by the time he was a first baseman)
2B: Alomar
3B: Schmidt
SS: Ozzie
OF: Bonds-Rickey-Edmonds (Play them wherever you want in the outfield.)
SP: Unit, Gooden, Pedro, Ryan, Fernandomania!
RP: Dibble, Gossage, Rocker, Mitch Williams, Eck

And Bob Wickman was exciting, I guess, but in the most negative way possible for Indians fans like myself.

Dunston: Good, I get to air it out.

First baseman: God, he's going to air it out.

Batter: Damn, it's Dunston.

Umpire: *ducks*

Good topic!

Add me to the legion shouting "Ichiro, Ichiro!" (or count me as a single asian child shrieking the same...). I'll never forget the first time I saw him... Heck, I'd never even hear of the guy before this play... It's since become legend but you never know these things at the time they happen.

I guess it had to be two outs though I can't be certain about the particulars... Except that the immortal Terrance Long was on first when a hit is laced into right. Long, in his ignorance, decides that the time to make a play is now and the man to play upon is that slender fellow in right field. Ichiro gets to the ball right around when Long is rounding second... Throws it. My jaw drops as the ball seems to momentarily flicker then transport mystically from Ichiro's hand to David Bell's waiting glove. Make that Long waiting glove as the unfortunate A was out by about 25 feet.

Stadium, silent. Announcers, chuckling or marveling. Long... Pure disbelief. It isn't so much that he made the throw, as it's one that any number of strong armed fielders could make. It's just the perfection of it, the surprise, and the subsequent acknoweldgement of something great. He's made many similar plays since but none will ever top that one in my book.

I love Barry Bonds but for that memory alone Ichiro will always be my favorite player... The only one I watch and monitor without flag... The one that makes me root, reluctantly, for the Mariners despite being an As supporter (when they're not playing the As of course).

The scary thing was that he was developing the skills to play the game. I look at his OPS+'s -

66-94-108-124-142.

He was learning how to hit, and rapidly becoming one of the better hitters in the game.

And he was averaging more yards per carry than Jim Brown during these same years. Unreal.

C Benito Santiago (throwing from his knees was epic!)
1B McGwire
2B Sandberg (sick from school watching WGN)
3B Chavez (for his slick fielding)
SS ARod
LF Rickey (also Kevin Mitchell)
CF Bo Jackson (also !chiro)
RF Jose Canseco (Also Vlad)

SP Nolan Ryan (also Unit)
RP Gagne (also Eckersley)

LF ... (also Kevin Mitchell)

Just for that one fly ball (Ozzie Smith's) that he caught bare-handed?

Here you go, Alex_Lewis. I love the way the ball curves in flight, almost as if to lead Bell's arm right into the tag. I tend to think of this play as when Ichiro became Ichiro!.

In no uncertain order, and no where close to a complete list.

Rod Carew
Barry
Ricky
Mark McGwire

Pitchers
Dave Stewart
Frank Tanana
Tom Terrific
The Ryan Express of course ..
oh and .. Jake Peavy ..

Since everyone else is doing it...

C Santiago / Lance Parrish
1B McGwire / Clark / Carew -- Carew was my first favorite player
2B Alomar
3B Gary Gaetti
SS Ozzie
OF Barry Bonds
OF Jim Edmonds
OF Kirby Puckett
OF Vlad Guerrero
OF Devon White -- the smoothest outfielder I've ever seen
PR Vince Coleman

SP Pedro
SP Blyleven
SP Ryan
SP Jarrod Washburn -- How does a guy with basically one pitch succeed like he has?
RP Gagne

For me:
C: Bob Uecker (He was literally the voice of my childhood, although I've never seen him play)
1B: Frank Thomas (my favorite player growing up, I still remember running to the mailbox after the newspaper came to see his box-score)
2B: Chase Utley (I switch to the Phillies game on mlb.tv whenever he's batting)
3B: Ryan Braun (both his hitting and fielding is exciting, in different ways)
SS: A-Rod (I saw him as a minor leaguer, and have been excited to see him bat ever since)
OF: Aaron Rowand (I love his recklessness)
OF: Corey Hart
OF: Chris Snelling (I loved him in his minor league days. He signed autographs with YODA written under it, and was another reckless player)
DH: David Ortiz (I saw him play as an Appleton Fox back when he was David Arias)
P: Kerry Wood (every outing was a potential no-hitter, and his 20 K game against Houston is the definition of exciting), Ben Sheets, Dave Bush (I've talked him up quite a bit with my friends, so I'm excited to see him pitch effectively), Francisco Liriano, K-Rod, Bobby Jenks, and Josh Beckett

Thank you, CFiJ... A bit different than how I remembered it. Even better, actually. Looks like it was Ramon Hernandez at the plate?

For one, Long actually made it a play. Ichiro didn't get to the ball until he was well around second and on his way to third. Second, I guess it's Guillen coming in to make a cutoff and then suddenly ducking away like, "Nah, that's a good one." Third, as you said, leading Bell right to Long's foot. Fourth... Forgetting the curve it seems to take at the end... There's this funny little sail right in the middle where it seems to jump, somewhat, before hooking back toward the ground... What a perfect throw.

I do remember Ichiro's comment after the game: "I don't know why he tried to run on me." Ice cold.