Greatest Defensive First Baseman Since 1957

The Greatest Defensive First Baseman Since 1957...

 

That’s quite a term to dissect. It’s a lot to claim anyone as the greatest of anything.

 

Let’s take a look at the word “greatest” before we even get started. “Greatest” is the superlative of the word “great”. One of the ways that Merriam-Webster defines “great” is as “markedly superior in character or quality”.

 

As you can read from Merriam-Webster, an appreciation of greatness does not have to be tied up in the nitty-gritty of hard facts and quantitative measures.

 

At this point, you might already be able to tell that this probably won’t be complete regurgitation of stats on first basemen.

 

Furthering our dissection of the opening term of this blog, we come to the word “defensive”. Not all first basemen can meet the standards for this term. Granted, we are going to be ranking players based on being “superior in character or quality”, but there has to be a baseline of defensive prowess that gets a ball playing gentleman (or a ball playing brute) into this category. There have been many players who have taken position on the right corner of the infield with a glove on their hand only to bumble around and bungle the fortunes of their team. This article will consider none of those men.

 

The final term we’ll be dissecting is “Since 1957”. You’re probably thinking…”that's a weird date”. But hear us out. Men that took their position at first base prior to the start of the 20th century have been given career fielding marks that seem disproportionately high to the first basemen of the modern era. This is most likely due to the quality of fielding being somewhat lacking at all positions across the diamond during that era. Further, it was hard to pinpoint an exact moment in the 20th century where the defensive abilities of baseball teams began to resemble what it does today. But we do know that in 1957 a tool was introduced that changed how players defended the baseball. That tool was the Wilson A2000 glove. It was called by some the first baseball glove "without a major flaw". As a company that specializes in gloves, we surmised that a chance existed for this moment in baseball history to be when the modern era of fielding started to present itself.

 

Still, we are left with legions of first sackers who competed at baseball’s highest level since the late fifties. In order to ensure that we can rank the greatest defensive first basemen since 1957, a cross-section of first baseman has been removed from consideration. How can we do this you might ask? Continue reading and you’ll find out…

 

 

 

 

Criteria For Ranking The Best Defensive First Baseman

• All players were ranked 10 through 1 based on the best Defensive War rating from Baseball Reference (bRef dWar rating). The best ranking player received 10 points and so on.
  
  
• All players received a half-point for each Rawlings Gold Glove Award they were awarded during their career.
  
  
• All players were ranked by their legend status 10 through 1 (i.e. best ranking player received 10 points and so on). We rank them based on how they are remembered from their accomplishments and status within and beyond the sport. Legend status does not have to be linked to defensive prowess.
  
  
• We total up all of the points to decide the greatest defensive first basemen since 1957

The 10 Greatest Defensive First Basemen

1. Keith Hernandez
   1. bRef dWar Rating: 1.3
   2. Gold Gloves: 11
   3. Legend Status: Hernandez is often considered the best of all time when it comes to defending the first base bag. Although Gold Glove awards can be deceiving, Keith took home 11 during his career. But his status in culture went far beyond baseball when he made multiple cameos in the famed sitcom, Seinfeld!
      
2. Kevin Youkilis
   1. bRef dWar Rating: 1.7
   2. Gold Gloves: 1
   3. Legend Status: Kevin is the proud owner of the nickname: The Greek God of Walks. In addition to acquiring that moniker by having a trained eye in the batter's box, he actually played a scintillating defensive first base for multiple seasons in Boston, but only received the nod for a Gold Glove once. His defensive play may have been overshadowed by a whacky batting stance that was well known throughout the game:
      
3. Matt Olson
   1. bRef dWar Rating: 1.6
   2. Gold Gloves: 2
   3. Legend Status: Olson is relatively early in what could be a legendary career. He has played at an elite level with both his glove and bat since arriving on the MLB scene in 2016. However, he lacks that signature moment that would catapult him to the top of this list. Even lacking a signature, career-defining moment; this slick behind the back play by Matt is worth a couple of looks:
4. Sid Bream
   1. bRef dWar Rating: -0.2
   2. Gold Gloves: 0
   3. Legend Status: Sid makes this list mostly off of his legendary status. Considering how post-1957 1st baseman get graded in respect to all fielders, Sid played a fine first base during his career (1B's usually rank low due to experts considering their defensive importance to be lower than most other positions). However, mention Sid's name and the seasoned fan gets visions of his hobbled dash home in the '92 NLCS to clinch the series for the Atlanta Braves:
      
       
5. Travis Ishikawa
   
   1. bRef dWar Rating: 0.2
   2. Gold Gloves: 0
   3. Legend Status: The legend of Travis Ishikawa was cemented similarly to Sid Bream. In a relatively short career, Travis picked it well at first base. But in 2014, his homerun for the San Francisco Giants clinched the NLCS and gave the Giants a chance to compete for their 3rd World Series championship in 5 five seasons:
      
6. George Scott
   1. bRef dWar Rating: -1.4
   2. Gold Gloves: 8
   3. Legend Status: George Scott is one of the more obscure members of this list, but amongst stat circles, it is believed that he picked the ball incredibly well at 1B. Further, he was a huge contributor to Boston's "Incredible Dream" season that nearly brought Beantown the 1967 World Championship after years of drought:
      
7. John Olerud
   1. bRef dWar Rating: -1.4
   2. Gold Gloves: 3
   3. Legend Status: John Olerud was most commonly recognized for wearing a helmet while playing the field (a measure to protect him against experiencing an aneurysm like he endured in college). But he was a two-way baseball star at Washington State University before being drafted and was a part of one of the funnier (though untrue) baseball stories of all time:
      
8. Mark Teixeira
   1. bRef dWar Rating: -0.9
   2. Gold Gloves: 5
   3. Legend: Through 2016, "Tex" was nearly the only regular Yankee first baseman that New Yankee Stadium had known. And he's the last Yankee 1B that knows what it feels like to be a World Series Champion. On top of that, he seems like he was and is an incredibly kind man as witnessed at his retirement ceremony:
      
9. Daric Barton
   1. bRef dWar Rating: 1.2
   2. Gold Gloves: 0
   3. Legend: Daric may be our favorite player on this list. His career just eclipsed 4 years of service time (barely meeting the criteria to be considered for the list). Therefore, an older body never slowed down his defensive abilities. And even though he never netted a Gold Glove, he did win a Fielding Bible Award for 1B  in 2010. His legend is nearly anonymous, but if he made plenty of other plays like below, then you understand how he earned that 1.2 dWar rating:
      
10. Casey Kotchman
    1. bRef dWar Rating: -0.4
    2. Gold Gloves: 0
    3. Legend: Similar to Daric Barton above, there wasn't a lot that we were able to unearth about Casey Kotchman as far as legend goes, but he put together what always impresses this writer and should impress you too: a solid big league career. Because you probably never tire from watching walk-off homers...check out one that Casey knocked in 2011:
       
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       The ten best stars that shined at first base post 1957 have been selected and you should be happy that you know them! But if you've arrived here and just need some help selecting the newest 1B mitt for your player, be sure to LIVE CHAT with an expert right now or click into the list of mitt below: