Wilt Chamberlain Pic
- Thread starter twwilliams9
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Bad Take. You're confusing longevity with consistency and not just consistency but consistent excellence.
Forget that he even played the last 10 years of his career. Most guys get 200 hits only a few times in theirs, this man averaged 200 hits the FIRST 5, 10 or 15 YEARS OF HIS!!! Pick a time frame, he was great from the get go!
Had a career .303 batting average and .375 OBP.
3 Batting Titles
2 Gold Gloves
3 World Championships
Rookie of the Year
League MVP
World Series MVP
None of those have anything to do with longevity. People say he was just singles hitter, he is second in all time doubles and I watched him hit 3 homers in a game against the Dodgers. The guy could have hit for power but chose to be a contact hitter by design and was as good as any that ever played the game at what he did. Thats why he's great and could have been great in todays game too.
Yeah you hit a nerve
I hate (not really) to make you realize that your childhood hero, was a good, a very good player. But the greatest of all time? Not even close. Not top 10, nor top 20. Maybe he has a chance at top 20 since WW2, maybe. (that's a whole other discussion, but I'd start with Williams, Musial, Mays, Aaron, Mantle, Clemente, Bonds, Griffey Jr, Pujols, Gwynn, A-Rod, and haven't even thought about pitchers yet).Bad Take. You're confusing longevity with consistency and not just consistency but consistent excellence.
Forget that he even played the last 10 years of his career. Most guys get 200 hits only a few times in theirs, this man averaged 200 hits the FIRST 5, 10 or 15 YEARS OF HIS!!! Pick a time frame, he was great from the get go!
Had a career .303 batting average and .375 OBP.
3 Batting Titles
2 Gold Gloves
3 World Championships
Rookie of the Year
League MVP
World Series MVP
None of those have anything to do with longevity. People say he was just singles hitter, he is second in all time doubles and I watched him hit 3 homers in a game against the Dodgers. The guy could have hit for power but chose to be a contact hitter by design and was as good as any that ever played the game at what he did. Thats why he's great and could have been great in todays game too.
Yeah you hit a nerve
I tried to help you/him out, tossing out his first 2 years (.271) and his last 7 years (.274), and only focusing on his prime 15 years (which is a long prime, = longevity). Yes he was somewhat consistent, not really any more than other good hitters, ranging from .348 to .284 those years. Even his 25% & 75% percentile averages were not that close together (.305 & .327).
As for the hits, a big factor in that was his ABs, batting 1st or 2nd on an offensive machine, not missing many games, and not taking a lot of BBs. Over those 15 years he averaged 729 PAs and 646 ABs per year. Those are huge #'s. Naturally more ABs >> more Hits, especially for a very good hitter, resulting in 204 hits per year those 15 years. But for those 15 years his .316 BA, 204 hits, 38 2b, 7 3b, 10 HRs, 63 RBI, 9 SB were very good, but not the best of the best.
Let's look at Tony Gwynn, who in his prime 15 years hit .341 BA, 185 hits, 31 doubles, 5 triples, 8 HRs, 66 RBI, 20 SB.
Boggs was .334 in his prime years. And so on.
The main difference in the 2 is Gwynn was a much better hitter (25 points higher), but Rose played more games 19 more per season on higher scoring teams, resulting in 100 more AB per season.
So maybe Rose was great at not getting hurt, or playing (well) through injuries.
I also believe Rose could have hit for more power (like most batting-average focused hitters), but knew it would lower his average and he knew his role on his teams.
As for the TEAM accomplishments, yes he played on some great teams. So what.
As for him in "today's game". If he were playing today, I wouldn't want him to change a thing. Rose, Carew, Boggs, Gwynn could play in any era. Everyone doesn't have to hit HRs.
BTW, you aren't going to "out-numbers me". I am a career Statistician (analyze and interpret data using statistical analysis), who was analyzing baseball stats by the time I was 7 or 8.
I didn’t see Pistol Pete mentioned. Aroldis Chapman is a super human at one particular thing. I think Cal Ripken deserves a huge nod for durability; being able to play EVERY SINGLE GAME at the highest level of competition for that long requires super human like health and consistency.
To be fair, you say everyone is a douche bag. Why was Wilt?
If I recall correctly, Ripken played EVERY INNING for a huge chunk of that streak. No late inning at bat to keep it alive. He played every pitch in every game for many years.
Not saying you’re right or wrong but Pete Rose holds the distinction of being the only player in history to play 5 different positions in All Star game history.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/mlb/2024-mlb-all-star-game/3589580/
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Bill James is the father of sabermetrics. He wrote a book in the year 2000 or so in which he rated players, talked about decades and told interesting stories. I forget the exact years, but over a ten year period he rated Musial the best player in the NL eight times, second best once and in the Navy during WW 2 the other year.
Yep, greatest player from top to bottom, person and player. Best clutch player, with men on base year after year. Once saw, in person Willie May's hit 3 home runs and Stan the Man 2 in a double header, will always remember that day a Old Sportsman Park in the 50's.
I remember where many restaurants would not serve you if you were not dressed well and men had to have a tie.
I saw my first pro game at Sportsmanship Park. Musial got a double off the screen in right. Do you know why there was a screen? For those who do not, Gussie Busch owned the team back then and he was worried about how much money they were losing on baseball's from batting practice home runs, so he had that tall screen built from the right field line to way out in right center. Cost Stan a lot of homers.
Btw, when they built the original Busch stadium, Busch wanted to name it Budweiser Stadium after his premium beer. MLB said he could not promote beer. He told MLB, Fine I will just name it after myself.
Luv him or hate him, Wilt is the Goat. And I’m a huge Bill Russell and Kareem fan. Unworldly athlete - Wilt allegedly won 3 Big Eight high jump championships while in college and is in a volleyball hall of fame. Put Wilt (or Kareem) in the NBA straight out of high school and James never gets so much as a sniff of the scoring record.ESPN had a sports century series back in like 98-99, and had an episode dedicated to Wilt. They said on the show he measured at 7’1 when he was 16, and that he was still growing. There was a perception at the time that unusually tall players were uncoordinated, so his family feared getting him measured past that point, so they just went with 7’1. In actuality he was closer to 7’4. Here’s a pic with him, Patrick Ewing and Shaq, and he’s easily the tallest.
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And old man Wilt blocked young Kareem’s skyhook on several occasions that I have watched on video. And I mean in the air, not leaving Kareems hand.
And I'm thinking he's the only one that ever did that? Wilt was likely the best shot blocker ever in addition to being the best rebounder and scorer. Oh yeah, also only center to ever lead the league in assists. Just the best player ever...
I just looked at Wilt's stats. He is known most for his scoring. But so many things on there that are amazing. One that most may not notice is that over his entire career he averaged 45.8 mpg. Keep in mind a game is 48min long. In his 3rd season he averaged 48.5 mpg. That would be every second of every game PLUS 8 of the 80 games he played going 5 extra OT minutes.
His first 12 seasons, his worst rebounding year he averaged 22.3 rebounds.
Lastly, blocked shots were not an official stat until after Wilt retired. But they went back and looked at 112 games he played in (mostly later in his career when he was in his mid-30's), and in those 112 games he averaged 8.8 blocked shots per game. He had to have averaged 10+ in the earlier years of his career.
His first 12 seasons, his worst rebounding year he averaged 22.3 rebounds.
Lastly, blocked shots were not an official stat until after Wilt retired. But they went back and looked at 112 games he played in (mostly later in his career when he was in his mid-30's), and in those 112 games he averaged 8.8 blocked shots per game. He had to have averaged 10+ in the earlier years of his career.
Problem with Wilt is some of his claims are clearly lies.He said in a interview he could bench press 600 pounds.Im telling you now that’s impossible with his dimension and lack of muscles he had.Also not just a lie but he could never get close to that.If Dwight Howard with his bowling ball delts is throwing 300.Then Wilt ain’t touching it.But that was Wilt.Heard Micheal had a 46 inch vert so he started saying he had a 48.Arnold could bench 500 pounds so he was going to say 600.A guy who benches that weight and is that conceited Will Definitely get it on camera.(Before fake weights).Then there’s the 20000 women lol mathematically impossible.
Arnold Schwarzenegger says Wilt benched 500 on the set of Conan the Destroyer and that was well past his prime. Arnold has been asked about a bunch and has never come off the claim either.
Bo Jackson wasn't bad.
Bo could have been a HOF in 2 sports
It’s my understanding that prior to Wilt, there was no rule against jumping forward on a free throw as long as you were behind the line when you jumped and released before landing. Wilt would dunk his free throws and that led to the rule being changed quickly. Obviously, I never saw this with my own eyes, but I’ve heard that from multiple people who were around throughout Wilt’s career.
There is literal video of Wilt saying 600 on YouTube but it don’t matter if Arnold said 500 neither happened.Anyone who’s seen 6foot 8 Brian Shaw who does similar weight (600lbs) and know the difference between him and Wilt about 150 more pounds of muscle.But all he was is 4 times worlds strongest man.
I don't have any doubt he could do that when he was young; Jordan and the Doctor did it in dunk contests and Wilt had their type jumping ability plus about a foot reach advantage.
He averaged over 50 pts a game for the entire season.
I think the difference is that both Dr J and MJ would get a good running start. My understanding is that Wilt just took a big step from just inside the top of the key prior to lift off.
Just considering size, strength, speed, jumping ability, he’s in a class by himself in terms of athleticism.
He’s almost a Chuck Norris joke that wasn’t a joke.
Had his desire to win been like Jordan, Kobe, Larry, or Magic, the GOAT debate would be undebatable. He had other interests, so he’s merely one of the greatest.
Bad Take. You're confusing longevity with consistency and not just consistency but consistent excellence.
Forget that he even played the last 10 years of his career. Most guys get 200 hits only a few times in theirs, this man averaged 200 hits the FIRST 5, 10 or 15 YEARS OF HIS!!! Pick a time frame, he was great from the get go!
Had a career .303 batting average and .375 OBP.
3 Batting Titles
2 Gold Gloves
3 World Championships
Rookie of the Year
League MVP
World Series MVP
None of those have anything to do with longevity. People say he was just singles hitter, he is second in all time doubles and I watched him hit 3 homers in a game against the Dodgers. The guy could have hit for power but chose to be a contact hitter by design and was as good as any that ever played the game at what he did. Thats why he's great and could have been great in todays game too.
Yeah you hit a nerve
Pete Rose is one of the 50 greatest baseball players of all time. That may be an understatement.
Yeah, but you guys are comparing Wilt to humans.
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