Round One (Players): Yogi Berra versus John Smoltz

[Fishercat]

Yogi Berra (1947, 1949, 1950-1953, 1955-1958, 1960-1963)
Yogi Berra might of had an Oscar worthy performance in his Afflac commercial, but it is nothing in comparison to the solid effort he put over a lengthy playoff career in an era of dominant Yankees. Winning 10 World Series out of 14 is not too shabby, just like his career World Series numbers are not (.274 BA, .359 OBP, .452 SLG% in a huge span of 259 AB's.) When you play in as many World Series as Berra did, you're bound to have your up and down years. But funny enough, his down years did not detract the Yankees from winning. The three appearances he made (outside of the losing effort he saw at the end of his career where he had 1 AB), we're all actually very solid efforts from Yogi. But one also has to take into consideration that Berra played on a strong team, led by other top notch players at the time and he really failed to carry the team on his back often. He still holds the record for most World Series appearances and victories, games, at-bats, hits, doubles, and singles. He also caught Don Larsen's World Series perfect game. So it's hard to judge a man to have near MVP numbers when he's essentially has a near half season of World Series play leading to a much bigger scale than nearly any other player could hope to have.

versus

John Smoltz (1991-1993, 1995-1999, 2001-2005)
Few come better in post-season play than John Smoltz. In 206.7 innings pitched of World Series play with the Atlanta Braves, Smoltzie has exerted consistent dominance with his 15-4 record, 196 strikeouts, 169 hits allowed and career postseason ERA of 2.66. Despite the known troubles the Braves have seen with their low success rate of their amazing continous postseason streak, Smoltz has been solid at every level of the playoffs with an division series ERA of 2.52, championship series ERA of 2.83 and World Series ERA of 2.49 (his weakest postseason effort came with 1995, the Braves one win during that stretch.) In 1991, a young Smoltz saw his first postseason appearance and made a noteable start in the championship series versus the Pirates of game 7 with a complete game shutout that earned the Braves a trip the postseason where Smoltz was bested by former Tiger teammate Jack Morris who went 10 innings of shutout ball versus Smoltz's seven. Smoltz also won the 1992 National League championship series MVP with his 2-0 record and 2.66 ERA that led the Braves to yet another World Series (and losing effort.) When it's all said and done, John Smoltz is the man who holds the record for most career post-season victories, a record that is hard to top in these days of when it's hard to sustain a dynasty.

[Fishercat]

Two equally good choices, I went for the stats over the rings. My bad.

[redsrbetter]

Smoltz was simply dominating and still would be if he could get back in there one more time. J/K Braves fans.

[DravenX]

Smoltz will always get my vote.

[Dry1313]

Wow. Yogi Berra has won more World Series rings than any other player in MLB history. And he was an intrical part of all of them. Remind me what Smoltz has won sans '95

[General]

My heart.

[Dry1313]

Even so, he is not better than Yogi Berra. There's a reason why he won 3 MVPs and 10 WS rings. And held/holds a ton of playoff records. Now keep in mind that he only played in the WS, and he becomes that much more impressive.

[General]

This is not about who's better.

[Dry1313]

It shouldn't be: "Who is my infintisemal penis attracted to" either.