Great But Never World Champions
Bonds, A-Rod, Williams and Cobb Never Played On A World Champion
Nov 23, 2007
There have been many great baseball players who never were on a World Championship team, primarily because baseball is a team game. Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler, Ted Williams, Willie McCovey, Ernie Banks, Carl Yastrzemski, Harmon Killebrew, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez are among baseball’s elite, but none of them had the help they needed to get their team over the top. The fact they never played for a World Champion does not make them any less great.
Cobb Appeared On Three Teams That Lost the World Series
Ty Cobb, considered the greatest player of all time until the late 1940s and early 1950s, appeared in the World Series three consecutive seasons, from 1907-1909. The Cubs beat Cobb’s Tigers in 1907 and 1908, and the Pirates beat them in 1909. In 1908, Cobb hit .368, but his World Series average was only .262. He had 4 doubles, a triple, and 4 stolen bases in 8 attempts.
Lajoie and Banks Never Were On a Pennant Winner
Nap Lajoie batted .338 lifetime, won the Triple Crown in 1901 when he hit .426, but he never was on a pennant winner. George Sisler, who like Cobb, is not ranked as highly today as he had been in the 1940s and 1950s, batted .340, hit over .400 twice, and was never on a pennant winner. Ernie Banks, who was one of the first power hitting shortstops (see Vern Stephens), was the National League’s MVP twice, but he played for the Cubs, the team whose last World Championship came against Cobb’s Tigers in 1908. Banks never appeared in a World Series. Sammy Sosa, the only player to ever hit more than 60 home runs in seasons and never win a home run crown during any of those seasons, never appeared in the World Series.
Williams Did Not Do Well But Bonds Did
Ted Williams was a better hitter than Barry Bonds and both were on pennant winners once. In 1946, the Red Sox won the pennant but lost a heartbreaking seventh game to the Cardinals. Williams had 5 singles in 25 at bats with 1 RBI. Bonds’ only World Series appearance was in 2002 against the name-challenged Angels. Barry hit .471 with 4 home runs and 13 walks in a losing effort, but Barry appeared in 41 playoff games, batting .216 with 5 home runs.
McCovey Ended the 1962 Series
Willie McCovey was a great power hitter whose teammates included Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda, but McCovey is remembered primarily for hitting a vicious line drive that Bobby Richardson caught to end the 1962 World Series. Willie hit as many home runs as Ted Williams (521), but hit only .200 with 1 home run in the 1962 Series.
Yastrzemski and Killebrew
Carl Yastrzemski and Harmon Killebrew played in the 1960s. Yaz batted .352 in two World Series, but the Red Sox lost to the Cardinals in 1967 and to the Reds in 1975. Both went seven games and the 1975 Series is considered one of the greatest of all. Killebrew appeared only in the 1965 Series, hitting .286 in a losing effort against Los Angeles.
A-Rod Has Not Done Well Lately
Finally, Alex Rodriguez is often mentioned in the same sentence as the words “greatest player of all time.” That is, of course, a joke. Alex has never been on a pennant winner and in 39 playoff games, he has hit .279 with 7 home runs, but with the Yankees, Alex has hit .421, .258, .133, .071, and .267.
Teams Win Championships
No one can deny the greatness of the above players. All but Sosa, Bonds, and Rodriguez are in the Hall of Fame, and those three have had careers that make them shoo-ins for election to the Hall, although Sammy and Barry will never be voted in for other reasons. Teams, not great players, win championships. The fact that these players never were World Champions does not diminish their greatness. How many managers or fans would take Paul O’Neill or Kirk Gibson over Sammy Sosa?
