The best center fielders in baseball history

Some of Major League Baseball's most iconic players have plied their trade in center field. Here’s our list of the five greatest center fielders of all-time.

5. Mike Trout

If he stays on his current trajectory, Trout may retire as the greatest center fielder, but he’ll have to settle for fifth right now.

Trout has done nothing but amaze in eight full seasons as an Angel, and he has earned All-Star Game honors every year. The 2012 Rookie of the Year already has three MVPs, and finished second four times. Trout has earned seven Silver Sluggers and has led the majors in OPS+ four straight years.

4. Ken Griffey Jr.  

Those who Griffey in his prime know he was an all-time great.

His 630 home runs, 417 of which he hit as a Mariner, put him seventh on the all-time list. He led the AL in home runs four times in Seattle, including his 1997 MVP year, in which he tallied 56.

Griffey was also an outstanding fielder and won 10 Gold Gloves over his 22-year career. He was named on all but three ballots (440 cast) to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.

3. Mickey Mantle

Few hitters struck fear into the hearts of pitchers like Mantle did in his prime.

He led the American league in home runs four times over his 18-year career, including his 1956 MVP campaign. He hit 52 home runs that year, to go with 130 RBIs and a .353 batting average, which earned him the Triple Crown.

Mantle, an All-Star in 17 seasons as a Yankee, won two more MVPs and finished a close second twice to teammate Roger Maris.

2. Ty Cobb

Perhaps the greatest hitter of all-time, "the Georgia Peach" won 12 batting titles and stole 894 bases, the fourth-most in MLB history.

Cobb won the Triple Crown in 1909 and his lone MVP award in 1911. The only knock against him (apart from his abrasive personality), is that he was never considered an elite defensive player.

1. Willie Mays

There’s an argument to be made that Mays was the greatest all-around player in baseball history, so he’s a sure-fire No. 1 among center fielders.

The National League Rookie of the Year in 1951, Mays missed most of 1952 and all of 1953 for military service. He came back with an MVP campaign in 1954, in which he won his only batting title (.345 average).

"The Say Hey Kid" led the majors in home runs the next year (51), one of three times he did so in 20 years as a Giant, before he went on a four-year run leading the NL in stolen bases. Mays’ second and final MVP year came in 1965, when he tallied a personal-best 52 home runs.

Mays was an All-Star in 20 of his 22 big-league seasons and won 12 Gold Gloves. He ranks fifth in home runs, at 660, and 12th in hits, at 3,283. 

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