What was baseball's greatest year?

Question

I got thinking about this after reading Cait Murphy's book about the 1908 season, which she considers the greatest. Which year would you say was the greatest, and why?

I'm looking for something more than "2004 because the Sox won!" or other such homerisms. Great pennant races, milestones, etc. - what makes your choice great?

Answer 1

Honestly, In my lifetime I will say last season (2007) Here is why:

-Jim Thome, Frank Thomas, Alex Rodriguez all hit 500th HR
-Sammy Sosa hit 600th HR
-Barry Bonds hit #756 HR
-Roger Clemens announces to the Yankee crowd he will be
back in pinstripes
-Tom Glavine wins 300
-Craig Biggio hits 3,000
-The COLORADO ROCKIES win the NL Pennant
-Trevor Hoffman becomes all time save leader
-Baseball snowed out in Cleveland to start the season. Make up games are played in Miluakee!
-Bobby Jenks gets record for consecutive outs by a closer
-ARod's monster April
-The All star game in San Fransisco (HR derby in McCovey Cove)
-The Mets monumental collapse
-The emergence of the Brewers and a bonna fide star in Prince Fielder and a guy nobody ever heard of named Ryan Braunn
-The Rookies from both leagues: Delmon Young, Dice-K, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ryan Braunn, Troy Tulowitski, Brian Bannister, Chris Young
-Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn elected first ballot in the Hall of Fame
-Redsox Dynasty begins (2 WS in four years)

Basically, this was the year of the Milestones.

Answer 2

I thought the 1989 season was a great season, you had great match-ups throughout the season, the Cubs and the Giants for the NL in the playoffs and the A's vs Toronto (the Rickey dismatling of the Jays) but that is probably a bias of a high school freshman in Northern California at the time. The Earthquake put a damper on the World Series but to have a Bay Bridge series put the world looking at Northern California for the first time.

Another great seaosn was the 1985 season although many Cards fans will talk about being jobbed at the end, the battle of Missouri was great! 1986 with the SOx-Mets series was great, 1961 1967 1980 were all great years as well.

We always hear about the great 1927 with Murders Row, it changed the way that teams built their teams and how everyone looked at baseball in general.

Answer 3

I have two ideas. One is 1961. There were so many great teams and players. There was the Mantle/Maris race. Willie Mays and a lot of other NL players had great years. Norm Cash won the batting title. It was just a wild year.

The other isn't a precise year, although I could research it and find one. From about 1979-1989 was in many ways baseball's golden era. Pitching was still great. Nolan Ryan was still around and guys completed more than 3 or 4 games a year. But closers were very important. Thigpen set the record in there. But hitting was great. Boggs, Mattingly, Pucket, Gwynn, and others were putting up great numbers. Henderson and others were stealing bases like crazy, but the long ball was still present, too. No matter what you liked most, there was plenty of it. I can't honestly pick a single year without going and looking, but the era was spooky good.

Answer 4

Since the regular season is so long that things seem to blend together, I'll go with 1986, which had what was probably the best post-season in baseball history. First the classic Red Sox-Angels and Mets-Astros Championship Series, capped off by the amazing Mets-Red Sox World Series. There were so many incredible games and moments just in those three series that this year will forever stay fresh in my memory.

Answer 5

You know, I'm actually going to say the 2007 season. I'm pretty well read in baseball history, but I can't think of any year when all the teams were so close to each other. Every single team in baseball, all 30 of them, were separated by a mere 30 games at the end of the season. Not a single team in the league won or lost 100 games, and no team won their division by more than Cleveland's 8 games. We saw Boston win their second world series in almost 90 years, and Colorado win their first pennant in team history. Personal records included Tom Glavine's 300th win, Pedro Martinez's 3000th strikeout, Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, and Frank Thomas's 500th homer, Sammy Sosa's 600th homer, and Craig Biggio's 3000th hit. We saw memorable events, like Bonds's 756th homer and the historic collapse of the New York Mets. We saw low points too, with the Mitchell Report and the indictment of Barry Bonds. We also saw the largest contract in sports history paid to Alex Rodriguez. Overall, this was a year of epic proportions, and, although not all of its events were neccessarily good, they will certainly be remember for a very long time.

Answer 6

It's way before my time, but the whole time I was growing up and reading baseball books (late 70's and 80's) I always saw 1941 listed as a contender, due to Joe D.'s hitting streak and Ted William's successful run at .400.

I have to say that people have made really strong arguments for last season. If a Mets fan can swallow last year's bitter collapse and still make such a strong argument, it makes the case even more.

Answer 7

I think that a lot of people enjoyed 1961, with Maris and Mantle.

Some might say 1947, when Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the majors.

I'll say 1951 with the Bobby Thompson Home Run (Shot heard round the world) to beat the Dodgers. They may have lost to the Yankees in the series, but it was a tremendous year for the game.

Answer 8

For my taste, the offense-laden 1930 season is one I've enjoyed reading about and engaging in simulations. The Phillies hit over .300 as team and finished last in the NL, thanks to a team ERA of almost 7. It also featured some of the really great individual seasons, like Bill Terry, Lefty Grove, Chuck Klein, Lefty O'Doul and Al Simmons.

Answer 9

Well I great season that I wasn't born in was 1986, when the Mets had the wonderful year, I really think that that was a great year because something like that never happens.

Answer 10

Ok...Here we go. Best Year of Major League Baseball........
2007!!!!! Here's why:

The Home Run Milestones
1. Bonds breaks Aaron's record - 756
2. Sammy Sosa - 600
3. Alex Rodriguez youngest to hit 500; most by Yankee RH;
most HR in April (tied)
4. Frank Thomas - 500
5. Jim Thome - 500
6. Ryan Howard - fastest to 100 career
7. Prince Fielder- youngest to hit 50 in a season; also joins his father to become only father-son 50 HR members

Greatest Hits
1. Craig Biggio - 3000 hits; 666 2B most by RH hitter career
2. Jimmy Rollins & Curtis Granderson - 20-20-20-20 Club;
(20 SB, 20 HR, 20 2B, 20 3B in season; only 3rd and fourth time in history, first since Willie Mays in '57)

The Rookies
1. Ryan Braun - Amazing rookie 3B for Brewers would have led the NL in SLG had he qualified for the lead (.634)
2. Hunter Pence - Astros OF was the NL AVG leader before the All-Star break
3. Fred Lewis - Rookie CF for SF hits for the cycle
4. Troy Tulowitzki - Unassisted Triple Play and catalyst for Rockies drive towards the NL Pennant
5. Stout rookie crop of Chris Young AZ, Kevin Kouzmanoff SD, James Loney LAD make the NL West a focal point for years to come.

Aces of Diamonds
1. Trevor Hoffman - 500 career saves; all-time leader 542
2. Tom Glavine - 300 wins; only the 4th LH in history
3. Pedro Martinez - 3000 K's
4. Clay Buchholz - 1st rookie no-hitter in Red Sox history

The Teams
1. Red Sox sweep Rockies in World Series; 8-0 in WS since 2004 sweep of Cardinals
2. New York Mets collapse; worst September collapse of a division in MLB history (fail to even make playoffs)
3. Colorado Rockies run towards post-season; going 21-1 the remainder of the regular season and into the WS; first since 1936 to have at least 20-1 run during a season.