The best third baseman of the expansion era was either Mike Schmidt or George Brett. Everybody agrees on that addition to the MLB all-time lists, right?
MLB Network personalities Brian Kenny and Bob Costas did agree on that during the fifth installment of the network’s Top 10 Right Now Wednesday. That episode included a segment rating post-1969 third basemen. Both selected Schmidt for the era’s top spot with Brett a solid second.
But is that presumption correct? Or have other, more recent third basemen, eclipsed Schmidt and/or Brett among the position’s expansion era elite.
Before assessing how accurate the Kenny and Costas lists were, here are their respective top 10s:
| Brian Kenny | Bob Costas |
|---|---|
| 1. Mike Schmidt | 1. Mike Schmidt |
| 2. George Brett | 2. George Brett |
| 3. Wade Boggs | 3. Chipper Jones |
| 4. Chipper Jones | 4. Wade Boggs |
| 5. Paul Molitor | 5. Paul Molitor |
| 6. Adrian Beltre | 6. Adrian Beltre |
| 7. Scott Rolen | 7. Nolan Arenado |
| 8. Terry Pendleton | 8. Scott Rolen |
| 9. David Wright | 9. Bill Madlock |
| 10. Ron Cey | 10. Graig Nettles |
Third base is a position demanding an unusual combination of power plus defensive facility. That being so, our five expansion era ratings criteria attempt to present a balanced recipe. When all five categories are assessed, the player with the average ordinal score closest to a perfect rating of 1.0 is the winner.
The criteria are:
- Five-year peak performance with OPS+ as the yardstick
- Cumulative OPS+ over the course of their careers
- Career MVP shares
- Career Defensive Wins Above Replacement
- Career baserunning runs.
Alphabetically, the 30 nominees are: Nolan Arenado, Sal Bando, Buddy Bell, Adrian Beltre, Wade Boggs, Alex Bregman, George Brett, Ken Caminiti, Ron Cey, Doug DeCinces, Josh Donaldson, Darrell Evans, Gary Gaetti, Troy Glaus, Bob Horner, Chipper Jones, Evan Longoria, Manny Machado, Bill Madlock, Paul Molitor, Graig Nettles, Terry Pendleton, Aramis Ramirez, Anthony Rendon, Scott Rolen, Mike Schmidt, Justin Turner, Robin Ventura, Matt Williams and David Wright.