In the third part of this series, we look at players 21-30. Noticeably absent are Larry Walker and Todd Helton who certainly have the numbers to be in the top 30 but their home/road splits were too much to overcome.
21. Rickey Henderson — A career OBP of .401 to go with his 1,406 SB makes him the quintessential leadoff hitter. He also had a power dimension, hitting 297 HR.
22. George Sisler — Sisler was from the Speaker and Shoeless Joe era and was a hitter in the same mold. He was just a couple of notches below the other two. He had a career AVG of .340 including incredible seasons of .407 and .420.
23. Al Simmons — Hit the full checklist with his ability to hit for AVG and power to go with consistency and longevity.
24. Jim Thome — Another player from this era who doesn’t get his due from a historical perspective. He didn’t always hit for a good average, but he got on base and hit for power as one of the few players in history to top 600 HR.
25. Johnny Mize — Mize had an excellent career OPS of .959 to go with pretty good lifetime stats of 359 HR, 1,337 RBI and an AVG of .312.
26. Vladamir Guerrero — A true free-swinger who has no problems hitting the ball off his shoe tops. His free-swinging had little effect on his ability to produce runs.
27. Chipper Jones — Excellent switch-hitter with great numbers down the line: .304 AVG, .402 OBP, .533 Slugging %, 454 HR and 1,561 RBI.
28. Duke Snider — Snider was a big-time run producer for the Dodgers, and he hit for a good average to go with his power.
29. Mike Schmidt — His .267 lifetime AVG is not good, but he had great power production year in year out.
30. Willie McCovey— McCovey’s numbers were near identical to Schmidt’s, aside from his .889 OPS to Schmidt’s .908.
Just Missing the Cut: Eddie Mathews, Willie Stargell, Hack Wilson, Ralph Kiner, Tony Gwynn and Edgar Martinez.