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Best Left Fielders of All Time in MLB

By Tom Knuppel

Posted on March 15, 2024

Best Left Fielders of All Time in MLB - Knup Sports

The Best Left Fielders of All Time is the next installment of the MLB series for KnupSports.

There have certainly been many great LFs in Major League Baseball’s history. This is my attempt to identify the best of the best.

10 BEST LEFT FIELDERS OF ALL TIME

Let’s dive into the 10 best Left Fielders of all time individually.

10. Ralph Kiner

He was a six time All Star selection and led the National League in home runs seven times. In 1949, he was the RBI leader and later was named to the Pirates Hall of Fame. He finished with a .279 career batting average and smacked 369 home runs and drove in 1.015 runs.

9. Minnie Minoso

Miñoso was an American League (AL) All-Star for seven seasons and a Gold Glove winner for three seasons when he was in his 30s. He batted over .300 for eight seasons. He was the AL leader in triples and stolen bases three times each and in hits, doubles, and total bases once each. Willie Mays (179 steals) and Miñoso (167 steals) have been widely credited with leading the resurgence of speed as an offensive weapon in the 1950s.

Miñoso was particularly adept at reaching base, leading the AL in times hit by pitch a record ten times, and holding the league mark for career times hit by pitch from 1959 to 1985. Miñoso, as a defensive standout, led the AL left fielders in assists six times and in putouts and double plays four times each.

8. Willie Stargell

Among the most feared power hitters in baseball history, Stargell had the most home runs (296) of any player in the 1970s decade. During his career, he batted .282 with 2,232 hits, 1,194 runs, 423 doubles, 475 home runs, and 1,540 runs batted in, helping his team win six National League (NL) East division titles, two NL pennants, and two World Series championships in 1971 and 1979, both over the Baltimore Orioles.

Stargell was a seven-time All-Star and two-time NL home run leader. In 1979, he became the first and currently only player to win the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, the NL Championship Series MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in one season. In 1982, the Pirates retired his uniform number 8. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.

7. Tim Raines

In a 23-year career, Raines played in 2,502 games accumulating 2,605 hits in 8,872 at bats for a .294 career batting average along with 170 home runs, 980 runs batted in, a .385 on-base percentage and a .425 slugging percentage. He ended his career with a .987 fielding percentage. Raines stole at least 70 bases in each of his first six full seasons (1981–1986), leading the National League in stolen bases each season from 1981 to 1984, with a career high of 90 steals in 1983.

Raines also led the National League in runs scored twice (1983 and 1987). Raines batted over .300 in five full seasons and over .320 from 1985 to 1987, winning the 1986 National League batting title with a .334 average. He also had six full seasons with an on-base percentage above .390.

6. Pete Rose

Rose was a switch hitter and is the all-time MLB leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215) and outs (10,328). He won three World Series, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves and the Rookie of the Year Award. He also made seventeen All-Star appearances at an unequaled five positions (second baseman, left fielder, right fielder, third baseman and first baseman). Rose won both of his Gold Gloves when he was an outfielder, in 1969 and 1970.

5. Rickey Henderson

As of 2021, Henderson ranks first all-time in runs scored (2,295) and stolen bases (1,406), fourth in career games played (3,081), 13th in at bats (10,961), and 25th in hits (3,055). He has the second-highest career power–speed number, behind Barry Bonds, at 490.4.[102][103] His record for most career walks (2,190) has since been broken by Barry Bonds; Henderson is now second but continues to hold the record for most unintentional walks (2,129). While his career batting average of .279 is considered somewhat modest for a leadoff hitter, his walks helped him post a stout .401 on-base percentage (OBP) for his career. He posted an OBP of at least .400 in 16 separate seasons, with a high mark of .439 in his 1990 MVP season. Henderson averaged 115 walks per 162 games over his career.

Henderson also holds the record for most home runs to lead off a game, with 81; George Springer places a distant second with 56 career lead-off home runs. During the 2003 season, Henderson surpassed Babe Ruth for the career record in secondary bases (total bases compiled from extra base hits, walks, stolen bases, and times hit by pitch). In 1993, he led off both games of a doubleheader with homers. At the time of his last major league game, Henderson was still in the all-time top 100 home run hitters, with 297.

4. Barry Bonds

Recognized as an all-around player, Bonds received a record seven National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Awards and 12 Silver Slugger Awards, along with 14 All-Star selections. He holds many MLB hitting records, including most career home runs (762), most home runs in a single season (73, set in 2001), and most career walks. Bonds led MLB in on-base plus slugging six times and placed within the top five hitters in 12 of his 17 qualifying seasons.

For his defensive play in the outfield, he won eight Gold Glove Awards. He also had 514 stolen bases, becoming the first and only MLB player to date with at least 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases. Bonds is ranked first in career Wins Above Replacement among all major league position players by Baseball-Reference.com and second by FanGraphs, behind only Babe Ruth.

3. Carl Yastrzemski

Yastrzemski is an 18-time All-Star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3,000 hit club, and the first American League player in that club to also accumulate over 400 home runs. He is second on the all-time list for games played, and third for total at-bats. He is the Red Sox’s all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played, and is third on the team list for home runs, behind Ted Williams and David Ortiz He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989.

2. Stan Musial

Musial spent 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1941 to 1944 and from 1946 to 1963, before becoming a first-ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. He batted .331 over the course of his career and set National League (NL) records for career hits (3,630), runs batted in (1,951), games played (3,026), at bats (10,972), runs scored (1,949) and doubles (725).

His 475 career home runs then ranked second in NL history behind Mel Ott’s total of 511. A seven-time batting champion, he was named the National League’s (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times and was a member of three World Series championship teams. He also shares the major league record for the most All-Star Games played (24) with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

1.Ted Williams

Williams was a nineteen-time All-Star, a two-time recipient of the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award, a six-time AL batting champion, and a two-time Triple Crown winner. He finished his playing career with a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and a 1.116 on-base plus slugging percentage, the second highest of all time.

His career batting average is the highest of any MLB player whose career was played primarily in the live-ball era, and ranks tied for 10th all-time with Billy Hamilton, a dead-ball era player.

First ones out: Joe Jackson, Al Simmons. Billy Williams

I am sure there are those that have a completely different list than this. But this is the list for us at KnupSports.

That’s a glance at our 10 best Left Fielders of all time. Thanks for reading! Check out our other top MLB positions list: