Before I present you with ESPN's Top 100, let me show the 4 major "baseball milestones," and which members of these "clubs" did not make it:
* 3,000 Hits: Paul Waner, Lou Brock, Eddie Murray, Craig Biggio, Rafael Palmeiro.
* 500 Home Runs: Murray, Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield.
* 300 Wins: Old Hoss Radbourn, Pud Galvin, John Clarkson, Tim Keefe, Mickey Welch, Kid Nichols, Eddie Plank, Early Wynn, Gaylord Perry, Don Sutton, Tom Glavine.
* 3,000 Strikeouts: Perry, Sutton, Glavine, Ferguson Jenkins, Bert Blyleven, Curt Schilling, CC Sabathia.
Okay, right away, we have problems. Not with keeping Palmeiro, McGwire and Sosa out, because they cheated. We seem to think Sheffield did, too. But nobody thinks Murray did. You can argue that Waner was once one of the Top 50, but that he no longer makes the Top 100; and that Biggio, as good as he was, never did.
But how can you keep out Murray, an apparently clean guy with both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs? And how the hell can you keep out Brock, who had 3,000 hits and is 2nd all-time in stolen bases?
Same deal with the pitching milestones? Not exactly: 3,000 strikeouts is a big deal, but not as big a deal as the other 3, which probably hurts Schilling, who won 216 games, fewer than any "3KK" pitcher (I just made that term up) except Scherzer, who's still active and only 26 wins behind him, and Smoltz, who spent spent 4 seasons as a reliever and also has 155 saves.
You can make a case that Sutton doesn't even make an all-time Dodger rotation, even if you limit it to only the Los Angeles years: Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Clayton Kershaw, and if you go to 5 guys, you can argue that both Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser were better, in terms of talent if not of career numbers. And Perry will always have the spectre of the spitter.
And while Radbourn, Galvin, Clarkson, Keefe, Welch and Nichols were all great pitchers by standards of their own time, that time had a distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate of 50 feet. In 1893, it became 60 feet, 6 inches.
Radbourn had already retired after the 1891 season, Galvin and Welch after 1892, Keefe saw the writing on the wall and packed it in after 1893, and Clarkson did so after 1894. Nichols started in 1890, the same year as Cy Young, and, like Young, pitched about equally well before and after 1893, so he could, legitimately, be considered for this list.
The following players made the TSN100 in 1999, but not the ESPN100 in 2022: Early Wynn 100, Dennis Eckersley 98, Gaylord Perry 97, Rollie Fingers 96, Chuck Klein 92, Mark McGwire 91, Ralph Kiner 90, Goose Goslin 89, Frankie Frisch 88, Kirby Puckett 86, Dizzy Dean 85, Sam Crawford 84, Ed Walsh 82.
Also: Joe Medwick 79, Eddie Murray 77, Willie Keeler 75, Robin Roberts 74, Lefty Gomez 73, Pie Traynor 70, Eddie Plank 68, Cool Papa Bell 66, Mickey Cochrane 65, Paul Waner 62, Bill Terry 59, Lou Brock 58, Bill Dickey 57, Harry Heilmann 54, Buck Leonard 47, Carl Hubbell 44, Al Simmons 43, George Sisler 33.
So, without further ado, here are the ESPN100, with, where applicable, their TSN100 rankings:
100. Barry Larkin, active in 1999
99. Phil Niekro, did not make list, hereafter abbreviated as DNML
98. Jim Thome, active
97. Adrian Beltre, active
96. Charlie Gehringer, 46
95. Duke Snider, 83
94. Bryce Harper, not yet active, hereafter abbreviated as NYA
93. John Smoltz, active
92. Roy Halladay, active
91. Ryne Sandberg, DNML
90. Ivan Rodriguez, active
89. Shoeless Joe Jackson, 35
88. Willie Stargell, 81
87. Carlton Fisk, DNML
86. Roberto Alomar, active
85. Jim Palmer, 64
84. Paul Molitor, 99
83. Roy Campanella, 50
82. Eddie Collins, 24
81. Mike Piazza, active
80. Robin Yount, DNML
79. Hank Greenberg, 37
78. Chipper Jones, active
77. Vladimir Guerrero, active
76. Cap Anson, DNML
75. Rod Carew, 61
74. Juan Marichal, 71
73. Willie McCovey, 56
72. Justin Verlander, NYA
71. Al Kaline, 76
70. Harmon Killebrew, 69
69. Ozzie Smith, 87
68. Manny Ramirez, active
67. Brooks Robinson, 80
66. Cal Ripken, 78
65. Max Scherzer, NYA
64. Eddie Mathews, 63
63. David Ortiz, NYA
62. Mel Ott, 42
61. Carl Yastrzemski, 72
60. Whitey Ford, 52
59. Miguel Cabrera, NYA
58. Steve Carlton, 30
57. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 12
56. Dave Winfield, 94
55. Reggie Jackson, 48
54. Lefty Grove, 23
53. Oscar Charleston, 67
52. Clayton Kershaw, NYA
51. Ernie Banks, 38
50. Bob Feller, 36
49. Frank Thomas, active
48. Nap Lajoie, 29
47. Warren Spahn, 21
46. Ichiro Suzuki, NYA
45. Wade Boggs, 95, active
44. Tony Gwynn, 49, active
43. George Brett, 55
42. Nolan Ryan, 41
41. Satchel Paige, 19
40. Jimmie Foxx, 15
39. Yogi Berra, 40
38. Jackie Robinson, 44
37. Joe Morgan, 60
36. Tris Speaker, 27
35. Josh Gibson, 18
34. Pete Rose, 25
33. Bob Gibson, 31
32. Sandy Koufax, 26
31. Mariano Rivera, active
30. Albert Pujols, NYA
29. Johnny Bench, 16
28. Derek Jeter, active
27. Roberto Clemente, 20
26. Alex Rodriguez, active
25. Christy Mathewson, 7
24. Randy Johnson, active
23. Rickey Henderson, 51, active
22. Tom Seaver, 32
21. Cy Young, 14
20. Rogers Hornsby, 9
19. Frank Robinson, 22
18. Mike Schmidt, 28
17. Roger Clemens, 53, active
16. Joe DiMaggio, 11
15. Mike Trout, NYA
14. Greg Maddux, 39, active
13. Ken Griffey Jr., 93, active
12. Honus Wagner, 13
11. Pedro Martinez, active
10. Stan Musial, 10
9. Walter Johnson, 4
8. Barry Bonds, 34, active
7. Mickey Mantle, 17
6. Lou Gehrig, 6
5. Ted Williams, 8
4. Ty Cobb, 3
3. Hank Aaron, 5
2. Willie Mays, 2
1. Babe Ruth, 1
Biggest jumps from 1999 to 2022: Griffey 80, Winfield 38, Clemens 36, Henderson 28, Bonds 26, Maddux 25, Morgan 23. Certainly, Griffey got shortchanged in 1999.
Biggest drops from 1999 to 2022: Collins 58, Shoeless Joe 54, Gehringer 50, Alexander 45, Greenberg 42, Campanella 33, Grove 31. That is a considerable amount of disrespect.
Rankings by position:
1st Base: Gehrig 6, Pujols 30, Foxx 40, Thomas 49, Killebrew 70, McCovey 73, Carew 75, Anson 76, Greenberg 79, Stargell 88, Thome 98. Aside from the fact that Anson, the earliest player on this 100, played entirely in the 19th Century, with significant rule differences, I don't object here.
2nd base: Hornsby 20, Morgan 37, Jackie Robinson 38, Lajoie 48, Collins 82, Alomar 86, Sandberg 91, Gehringer 96. I wouldn't put Alomar in the Top 100, but no other objection.
Shortstop: Wagner 12, Jeter 28, Banks 51, Ripken 78, Smith 69, Yount 80, Larkin 100. I wouldn't put Larkin in the Top 100. Other than that, no problem here.
3rd Base: Schmidt 18, Alex Rodriguez 26, Brett 43, Boggs 45, Cabrera 59, Mathews 63, Brooks Robinson 67, Jones 78, Molitor 84, Beltre 97. Big problems here. A-Rod should have been ineligible, regardless of whether you think belongs here, or at shortstop. Chipper shouldn't have been anywhere near this list. And there's no way Brett or Mathews should have been ahead of Brooks.
Left Field: Williams 5, Bonds 8, Musial 10, Henderson 23, Rose 34, Yastrzemski 61, Ramirez 68, Joe Jackson 89. Barry and Manny are ineligible. And there's no way Ted should have been that high.
Center Field: Mays 2, Cobb 4, Mantle 7, Griffey 13, Trout 15, DiMaggio 16, Speaker 36, Charleston 53, Snider 95. I have no problem with Mantle being ahead of DiMaggio. But what kind of drugs does it take to put Trout at Number 15, ahead of the Yankee Clipper? He's had a great first half of his career. So did George Foster, Fred Lynn and Dave Parker, and they didn't even end up in the Hall of Fame.
Right Field: Ruth 1, Aaron 3, Frank Robinson 19, Clemente 27, Gwynn 44, Suzuki 46, Reggie Jackson 55, Winfield 56, Ott 62, Kaline 71, Guerrero 77, Harper 94. It's way too soon to put Harper in the Top 100. Other than that no problem.
Designated Hitter: Ortiz 63. He should be ineligible.
Catcher: Bench 29, Josh Gibson 35, Berra 39, Piazza 81, Campanella 83, Fisk 87, Ivan Rodriguez 90. I-Rod is ineligible. Putting Gibson at 35, when we just don't know, is wrong. Putting Bench ahead of Berra is very wrong. And putting Piazza on the list at all is a massive joke, even if you don't think he used steroids. The man was a born DH.
Pitcher: Walter Johnson 9, Martinez 11, Maddux 14, Clemens 17, Young 21, Seaver 22, Randy Johnson 24, Mathewson 25, Rivera 31, Koufax 32, Bob Gibson 33, Paige 41, Ryan 42, Spahn 47, Feller 50, Kershaw 52, Grove 54, Alexander 57, Carlton 58, Ford 60, Scherzer 65, Verlander 72, Marichal 74, Palmer 85, Halladay 92, Smoltz 93, Niekro 99. If you're not going to put Fergie Jenkins or Bert Blyleven on here, you shouldn't put Scherzer, Verlander or Halladay on here. Kershaw belongs, but not that high. Grove, Alexander and Carlton are way too low. And Pedro at 11? As they say in English soccer, Give your head a wobble.
Maybe, over the weekend, I'll give a real Top 100.