All time Jays: 1b

[JiriHrdina]

I've been looking forward to this one - lots of interesting choices. Tough call.

[JiriHrdina]

Olerud or McGriff are both great choices, but I'm going with Delgado. Unfortunate that his teams never made the playoffs but they guy could MASH at the plate

Jays records he owns:
#1 all time Slugging Pct
#1 OPS
#1 Runs scored
#1 total bases
#1 Doubles
#1 Home Runs
#1 RBIs
#1 Walks
#1 Extra base hits
#1 Times on base

You can't be #1 across so many records and not be considered the best ever at this position for the team.

[SportsJunky]

Upshaw, Olerud, McGriff etc. What a stellar group to choose from. Delgado is the choice here for sure. A great ambassador for those Jays teams and so many team records.

[Pagal4321]

While Olerud made it close in my mind, there's no way I vote for anyone other than Delgado.

Played 12 years with the Jays, was the face of the franchise and could arguably still be the face of the franchise. Ran with the big boys during the steroid era and could just demolish that baseball.

Pretty much one of my favorite Jays of all time.

[JiriHrdina]

Lineup so far
Catcher: Whittt/Borders
3B: Gruber/Donaldson
SS: Fernandez/Gonzalez
2B: Alomar/TBD

[Bobblehead]

Yeah, Delgado just came up a bit late. But I can't punish him for the teams he had.

Jays have been pretty good at finding 1B.

Cecil Fielder isn't even on the list, although he was a bench warmer when he came up with the Jays.

[Enoch Root]

Lots of great players here, but Delgado put up the numbers

[Jiggy_12]

Delgado for sure. Arguable HOF worthy numbers.

[Cuz]

Lots of love for Delgado and he probably is the best 1B the Jays have had, but Olerud was my favourite player growing up and who I patterned my swing after so he gets my vote.

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah, it's tough competition when the Crime Dog doesn't have a single vote. From 87 to 90 he was one of the Premier Power hitters in the American League when the home run numbers weren't what they were in the mid to late 90's.

[habernac]

Olerud might be my favourite Jay ever. What a swing. hit .363 in '93. Ridiculous.

[habernac]

My grandfather used to watch Olerud and smile "Just like Ted Williams" he'd say.

[Bobblehead]

You just knew there would be some deserving guys who weren't going to get any/many votes at this position. Delgado, Olerud, McGriff - heck of a trio right there.

[GreenLantern2814]

Carlos Delgado and it's not even close. Loved watching him play when I was a kid.

And Sylvanfan makes a great point - he did it all in the steroid era, and I don't recall anyone ever claiming Delgado was dirty. He has 473 home runs (actually way closer to 500 than I thought he was), and given the era he played his prime in, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get into the Hall of Fame.

[SuperMatt18]

Carlos Delgado and it's not even close. Loved watching him play when I was a kid.

And Sylvanfan makes a great point - he did it all in the steroid era, and I don't recall anyone ever claiming Delgado was dirty. He has 473 home runs (actually way closer to 500 than I thought he was), and given the era he played his prime in, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get into the Hall of Fame.

Sadly his opportunity has already passed.

http://espn.go.com/blog/jayson-stark/post/_/id/1051/delgado-deserved-far-better-in-hof-voting

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Some stiffer competition on this list. McGriff was a pretty good player in his day. Olerud was one of the best all-around hitters I've ever seen on the Jays and his swing was a thing of beauty.

But Delgado was a legend. The guy single handedly carried the team offensively for many, many years. Kind of the same way that Halladay carried the pitching staff. He wasn't terrible with the glove either. Prototypical 1st baseman. That being said, he played a LOT of DH too.

Nobody has been even close since. Encarnacion has played ok at 1st, but he's quickly becoming a DH only.

[Bobblehead]

Some stiffer competition on this list. McGriff was a pretty good player in his day. Olerud was one of the best all-around hitters I've ever seen on the Jays and his swing was a thing of beauty.

But Delgado was a legend. The guy single handedly carried the team offensively for many, many years. Kind of the same way that Halladay carried the pitching staff. He wasn't terrible with the glove either. Prototypical 1st baseman. That being said, he played a LOT of DH too.

Nobody has been even close since. Encarnacion has played ok at 1st, but he's quickly becoming a DH only.

1763 starts at 1B
185 as DH
(57 LF, 2 C)

So I wouldn't say that is a LOT.

[Dion]

Olerud was an easy choice for me. His magical 1993 season sums up nicely what a great player he was for the Jays. The baseball world was following Olerud as he chased Ted Williams .400 batting record.


Of the 158 games he played during the 1993 season, John Olerud batted at .400 or above in 58 of them. That's around one third of his season where he hovered above the .400 mark.

In fact, John Olerud didn't come down from .400 for good until August 2nd of that year. SI reminds us (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0805/latest.dates.above.400/content.14.html) that Olerud was the only player to bat over .400 into August since Ted Williams in 1941.

In the midst of his incredible 1993 season, John Olerud strung together a 26 game hitting streak from May 26th to June 22nd. It stands as the second longest hit streak in franchise history, bested only by Shawn Green's 28 game hit streak in 1999.
Quite simply, John Olerud was the definition of clutch in the Blue Jays lineup in 1993. He batted .371 with runners in scoring position and .358 overall with men on base. Olerud also proved to be one of the toughest outs in baseball in 1993 as he hit .363 with two out.

http://www.bluejayhunter.com/2013/08/flashback-friday-john-oleruds-1993.html

[flambers]

Yep, Olerud was an easy choice as well for me.

Delgado has the bat but not the defense.

[Strange Brew]

Delgado for me with Olerud a solid second. Tough not voting for Upshaw, one of my favorites.

[JiriHrdina]

Closed. Delgado takes it, Olerud backs up.

[Sylvanfan]

Olerud had one epic season as a Jay...I contest that people should have shown McGriff more respect!

[GreenLantern2814]

Sadly his opportunity has already passed.

http://espn.go.com/blog/jayson-stark/post/_/id/1051/delgado-deserved-far-better-in-hof-voting

That is tragic.