The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #90 Brooks Robinson

Cleaning up the list at #90 is “The Human Vacuum Cleaner” Brooks Robinson. It’s hard to argue that Robinson isn’t just the greatest defensive third baseman of all time, but the greatest defensive player of all time regardless of position. Playing the hot corner, Robinson amassed an astounding 39.1 defensive WAR. He finished among the top-8 in dWAR a remarkable 14 seasons. Among third basemen, he’s the all-time leader in games, assists, putouts, double plays turned, total zone runs, and range factor per game. He led the league in fielding percentage at third base 11 times which is three more than any player from any other position in history. His 16 gold gloves are also the most for any position player in history. There’s no question that Robinson was superior with the glove, but the fact that he’s 13th all-time in sacrifice flies and produced a minuscule 8.4 career strikeout percentage shows he was skilled with the bat as well. Although he led the American League in RBIs in 1964 and finished in the top 10 in RBIs eight times, Robinson was at his best in the postseason. When merely equaling regular season rates is considered impressive, Robinson elevated his batting average 36 points and his OPS 62 points in the playoffs on his way to helping the Orioles win two World Series titles in four World Series appearances. After winning the World Series MVP in 1970, he joined teammate Frank Robinson as the only two players in history to win a regular-season MVP, a World Series MVP, and an All-Star game MVP.

The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #91 Rafael Palmeiro

Hitting the list at #91 is Mr. 38, Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro was the American League’s premier extra-base hit machine during the 1990s. His 1,192 career extra-base hits are the 11th most in MLB history. Palmeiro’s 9-consecutive seasons with at least 38 home runs is the all-time record and two more than any other player in history. Over that 9-year stretch, he averaged a surreal 41 home runs and 121 RBIs. He joins Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Eddie Murray as one of only six players with 3,000 career hits and 500 career home runs. Palmeiro used an impressive 11.2 strikeout rate to reel in the elusive career positive walk-to-strikeout ratio as he tallied 1,353 walks to just 1, 348 strikeouts.