Best OF of all time, per Buster Olney: Berra, Mantle, Maris

[Northern Star]

I'm not gonna trawl through every OF combo that ever played together but my instinct says: no. Thoughts?

 

Can't link to the article as it's an ESPN Insider.

[Palodios]

Someone will be talking about Hamilton, Trout, Trumbo some day.

[Divinity]

I can't think of a better OF than those three, would like to see you try and come up better ones though.

[Divinity]

Someone will be talking about Hamilton, Harper, Trumbo some day.

 

The three of them will never be on the same team though.

[Palodios]

The three of them will never be on the same team though.

 

Definitely meant Trout haha.

[rjortiz]

Someone will be talking about Hamilton, Trout, Trumbo some day.

 

Yeah, sure.

[jacksonianmarch]

Olney specified the '61 Yankees.

 

Mantle hit .317 with 54HRs, an OPS of 1.135 and 12SB with a WAR of 10.2

Maris hit 61HRs, had a near 1.000OPS and a WAR of 6.7

Berra hit 22HR, had a near .800OPS and a WAR of 2.0

 

Even if Trout and Hamilton go off and Trumbo continues to hammer the ball, I highly doubt they reach 18.7WAR between them. They all had amazing yrs last yr and they only totalled a WAR of 16.3

[Palodios]

Olney specified the '61 Yankees.

 

Mantle hit .317 with 54HRs, an OPS of 1.135 and 12SB with a WAR of 10.2

Maris hit 61HRs, had a near 1.000OPS and a WAR of 6.7

Berra hit 22HR, had a near .800OPS and a WAR of 2.0

 

Even if Trout and Hamilton go off and Trumbo continues to hammer the ball, I highly doubt they reach 18.7WAR between them. They all had amazing yrs last yr and they only totalled a WAR of 16.3

 

If you scaled all six players to play 160 games, Trout/Trumbo/Hamilton would have had a better season. Mantle and Harris played a ton more games than Trout/Hamilton, which was the difference-maker.

[User Name]

Olney specified the '61 Yankees.

 

Mantle hit .317 with 54HRs, an OPS of 1.135 and 12SB with a WAR of 10.2

Maris hit 61HRs, had a near 1.000OPS and a WAR of 6.7

Berra hit 22HR, had a near .800OPS and a WAR of 2.0

 

Even if Trout and Hamilton go off and Trumbo continues to hammer the ball, I highly doubt they reach 18.7WAR between them. They all had amazing yrs last yr and they only totalled a WAR of 16.3

 

If you go specifically by WAR, the 1964 Minnesota Twins OF composed of Killebrew, Oliva and Hall actually match the 18.7 WAR amassed by the 1961 Yankee OF.

[User Name]

Digging a bit deeper, the 1942 Red Sox OF of Ted Williams (12.1 WAR), Dom Dimaggio (6.2 WAR) and Lou Finney (1.7 WAR) combined for an insane 20 WAR.

[Laser Show]

The 1927 Yankees

 

Babe (12.1)

Earle Combs (6.7)

Bob Meusel (3.8)

 

22.6 WAR between them!

[User Name]

Where did you get your numbers? Fangraphs has the three of them closer to 25 WAR for that season, which is friggin' insanity.

[Laser Show]

I used Baseball-Reference. I couldn't find another OF trio (other than those mentioned earlier) that was even remotely close to the 27 Yanks. That OF was ridiculous.

[a700hitter]

I realize that outfield trios are being discussed, but the deepest most productive OF in my memory was the 1977 Red Sox:

 

Yaz

Rice

Evans

Lynn

Carbo

 

Compare that to the garbage in our OF the last couple of years.

[Lucienbel]

I realize that outfield trios are being discussed, but the deepest most productive OF in my memory was the 1977 Red Sox:

 

Yaz

Rice

Evans

Lynn

Carbo

 

Compare that to the garbage in our OF the last couple of years.

 

Well, in the last couple of years there's no doubt that many outfields have been better. The Red Sox have had some great outfields over the years, it's sad to see that not happening anymore. More recent outfields for the Red Sox have been poorly planned and injured more than healthy.

[cbbosox]

How about worst of all time

 

Nava,Byrd & Ross