Chris;

It wasn't speed and power, but on-base-average and power that I find to be very rare.

While I agree that ob-avg & slugging % combined can be a good way of comparing hall-of-famers; when applied to mere mortals it makes for mushy comparisons (a slap hitter who walks a lot could have a similar number to a good power guy who hits .240 and doesn't get many BB's - how is this a meaningful comparison?).

JB:

I assume that foursome was directed at me?

McGwire - Frankenstein with some huge holes in his strike zone. I don't think his career oba is anything to write home about. There are loads of HR hitters I would take ahead of this guy.

Bonds - A jerk and the best player over the past 15 years.

Rickey - Another jerk and the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. The power is nice, but it was just the cherry on a hot fudge sundae.

Strawberry - Is his inclusion an attempted non-sequiter? Did he ever hit 300? How many times did he get 100 walks?

Outside of Bonds, tell me someone from the last 50 years who could provide both power and average (ba and/or oba) - over the course of their career - in the manner of Ted Williams or George Brett.

bb

ps - did not check out the BB encyclopedia over the weekend (the library is upstate, not in my nyc hovel), but now my interest is piqued. I'll see what I can dig up on this subject later this week or on the weekend.