Last week, in a battle of Boston’s best coaches of all-time, Red Auerbach (#8) maintained his spot in the top ten of the RBSF Ladder by holding off the challenger of Bill Belichick (#12). This week’s Wednesday’s Challenge features the first ever battle of contestants in the top five spot. Red Sox legendary slugger Ted Williams (currently #5) attempts to move up two spots by taking on Celtics great Larry Bird (#3). A look at the lengthy resumes of this week’s contestants…
BIRD: Played entire 13-year career (1979-92) with the Celtics. Won 3 NBA Championships (1981, 1984, 1986), earning NBA Finals MVP twice (1984, 1986). Named NBA MVP 3-times (1984-86). Finished in top 5 of MVP voting 8x. 1980 Rookie of the Year and 1st Team All-Rookie Team. 12x NBA All Star selection. 1982 All Star MVP. 3x winner of 3-point shootout (1986-88). Named 1st Team All-NBA 9x (1980-88). Named 2nd Team All-NBA in 1990. Named 2nd Team All-Defensive Team (1982-84). Led NBA in 3-pointers made (2x), minutes per game (2x) and free-throw % (4x). Career averages: 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.7 steals. Career playoff averages: 23.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals. Had 69 career triple-doubles (59 regular season, 10 playoff). Franchise leader in points per game, steals and steals per game. Franchise single-season records for field goals made and points per game. Franchise records for points in a game (60). His steal and pass to DJ to win Game 5 of Eastern Finals vs Detroit in 1987 is one of the greatest plays in NBA history. Named to NBA’s 50 Anniversary Team. Elected to Basketball Hall of Fame (1998). His #33 is retired by the Celtics.
WILLIAMS: Played all 19 seasons (1939-42, 46-60) with the Red Sox. Named AL MVP twice (1946, 1949). Won 1946 AL pennant. Named MLB Player of the Year by The Sporting News 5x (1941-42, 1947, 1949, 1957). Won Triple Crown twice (1942, 1947). 17x AL All Star selection. Hit walk-off HR in bottom of the 9th of 1941 All Star Game. All Star MVP Award is now named in his honor. Led the American League in batting average (6x), on-base % (12x), slugging % (9x), OPS (10x), runs (6x), total bases (6x), home runs (4x), runs batted in (4x), walks (8x), extra-base hits (5x) and times on base (8x). Career statistics: .344 BA, .482 OBP, .634 SLG, 1.116 OPS, 521 HR, 1,839 RBI and 1,798 runs scored. Had 2,021 BB and just 709 K. Franchise career leader in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, HR and BB. Franchise single-season records in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, BB, Intentional BB, runs and times on-base. ML record for career on-base percentage. Last player to hit over .400 in a season (.406, 1941). Named to MLB All-Century Team. Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame (1968). His #9 is retired by the Red Sox.
VERDICT: There is truly no wrong answer here (and that’s not a copout). Bird is the greatest forward in NBA history, the last person to win 3 consecutive MVPs, and one of the great clutch athletes in any sport in history. He is also responsible for 3 of Boston’s banners. Williams is perhaps the greatest hitter to ever live, is the best Boston Red Sox of all-time, has offensive numbers that are almost unfathomable and all of this despite missing all of 3 seasons (1943-45) and most of 2 others (1952-53) due to military service. Despite my admiration for Teddy Ballgame, I simply have more personal memories (and examples of) Bird’s greatness…and therefore Larry gets my vote this week.
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11 comments:
The fact that Bird had so many moments that are amazing memories for me that I couldn't even include here says quite a bit to me.
p.s. - Voting against Ted Williams for anything on a site devoted to real Boston sports fans seems almost sacrilegious to me. But I suppose voting against Bird would make me feel about that same. The Ladder's Top 5 is VERY powerful.
This is like a great horse race, but I think Bird wins by a head.
I have some great memories of Williams....I wish there was some way I could freeze those memories forever.
i vote for williams. mostly just because i like baseball a lot more. but 2 triple crowns + 2 mvps + .406 + 521 homers is good reason to vote for him too
He is just the face of Boston for me. The #1 guy of all-time on THE Boston Franchise. My MOM loves Ted Williams. Splendid Splinter for me.
Its hard to vote against Bird since he played in my lifetime and i watched him play. But Williams served in WWII and Korea during his time as a player and came back to still being the best in the game. And he wasnt a paper pusher he was a flight instructor and he flew 38 combat missions.
Theodore Samuel Williams gets my vote.
I guess I'm still torn on how much credit Williams should get for his military service here. Clearly he should get a ton of credit for it in life, but in determining this debate I think it's a non factor. This is by far my biggest coin flip.
On thing I do think has merit that Luke pointed out is that he's the face of the Sox franchise. Moving him to #3 would give each of our major teams a guy in the top 4...and I do like that idea.
My vote may change yet.
Here's why the military service should play a big part it The Kid getting the vote. How many Boston sports stars have gone to war twice during their career and come back and performed at an all star level?
Not only did he just go to war but again he was a fighter pilot that fought 38 combat missions. Take a look at interviews of soldiers who have returned from war, alot of these guys have lingering issues for the rest of their lives.
How many of the greatest players of all time have done what Ted did?
.406 is very likely the last avg .400 or better, does Bird have any stats that wil likely never be matched or broken?
"by a head"
"freeze"
tap-tap
Hello? Is this thing on?
As I guy who's loved Brady since day one I must say:
Absurd that he is ahead of Williams at this stage of his career.
AND Williams should've beaten Bird.
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