Top 10 American League Second Basemen of All-Time

Russ Cohen and I are embarking on a project to put together a list of the 10 best players at each position, with him doing the top National Leaguers and me taking on the best in the junior circuit.

The list comprises of the 10 best who played the majority of or all of their career in the American League:

Note: Any player who was entangled in performance-enhancing drugs or is suspected of taking them (such as Robinson Cano) was not under consideration. They should never be enshrined in Cooperstown and thus do not belong on this list.

1. Eddie Collins – A defensive wizard and speed demon, Collins was the best second baseman of the dead-ball era. The Columbia University graduate debuted with Philadelphia as a 19-year-old and played 25 years in the American League with the A’s and Chicago White Sox. A winner of three World Championships, Collins was not implicated in the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, finished with a .333 career batting average and the most hits (3315) of any second sacker in baseball history.

2. Napoleon Lajoie – “Nap” was considered the first superstar of the junior circuit, moving over from the National League Philadelphia Phillies to the A’s in 1901 and hit .426, a mark that Ty Cobb or any hitter in MLB history could best. Lajoie played most of his 21-year career in Cleveland, winning five AL batting titles, and finishing with a .338 career average and 3,243 hits.

3. Charlie Gehringer – Gehringer was the picture of consistent excellence in his 19 seasons with Detroit. “The Mechanical Man” had a .320 career batting average, 2,839 hits, 100 or more RBI’s seven times, an AL batting title and MVP in 1937, and a World Series with the Tigers in 1935.

4. Rod Carew – The best hitting American League second baseman of the modern era, Carew had a .328 career batting average, 3,053 hits, won the AL batting title a remarkable seven times, Rookie of the Year (1967), and an MVP (1977) with Minnesota, before moving to California and shifting to first base/DH in the latter part of his career.

5. Lou Whitaker – “Sweet Lou” had the perfect swing for the right-field upper deck at Tiger Stadium. Whitaker played all 19 years in Detroit, won Rookie of the Year in 1978, a World Championship with the Tigers in 1984, and combined with Hall-of-Famer Alan Trammell to form one of the AL’s best middle infields.

6. Roberto Alomar – Arguably the best second baseman in the 1990s, Alomar was a 10-time Gold Glove winner, 12-time All-Star, who won consecutive World Championships with Toronto in 1992 -93, and finished his Hall-of-Fame career with a .300 average and 2,724 hits.

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7. Bobby Grich – A consistent power-hitting second baseman, Grich was also a four-time Gold Glover who split his 17-year career between the Baltimore Orioles and California Angels, hitting 224 career homers and in double figures 12 times.

8. Dustin Pedroia –Pedroia personified the gritty Red Sox that won multiple World Championships after the turn of the century. The scrappy second baseman won AL Rookie of the Year in 2007, MVP in 2008, four Gold Gloves, and two World Championships in his 14-year career. His .299 career average will likely be enough to have him enshrined in Cooperstown.

9. Tony Lazzeri – A member of the “Murderer’s Row” Yankees, Lazzeri won five World Championships in New York, hit more than 10 HR’s 10 times in his 14-year career, and finished his Hall-of-Fame career with a .292 batting average.

10. Nellie Fox – The slick-fielding Fox spent most of his 19-year career with Chicago, winning three Gold Gloves, making 12 All-Star appearances, and winning an MVP as a member of the AL pennant-winning “Go-Go” White Sox in 1959. He finished with a .288 career average and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997.