The Best Fielders of the 1970s

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best fielders of the 1970's

By Ed Winkler*

Mark Belanger, winner of eight Gold Gloves in the last ten years, received more votes than any other player in SABR's recent survey to determine the best fielders of the 1970s. The Baltimore shortstop received more than 90% of the nearly 400 votes cast for American League shortstop. Johnny Bench led all National League players. The Reds catcher polled 314 of the 396 ballots cast for his position.

The most interesting race was National League third base where Ken Reitz and Mike Schmidt finished in a dead heat. Each player captured 148 votes. The 1970s' best fielding team also had three players from the 1960s' best fielding team - pitchers Jim Kaat and Bob Gibson and the smooth fielding Brooks Robinson.

SABR members were invited to vote on defensive stars who had played at least six seasons of the 1970-79 period, including five in one league. Three outfielders were to be selected with no reference to a specific position.

Not surprisingly, the teams with the best records had the greatest number of all star fielders. Baltimore, with the American League's best record for the seventies, placed four players - Grich, Robinson, Belanger, and Blair. The Reds, who won more games than any other National League team between 1970 and 1979, placed three players - Morgan, Geronimo, and Bench. The Phillies placed Schmidt, Bowa, and Maddox from their current team and Jim Kaat who spent three plus years in Philadelphia.

Here are the results of the SABR survey by league and by position.

American League

lB	George Scott	205	OF	Paul Blair	301
	Jim Spencer	159		Dwight Evans	196
	Chris Chambliss	11		Fred Lynn	185
	John Mayberry	6		Carl Yastrzemski	147
	Others	15		Joe Rudi	105
				Mickey Stanley	100
2B	Bobby Grich	225		Amos Otis	69
	Frank White	117		Ken Berry	65
	Duane Kuiper	14		Rick Miller	6
	Dick Green	11		Others	21
	Cookie Rojas	10
	Others	12	C	Jim Sundberg	237
				Thurman Munson	94
3B	Brooks Robinson	260		Carlton Fisk	58
	Graig Nettles	100		Others	8
	Aurelio Rodriguez	33
	Don Money	6	P	Jim Kaat	224
				Jim Palmer	148
SS	Mark Belanger	359		Jim Hunter	6
	Ed Brinkman	23		Others	17
	Rick Burleson	12
	Others	5

National League

lB	Steve Garvey	258	OF	Garry Maddox	233
	Keith Hernandez	62		Cesar Geronimo	229
	Willie Montanez	44		Dave Parker	197
	Tony Perez	6		Cesar Cedeno	178
	Wes Parker	4		Dave Winfield	129
	Others	18		Willie Davis	86
				Bobby Bonds	60
2B	Joe Morgan	263		Rick Monday	13
	Manny Trillo	60		Pete Rose	12
	Tommy Helms	46		George Foster	6
	Dave Cash	8		Others	33
	Others	16
			C	Johnny Bench	314
3B	Ken Reitz	148		Ted Simmons	34
	Mike Schmidt	148		Steve Yeager	21
	Doug Rader	84		Bob Boone	15
	Ron Cey	4		Jerry Grote	8
	Others	6		Others	4

SS	Larry Bowa	203	P	Bob Gibson	191
	Dave Concepcion	148		Phil Niekro	156
	Roger Metzger	12		Tom Seaver	12
	Bud Harrelson	21		Andy Messersmith	9
	Don Kessinger	6		Woody Fryman	6
	Others	4		Others	15

This survey of the best fielders of the 1970s continues a survey made by the Society in late 1972 when the best fielders for each position were selected for each decade since 1900. That selection, made by a much smaller group, still holds up pretty well. Little additional research has been conducted in the interim regarding the defensive skills of players of the early decades of this century.

There are, of course, drawbacks in selecting standouts from a specific 10-year period. Players with moderately short careers may split their time in two different decades. This is what happened, for example, with Billy Cox, a premier infielder who broke in with the Dodgers in the 1940s as a shortstop. He later switched to third base but his NL career just barely stretched to 1954. With that one exception, the really outstanding defensive players are included in the following tabulation of the leading fielders by position for each decade since 1900.

HISTORICAL SURVEY OF BEST FIELDERS BY POSITION

AL	1900-1909	NL	AL	1910-1919	NL
Hal Chase	lB	Fred Tenney	John McInnis	lB	Jake Daubert
Nap Lajoie	2B	Claude Ritchey	Eddie Collins	2B	Geo. Cutshaw
Jim Collins	3B	Leach-Devlin	Frank Baker	3B	Henry Groh
Bobby Wallace	SS	Honus Wagner	Donie Bush	SS	R. Maranville
Fielder Jones	OF	Fred Clarke	Tris Speaker	OF	Max Carey
Sam Crawford	OF	Jim Sheckard	Harry Hooper	OF	Dode Paskert
Elmer Flick	OF	Roy Thomas	Milan-Lewis	OF	Zack Wheat
Billy Sullivan	C	John Kling	Ray Schalk	C	Jim Archer
Nick Altrock	P	C. Mathewson	W. Johnson	P	Slim Sallee

AL	1920-1929	NL	AL	1930-1939	NL
George Sisler	lB	Charlie Grimm	Joe Kuhel	lB	Bill Terry
Eddie Collins	2B	Frank Frisch	C. Gehringer	2B	Bill Herman
Willie Kamm	3B	Pie Traynor	Ossie Bluege	3B	Stan Hack
Everett Scott	SS	Dave Bancroft	Luke Appling	SS	Leo Durocher
John Mostil	OF	Edd Roush	Roger Cramer	OF	Lloyd Waner
Sam Rice	OF	Ross Youngs	Al Simmons	OF	Mel Ott
Tris Speaker	OF	Taylor Douthit	Sam West	OF	Hazen Cuyler
Mick. Cochrane	C	Gabby Hartnett	Bill Dickey	C	Gabby Hartnett
Herb Pennock	P	F. Fitzsimmons	Ted Lyons	P	Bucky Walters

AL	1940-1949	NL	AL	1950-1959	NL
Geo. McQuinn	lB	Fr. McCormick	Mickey Vernon	lB	Gil Hodges
Joe Gordon	2B	Eddie Stanky	Nellie Fox	2B	R. Schoendienst
Ken Keitner	3B	Stan Hack	George Kell	3B	Willie Jones
Lou Boudreau	SS	Matty Marion	Phil Rizzuto	SS	Roy McMillan
Joe DiMagglo	OF	Enos Slaughter	Jim Piersall	OF	Richie Ashburn
Dom DiMaggio	OF	Terry Moore	Al Kaline	OF	Willie Mays
Sam Chapman	OF	Vince DiMaggio	Minnie Minoso	OF	Carl Furillo
Warren Rosar	C	Al Lopez	Jim Hegan	C	Del Crandall
Hal Newhouser	P	Harry Brecheen	Bob Shantz	P	Harvey Haddix

AL	1960-1969	NL	AL	1970-1979	NL
Vic Power	lB	Bill White	George Scott	lB	Steve Garvey
R. Richardson	2B	Bill Mazeroski	Bobby Grich	2B	Joe Morgan
Br. Robinson	3B	Ron Santo	Br. Robinson	3B	Reitz-Schmidt
Luis Aparicio	SS	Maury Wills	Mark Belanger	SS	Larry Bowa
Al Kaline	OF	Rob. Clemente	Paul Blair	OF	Garry Maddox
C. Yastrzemski	OF	Willie Mays	Dwight Evans	OF	Cesar Geronimo
Jim Landis	OF	Curt Flood	Fred Lynn	OF	Dave Parker
Bill Freehan	C	John Edwards	Jim Sundberg	C	Johnny Bench
Jim Kaat	P	Bob Gibson	Jim Kaat	P	Bob Gibson

* Assisted by Jerry Gregory