Who is the 'Greatest Giant' ever?

[fenwayjeff]

[rudy]

no disrespect to willie mays, and i'm sure many will disagree with me here, but i voted for barry bonds.

once he passes babe ruth for career homeruns (if he does, and i hope he does), i think he might well be regarded as the greatest baseball player ever to live, aside from the fact that he has yet to win a world series or even contribute in the playoffs. (i realize that this statement is VERY controversial, and will likely get attacked, but i dont mind the abuse; in fact i'd like to defend this statement if anybody is interested....)

[fenwayjeff]

Rudy-

I am not a huge fan of Bonds, but I think you may well be right. I voted for Willie, but deep down I was really torn between Mays, Bonds and Mathewson. Pretty tough company when 500-HR guys like Ott and McCovey don't get much of a second thought and the Greatest Latin pitcher ever, Marichal, is also an innocent bystander in this one.

-FenwayJeff-

[Kroxquo]

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Jun-27-02 AT 10:36 AM (EDT)]I went with Willie Mays, and I mean no disrespect to Bonds. At this point in his career he is probably ahead of the Say Hey Kid and will probably end up being rated ahead of him overall when all is said and done. However, this poll asks for the greatest Giant, which I interpret to mean that you have to take away Bonds's years with the Pirates. Two of the MVP years came with Pittsburgh. Figuring that in, Mays is the greatest Giant.

By the way - there are only two votes listed. I'm not sure if my vote was counted. I just went back and tried to vote again to be sure and it told me that I've already voted.

[rudy]

i thought about that too, about how barry played years in pittsburgh as well. but when i think of barry, i think of him as a giant, so i picked him for that reason.

when i play baseball, i wear an old school t-shirt labelled the "outfield of dreams" featuring barry bonds, bobby bonilla, and andy van slyke that are sketched (you know those ones with the bigger heads sketched on the shirt).

also, i recently added a little 57 on the back of the jersey in memory of DK.

dont know why i thought of sharing that here, though.

[The Commissioner]

Too close to call. No fair putting pitchers up against hitters in a category like this.

[sfgiants29]

It has to be Marvin Benard. Best fielder I've ever seen.

[KCGHOST]

I went with Mays, but no problem if others prefer Bonds.

[soberdennis]

Bonds had some great years. But to me Mr. Giant will always be the Sey Hey Kid. Willie Mays. He did everything well and without controversy.

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Very easy call for me. Unlike many, I saw the vast majority of Mays' career (1958-1973). And I saw all of the legit part of Bonds' career--thru 1999, whether he started using in 1999 or not, because the stuff wasn't really affecting him that year; it was 2000 when the effects became blatant.

So, for me it comes down to Mays, 1951-1973, or Bonds, thru 1999. Very easy pick. As for Mel Ott, he got enormous help from the Polo Grounds, with 323 HR's at home and only 188 on the road, an outrageous difference. Mathewson, Hubbell and Marichal were tremendous pitchers, but no way could any pitcher be compared to Willie Mays.

Mays in a landslide, from where I sit.

BHN

[Honus Wagner]

SF: don't care
NY: john mcgraw
generic: andre

[Outta Here]

Willie Mays = Best Giant EVER :)

Wow, this thread is old!!! The year skips from 2002 to today :D

[joepasquariello]

bonds the greatest giant player ever? he couldn't carry mays' you-know-what. what a sad state of affairs. they should take 2/3 of his salary and give it to omar. at least he's got a heart. giant fans have got to be the most deluded in all of mlb. yes, he did hit 73 homers while juiced to the gills, but let's put that in perspective. brady anderson hit 50. brady freakin' anderson! giant fans think barry's a warrior and give him a standing o if he jogs after a fly ball and slides on the grass. sf wins a game after losing three and the chronicle runs a headline like "turning it around!". be serious. except for the pr department, this organization is not earning its pay. we're talking about a .500 team in the weakest division in baseball.

while you're at it, don't look now, but marichal will only be the greatest latin pitcher until pedro gets a few more years under his belt. look it up.

just had to vent. this team is unwatchable.

[csh19792001]

Mays in a landslide, from where I sit.

BHN

I like your seat. It's a nice vista. :)

[KHenry14]

bonds the greatest giant player ever? he couldn't carry mays' you-know-what. what a sad state of affairs. they should take 2/3 of his salary and give it to omar. at least he's got a heart. giant fans have got to be the most deluded in all of mlb. yes, he did hit 73 homers while juiced to the gills, but let's put that in perspective. brady anderson hit 50. brady freakin' anderson! giant fans think barry's a warrior and give him a standing o if he jogs after a fly ball and slides on the grass. sf wins a game after losing three and the chronicle runs a headline like "turning it around!". be serious. except for the pr department, this organization is not earning its pay. we're talking about a .500 team in the weakest division in baseball.

while you're at it, don't look now, but marichal will only be the greatest latin pitcher until pedro gets a few more years under his belt. look it up.

just had to vent. this team is unwatchable.

Uh, next time you post come back when you know a bit more about the Giants.

I don't know any real Giants fans that put Barry ahead of Willie. Heck Barry himself doesn't do that. As for heart, you try playing the game at a high level at age 42 with bone chips in your elbow, a bum knee, and bad ribs and the media breathing down your back. And while you are at it, try asking the Giants players how they feel about Barry being in the lineup. To a man they will tell you that they are far better off even with a less than 100% Barry in LF. Does that mean this team will go to the WS? Probably not. But why not wait until next year to judge Sabean as the team will turn over about half the roster.

As for Marichal, maybe Pedro's better, maybe not. But at least with Juan on the hill ya knew he was going to go 9 innings. :waving And let me know the next time Pedro pitches a 16 inning shutout like Juan did.:laugh

[RoadieJr087]

It's a toss-up between Bonds and the Say Hey Kid but, going to have to say Bonds.

[joepasquariello]

i didn't say bonds sucked. i just said he's no willie mays. sure, he'd say the same in one of his false-modesty moments. when he was in the midst of hitting all of those home runs, there was noone better, ever. if you threw him a strike, it was gone. of course the team would rather have him in the game. they're better with him than without him. let's not get into how "amazing" it is that he can play at this high level with the media scrutiny. i won't spend a minute feeling for sorry for someone that shot himself full of chemicals for 5 years so that he could hit more home runs than his own godfather. i wish they'd just indict him and get it over with.

[west coast orange and black]

i have heard bonds say that he is no willie mays.
i have heard mays say that he is no barry bonds.

each man respects the other.

each player could do things that the other could not.

my pick: mays.

[CTaka]

My pick would be Mays, but I wouldn't quibble with those who pick Mathewson. It's difficult to choose between them, which is why I prefer to separate position players from pitchers when composing "greatest ___" lists.

[admode]

I don't know if I would consider him the greatest, but rob nen was definetly great. Homeboy gave his career to try to help the giants win a world series.

[willie24fan]

Willie Mays. He played 23 years in a Giant uniform; that outweighs the great feats of Bonds.

[Francoeurstein]

It has to be Marvin Benard. Best fielder I've ever seen.

Heeeehheee.. I cna think of a lot of Giants better than him. And WIllie mays was a much betetr fielder, and don't forget offsense. :eek:

[Mr. Met]

If you asked God to create a ballplayer you'd end up with... Willie Mays.

[RoadieJr087]

If you asked God to create a ballplayer you'd end up with... Willie Mays. Very true.

[sfgiants29]

If you said "Greatest Giant Player" it would be a toss-up between Bonds, Mays, Mathewson, Marichal, and all of them. But since you plainly just said "Greatest Giant", I would go with Willie Mays. You would identify the Giants' franchise as Willie Mays' team as you would identify the Yankees as the Babe's team.

[cbenson5]

Despite my respect for Willie Mays I have to say that it is Barry Bonds.

[CandlestickBum]

If you said "Greatest Giant Player" it would be a toss-up between Bonds, Mays, Mathewson, Marichal, and all of them. But since you plainly just said "Greatest Giant", I would go with Willie Mays. You would identify the Giants' franchise as Willie Mays' team as you would identify the Yankees as the Babe's team.

My take exactly.

[Brownie31]

Willie Mays is the greatest baseball player of all time.
Irregardless of team or league.

Brownie31

[zlasher]

Home Runs go to Bonds, Stolen Bases - Bonds, RBI's - soon to be Bonds, Runs - I'm pretty sure Bonds, Hits - Mays, Defense - Mays, Batting Average - virtually identical.

Its tough, and since I couldn't give a sh*t about the steroids controversy I'll go with Bonds.

As for the pitcher? Boy, this has to be equally as tough between Mathewson and Marichal. Mathewson is like...3rd or 4th on the all time Win's list, Marichal was a machine who would have won 350 games if he were able to play a full career.

This ones tougher, I'll go with Marichal though, in my opinion, stats before the 40's don't mean as much (and that includes the Babe).

[Gary Gaetti for MVP]

I'd probably go with Felipe Crespo.

[kenotbgood1968]

whatever happend to the 80's giants?i do like mr.bonds(barry)he will hit more homeruns in the time to come.
1.hank aaron 755
2.barry bonds 732
3.babe ruth 714
4.willie mays 660
5.sammy sosa 588

[EvanAparra]

I'll go with Barry. He and Mays were both great players all around... But i just think Barry is tops here. Good question thread though.

[EdmondsFan#1]

Am i the only one who noticed that this topic was created 4 years ago.

[EvanAparra]

no, youre not. it was mentioned above.