1. Paul Molitor: Was the World Series MVP for the Blue Jays. He was 12-24 in the six games with 10 runs scored and eight RBIs.
His two-run triple and solo HR sparked Toronto to a 10-3 Game 3 win and a 2-1 series lead
Molitor’s RBI double started the Blue Jays’ six run eighth inning rally in their epic 15-14 win in Game 4.
In Game 6 Molitor again started off the scoring in the 1st with a triple, homered for the second time in the series in the 5th, and singled in the bottom of the ninth, which set up Joe Carter’s Series winning walk-off, 3R-HR.
Against Chicago in the ALCS he was 9-23 (.391), with 7 runs and 5 RBIs. He had a 4-5, 3 RBI, 2 R Game 1 performance, as Toronto won 7-3.
In the regular season he was second in the MVP voting. He was an All-Star and Silver Slugger as a DH. He earned that status by leading the league with 211 hits, and finishing second in the AL in batting at .332, runs (121) and at bats (636).
At age 36 he had a career high 22 HRs, 111 RBIs (surpassed in 1996) along with 22 steals.
The Blue Jays had the best record in the AL with 95 wins and won the East by seven games over New York. They beat the White Sox in six games to win the pennant. Toronto won their 2nd straight World Series 4-2 over the Phillies.
2. Barry Bonds: National League MVP for the third time in four years.
He was close to a triple crown. He led the NL with 46 home runs and 123 RBIs. He was 4th in the league with .336 averages.
Barry topped the senior circuit in on base, and slugging percentage as well as walks and total bases (365). He was second in the league scoring 129 runs. Bonds swiped 29 bases.
He was the starting leftfielder for the NL in the All-Star game (2-3, 2 R), a Gold Glover and Silver Slugger.
The 1993 Giants won 103 games and finished a game behind Atlanta in the NL West. That was 31 more than 1992 when Bonds was not in San Francisco. The Giants finished six games ahead of East champion Philadelphia.
3. Frank Thomas: He won the American League MVP. He was ML Player of the Year, named by the Sporting News. He was a All-Star and Silver Slugger as a first baseman.
He posted a .311 avera
ge (6th), 41 HR (3rd), 128 RBI (2nd), and 106 runs.
He finished in the top five in the AL in on-base and slugging %, OPS, total bases and walks.
In Game 4 of the ALCS Thomas helped Chicago tie the series at 2-2 with his game-tying home run in the sixth. The White Sox won 7-4. He was 6-17 in the series (.353) and walked 10 times (.593 OBP).
The White Sox won 94 games (eight more than 1992) and the AL West by eight games over Texas. They went to their first playoffs in a decade and lost in six games to Toronto.
This I think is the first time that I really disagree with you. It absolutely has to be Bonds. Look at those numbers! And those are even pre-steroids! I agree with you about putting Molitor over Thomas (though historically Thomas is very underrated; not by you, just saying). But Bonds was so so great that year. 32 wins more than in 1992 and if it wasn't for the lack of the wild-card system, it could easily be argued that the Giants could've won the World Series.
ReplyDelete1993 was Bond's best pre-setoids season his numbers are unreal but not making the playoffs was too much to overcome. I agree it wasn't his fault but there is no way to say the Giants would have beat the Braves who beat them in the NL West. they may have but the fact is they didn't. Molitor was very good in reg. season and ALCS and one of the best WS in the last 20 years.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I like your write-up here. Molitor deserves this ranking...haha I'm glad Lenny Dykstra wasn't included. Yeah he had his moments with the Phillies, but he did steroids and gambled on Phillies games. Kind of sad to hear that he's now bankrupt and has a plethora of legal issues.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I see what you're saying about the playoffs. And given Bonds' general reputation for sucking in the playoffs, maybe he still wouldn't have surpassed Molitor. I just can't get over those numbers though!
ReplyDeleteYea the roids and Thomas being clean was the difference with Dykstra being left off. I forgot about the gambling, good call there too. Yea it is sad to know he is in Derrick Coleman/Antoine Walker status.
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