Personally, I would put Jackie Robinson number 1, but he is hurt career wise as he only played 10 years. I did give Jackie more pioneer points than any other player. I will discuss this more in his biography.
The top three second basemen were awfully close. I would pick Morgan over Collins, but I didn’t for two reason. The first Collins had 40 more points than Morgan which I considered significant, but not unreasonable. Second, Joe thinks sabermetrics overrates him as a player. He was upset he was ahead of Hornsby. He still finished ahead of Hornsby, barely, but I decided to trust Morgan a little on this, so I just kept them in the same order.
Collins played in four different decades, the 00s, 10s, 20s, 30s. He played 25 years and barely played in 1930, one hit in three at bats. He did play from 1906-1909 to start his career. His first really good season was 1909.
Eddie Collins was part of the Black Sox team that threw the 1919 World Series. He was not one of the players who threw games, but he had a poor World Series. Collins talked about a lot of dissension on the team. He wasn’t liked by the group that threw the game as he attended college and was happy with his pay. Eddie Collins was able to make a good deal after being traded from the As. He was also the oldest position starter on the team and was in his 14th year of pro ball. First baseman Chick Gandil the leader of the players who threw the game didn’t like Collins as Collins broke his nose on a tag years before.
Collins played in 6 six World Series his team winning 4. In my opinion Collins was great in 3, average in 1 and bad in two, the two he was on the losing team. A great player, but I don’t know if he is the greatest 2nd baseman of all time even though I rate him that way. I do believe he had as great of career at second base as anyone.
A Biography in 1,000 Players No. 13 Eddie Collins (Number 1 Second Base)
