Greatest Center Fielders/Greatest Singers

My Giants are in the World Series, and I'm mulling over overpaying for tickets, but I'm stoked nonetheless. Since they're hurting in Center, I thought this weeks poll would focus on the greatest center fielders since WWII. CFers have many skill requirements, so our standards and lists should vary interestingly.

For the second half of the poll, I thought we'd continue last week's music theme and have us pick the greatest singers in popular music history. I, myself, am excluding Opera and Jazz from that rubric and am focusing on Pop/Rock/R&B/and Country. So no Billie Holliday, Placido Domingo, or Kiri Te Kanawa. However, everybody is free to make their own list based on their own standards.

Greatest Center Fielders
1. Willie Mays. Greatest player ever. Model of the 5-tool player.
2. Mickey Mantle. A click below Mays. Good knees could have enabled God-like stats.
3. Ken Griffey Jr. Sublime offensive, joyful love for the game, and pristine defensive play shone in a darkened era.
4. Duke Snider. His greatness overshadowed by other NY Cfs, but Brooklyn kids worshiped the Silver Fox.
5. Kirby Puckett. Short career, short stature, but awesome hitter and defender.
6. Jim Edmonds. 8 Gold Gloves, potent lefty bat. Terribly underrated Cf from the Roids era
7. Richie Ashburn. Prototypical Cf leadoff hitter. Another forgotten great from a less powerful time.
8. Andruw Jones. Some consider him greatest defensive Cf ever. Awesome power as well.
9. Cesar Cedeno. Great and stylish 70's 5-tool Cf. The Astrodome hampered his impressive stats.
10. Dale Murphy. Elegant defense, power, and leadership. A near-miss HOFer was a true southern gentleman.

Greatest Singers
1. Frank Sinatra. The Standard. Smooth voice, perfect interpretations, and effortless showman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iqtoIAfeuU

2. George Jones. Whiskey-voiced ace storyteller/interpreter transported listeners to places of heartbreak & loss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubKUP8c0FHE

3. Roy Orbison. Rockabilly ace became angelic balladeer with haunting voice and songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qdPOwfw2gQ

4. Robert Plant. Soaring voice and Blues innovations make him the model Rock and Roll lead singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzG64syKHA

5. Van Morrison. Moved through Blues, Rock, and spiritual Irish folk with ease and fire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lFxGBB4UGU

6. David Bowie. Deconstructed rock singer expectations with Glam-Soul experimentation. The post-modern Elvis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM5mTEavepU

7. Marvin Gaye. Contributed to more babies than any singer ever. Silky smooth soul voice was the top of his genre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M

8. Bono. Celebrity has overshadowed his powerful tenor and constantly improving interpretations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjEcrrf7r0

9. Johnny Cash. Dark voice and songs were Goth before Goth. Straddled Country and Rock with ease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aF9AJm0RFc

10. Chris Cornell/Eddie Vedder Couldn't decide between these two virtuoso Grunge tenors. They're both awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiaZDQjsbuw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs-XZ_dN4Hc

My only observation on the CF list is...

Murph played alot of RF

in fact Robin Yount played more CF then Murph

and I would honorable mention the always forgotten Brett Butler( good avg/speed and D even with weak arm...dependable and consistent for almost 2000 games in CF)

Bernie Williams too....lots of hits and rings

FYI...I am from Atlanta and Murph was/is a hero of mine

Where's the women? Sarah Mcglaughlin, Christine Aguilara, Stevie Nicks? Alicia Keys?

How bout Michael Buble' or Harry Connick Jr?

I love U2 and Pearl Jam, but don't feel Vedder should be one the greatest EVER list, Bono, eh, its a toss up.

I ll give ya Chris Cornell.

Cash? Dark... again, I feel his voice sucked, sorta like Dylan, yes, great writer, but voice wise?

Yes, more than a few people I know would have skewered me for the testosteronal tilt of my list...

I just honestly went with the singers I think are the best according to my particular standards and the singers' particular skills. Patsy Cline would have been 12 or 13 for me. Stevie Nicks--amazing voice, mediocre interpreter--would have made the bottom of my top 20. I'm a Sarah Mclaughlin fan, but her tendency to over-flourish would have placed her more in my top 40 or 50. Christina Aguilera has an amazing range, but--like Mariah Carey--she never really learned to sing well, and her catalog is very unimpressive. Alicia Keys: amazing pianist, great voice, average singer.

Buble and Connick have fine voices, not amazing ones, but they really bring nothing new or significant to the Standards that Sinatra didn't do much better. Both of them came close to mimicking Sinatra in their early careers, and nobody comes close to Sinatra.

Bono and Eddie Vedder are just amazing rock tenors. They showcase those voices and their maturing interpretations on ballads--e.g. "Bad" for Bono and "Yellow Ledbetter" for Vedder--and rockers--e.g. "The Fly" for Bono and "Animal" for Vedder. What exactly are your problems with their voices and singing styles?

I see you don't like dark, although I believe Cash is the only singer whose darkness I mentioned. Cash didn't have a classically beautiful voice. However, many excellent singers--e.g. Neal Young, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, and Bruce Springsteen--didn't either. What they did do was use excellent interpretations and keenly developed singing styles to become better singers than most singers with beautiful voices. So, Cash is able to significantly move the listener with "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line" and devastate them on songs like "Hurt."

Thanks for the input, though, and we at least have Chris Cornell.

I think I'd have to go with Robin Yount over Andruw Jones, who was excellent defensively and had a lot of power, but had a sharp decline and then spent the last several years hitting like Dave Kingman.

I was, prior to reading the comments, thinking of Kenny Lofton or Carlos Beltran over Jones.

I pretty much agree with the CF list. I know it's still early but Trout and McCuthchen should both crack the top 10 at some point. I think they're both better than Murphy.

Singers. Tough category, as I rarely listen to music for the singer. I'm more of an "instruments guy". But when I do I reach for Linda Ronstadt or Dean Martin, or one of the jazz greats.

Excellent Cf suggestions from everyone, and it does seem clear that the final 3 positions (if not final 5) are far from set in stone. Trout and McCutchen will definitely break the top ten eventually, and both should at least top Snider. I've been an active baseball fan since 1977, and I have no problem saying Trout is the best player to play the game since I've been a fan. He could feasibly top Mantle's all-around career if he stays healthy.

Considering you're a huge Jethro Tull fan, Steve, I'm not surprised you're more of an instruments guy...
Ronstadt is definitely top 40 for me; where, I'm not quite sure. She had quite a set of pipes and belted out her country-blues bravado quite seductively...and she was really hot. If I included jazz singers on my list, I would have included Chet Baker's minimalist genius in my top 25. Some mistakenly call Sinatra--and to a lesser degree, Cole--a jazz singer, but he was really a Swing singer who moved effortlessly into Pop standards.

Your CF list is fine, some guys that are right there as well to me:

Bernie Williams
Kenny Lofton
Carlos Beltran
Marquis Grissom


As for your singers, not having women is ludicrous, just a few females that could/should be on the list:

Janis Joplin
Tori Amos
Bette Midler
and most especially, Anne Wilson of Heart

and for the men, I LOVE U2, easily my favorite band ( in fact closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience was seeing them live at Giants stadium in '86 at the Amnesty International benefit concert) but sorry Bono does not belong on this list, nor does Vedder, especially when you've left off:


Freddie freakin' Mercury, who had a three octave range and could have been a professional opera singer but instead was rocks ultimate front man.

As for your singers, not having women is ludicrous, just a few females that could/should be on the list:
Janis Joplin
Tori Amos
Bette Midler
and most especially, Anne Wilson of Heart

As I said earlier, I chose the ten best singers who fit the standards I believe best define great singers, and no women made the list. I'm all for affirmative action in many places, but not in the arts. Joplin and Amos are/were great singers and would both be in my top 50. However, even thinking about including Bette Midler and Ann "over-belt" Wilson in the top ten greatest singers is truly ludicrous.

and for the men, I LOVE U2, easily my favorite band ( in fact closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience was seeing them live at Giants stadium in '86 at the Amnesty International benefit concert) but sorry Bono does not belong on this list, nor does Vedder, especially when you've left off.

You merely say here that Bono and Vedder don't belong, but you don't say why. I've made my argument for why they do and even provided songs as evidence. So, please tell me, Niners, what exactly is lacking in, or is wrong with, their voices and/or singing styles that should preclude their inclusion on a top ten?

Freddie freakin' Mercury, who had a three octave range and could have been a professional opera singer but instead was rocks ultimate front man.

"Freddie freakin Mercury;" I like that. Yes, Mercury had amazing range, as did Axl Rose of Guns & Roses. Both would have been in my top twenty. However, neither of them were as nuanced as singers as Vedder and (particularly) Bono, and their songs didn't demand the sophisticated interpretations Bono and Vedder have shown in their careers. So Vedder and Bono more deserve to be on the Top Ten, at least using my standards.

Finally, you have clearly expressed the faults you found with my list, and that's fine. I put my list out to draw out responses. However, I would really like to see your Top Ten and why you chose the singers you chose. With your music knowledge, I'm sure you would come up with a fine one.

Johnny Damon
2490 10917 9736 1668 2769 522 109 235 1139 408 103 1003 1257 .284 .352 .433 .785
Nine straight 100 run seasons, 10 of 12 with the other two being 90+, some world series rings.............