Griffey Jr. vs. Chipper Jones

cowboysrule48 · Jun 6, 2010

Two of my friends have been having this on going debate for months. It has gotten pretty heated actually. I thought it would be fun to discuss it here. Who had the better career? This isn't about who was the better player or who was more talented, because that isn't even debatable. Just if you were a GM and had to choose between the two, whose career would you rather have on your team?

Edit to clarify: This is about who was the most valuable to helping their team win throughout the duration of their entire careers. Not who was the better player or who was the best in their prime etc. As a GM who would you rather have over their whole careers to help you win.

thenumberonemetfan · Jun 6, 2010

Griffey Jr.

dherm360 · Jun 6, 2010

Griffey was the best player for a decade, was dominant on both sides

gt2590 · Jun 6, 2010

If you were the GM, why wouldn't you want the more talented, more accomplished player? I don't understand the argument here.

Chipper: Very good player, probable HOFer.

Griffey: All-time Great player, Lock 1st ballot HOFer.

Seems to me like no discussion is necessary.

cowboysrule48 · Jun 6, 2010

gt2590 said:
If you were the GM, why wouldn't you want the more talented, more accomplished player? I don't understand the argument here.

Chipper: Very good player, probable HOFer.

Griffey: All-time Great player, Lock 1st ballot HOFer.

Seems to me like no discussion is necessary.

Chipper is more than a probable HOF, he is also a lock first ballot.

My friend's argument is that Chipper was a harder worker, more durable and actually won in his career.

I never really took aside in this, but they've been arguing it for months.

BunchOBull · Jun 6, 2010

Just to argue a point, I would say that Chipper had more offensively productive years, over a greater span of time than Griffey. Also a bit more hit or miss though. Griffey had a streak of great years and then kind of fizzled out in the last decade.

leatherman · Jun 6, 2010

You might as well have Ken Griffey Jr vs Buddy Biancalana. The results would be similar.

cowboysrule48 · Jun 6, 2010

BunchOBull said:
Just to argue a point, I would say that Chipper had more offensively productive years, over a greater span of time than Griffey. Also a bit more hit or miss though. Griffey had a streak of great years and then kind of fizzled out in the last decade.

That is one of the points my friend was making also. It's not about who was the better player, because as I said earlier we can all agree on that. It's who you would want on your team for the duration of their career to help you win.

uniquebaseballcards · Jun 6, 2010

+1 Over the past nine or ten years I'd probably pick Chipper. Before that Griffey without a doubt.

cowboysrule48 said:
BunchOBull said:

Just to argue a point, I would say that Chipper had more offensively productive years, over a greater span of time than Griffey. Also a bit more hit or miss though. Griffey had a streak of great years and then kind of fizzled out in the last decade.

Click to expand...

That is one of the points my friend was making also. It's not about who was the better player, because as I said earlier we can all agree on that. It's who you would want on your team for the duration of their career to help you win.

P_Manning 18 · Jun 6, 2010

162 Game averages

Griffey .284 38 HRs 111 RBIs .907 OPS .370 OBP 1 MVP
Jones .306 31 HRs 107 RBIs .943 OPS .406 OBP 1 MVP

I think the numbers lean towards Chipper.

PeteD · Jun 6, 2010

leatherman said:
You might as well have Ken Griffey Jr vs Buddy Biancalana. The results would be similar.

this

Topnotchsy · Jun 6, 2010

Actually a pretty interesting debate. Griffey had a far greater peak and played for longer, but staying around so long and being injured really knocks his numbers down. Below are their stats over 162 games. Chipper's do look a bit better. Of course one does have to take defense into consideration, but at the plate there is room to say Chipper was more valuable to his team.

Chipper:
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG

162 693 584 108 179 35 3 31 107 11 3 101 92 .306 .406 .537 .943 143

Griffey:
162 686 594 101 169 32 2 38 111 11 4 80 108 .284 .370 .538 .907 135

bustin_knuckles · Jun 6, 2010

What about Frank Thomas? No love for him?
Gotta go with Griffey.

bballcardkid · Jun 6, 2010

What is the IQ of your friend that picked Chipper?

cowboysrule48 · Jun 6, 2010

bballcardkid said:
What is the IQ of your friend that picked Chipper?

He is a Braves fan (actually they both are), but again it's not about who was the better player. I actually think he makes a valid point that over his career Chipper was more valuable.

BunchOBull · Jun 6, 2010

The hold Griffey has on the hobby is amazingly strong, I think it skews things a bit.

Averages being what they are, I don't think anyone can argue that Chipper had some awesomely productive years across two decades. Griffey was solid and great for a single decade...just so great that a pretty low second decade played the averages well.

Chipper never had long term dominance, but has had dominant years across a great time span.

bballcardkid · Jun 6, 2010

This is one of those cases where the numbers don't do it justice or tell the full story. I'm a huge Chipper fan...he was actually one of the few players I liked before I liked baseball if that makes sense, but Chipper has never been in the discussion as being the best player of his decade, much less the best player ever. Griffey Jr. has as he made 90's MLB baseball look like teeball. He looked like the most dominant player ever to touch the diamond for a full decade. It's just too bad he was stuck in 2 sucky organizations for the better part of his career.

jbone17 · Jun 6, 2010

Why is this debatable? Griffey Jr. 100%.

BunchOBull · Jun 6, 2010

jbone17 said:
Why is this debatable? Griffey Jr. 100%.

I think it's debatable because for the '90s, I'd choose Griffey 1000 times over, but for the 2000s, there is no way I'd choose Griffey.

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