Now I know there's room for argument here, but to be honest, it was tough trying to decide which players to pick since no one really dominated the position during the 1960's in either league.
Take a look at the card I designed:
As a matter of fact between 1961 and 1965 he garnered M.V.P. consideration each year, and was named to the American League all-star team five times between 1962-1966.
Even though he retired at the young age of 30, Richardson ended up with 1432 hits, leading the A.L. with 209 in 1962.
Little bit of a side note: I remember as a young Don Mattingly fanatic in 1984 that Richardson was being mentioned repeatedly during the season as the last Yankee to attain 200 hits, since it was clear Mattingly was well on his way to that magic number himself while battling teammate Dave Winfield for the batting title.
Over in the National League, again, I didn't really find a guy that dominated the entire decade at the position, so I went with sort of the other extreme, a young up-and-comer, Pete Rose.
Yeah I know, Rose played only four years at the position before switching over to the outfield by the end of the decade, but really, besides Bill Mazeroski, there was a sort of revolving door of second base all-stars throughout the 60's like Felix Milan, Ron Hunt, Frank Bolling, even a young Joe Morgan for a year.
So I went with Rose and his 1963 Rookie of the Year, two 200-hit seasons, and two top-10 M.V.P. finishes in 1965 and 1966 before he made the switch.
Hey, it's Pete Rose!
Next up on this thread we'll take a look at shortstop, and my two picks, one of which I seem to be wavering on already.
I'll see if it stays this way before I post it next week.
Until then…
