The Best Players in Baseball Since 1901 (Part 2)

All right, time for Part 2 of our Best Players in Baseball series. Part 1 appeared last week. Just as a quick reminder, the idea is not to name the best player from any one year specifically, but to go with a slightly more holistic approach. To do this, I looked at the year itself, plus the two years leading up. I like this list a lot.

Last time we looked at the years from 1901 to 1966. We did not stop in 1966 because it was the year before I was born—it was just the midpoint for the project—but I like that it was the year before I was born. I didn’t really see any of the players in Part 1. I saw almost all of the players in Part 2.

Every player in Part 1 is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Nine of the players here in Part 2 are not in the Hall of Fame, for various reasons that we’ll get to as we go forward. One of those players not in the Hall of Fame stands out from the rest.

All right, let’s have some fun!