The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #99 Edgar Martinez

Hitting the list at #99 is Edgar Martinez. In order for a player who spent most of his career NOT playing defense to rate among the top 100 baseball players of all-time, the hitting tool must be something special and Martinez’s was just that. Since 1960, few hitters have been as productive. Over that time frame, he has the 5th highest on-base percentage, 10th highest OPS+, and 11th highest batting average. Martinez was truly a jack of all trades with the bat. You name the statistic, he led the league in it including runs, RBIs, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, OPS, OPS+, times on base, Offensive WAR, and runs created. He led the league in on-base percentage three times along with a remarkable 10 top-five finishes. He also picked up two batting crowns and finished among the top 10 in batting average seven times.  Martinez is the only player in MLB history to have back-to-back seasons of 100 RBIs, 100 Runs, 100 BBs, and 50 doubles.  He also accomplished the elusive positive career BB-to-K ratio, becoming only the 19th player in MLB history to have 1,200 RBIs, 1,200 Runs, and 1,200 Walks with a positive BB-to-K strikeout ratio.  

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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