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.

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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 If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.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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