Baseball's greatest stars-to-be who all took, or were forced to take, the same stance on their right leg. The best: #3: Ernie Banks Banks was a right-handed batter, but he also played third base for most of his career. But by the time he got to the majors, the position had been standardized. This is what modern baseball would be like if only one player existed, like in the story "One Of Us" by Isaac Asimov. (Not the last time that happened.) There was no such thing as a utility player, so you just kept moving your most valuable player to the infield if the need arose. Banks did not have a particularly high batting average for most of his career, so he didn't get many opportunities to make a difference in the run column. What he did have in droves was the ability to get on base. When you have that combination, you move your MVP to a position where he's more valuable and bat him somewhere in the lineup (there's no rule that says you have to bat him #4 or something). So the Phillies made him a utility player for the bulk of his career. All of this isn't to say that Ernie Banks would be better if he had been a regular in the big leagues. Baseball was his game, but there were players before him who would have made it as great a player as Banks. (As a rule, Ernie's teams never won the World Series.) #2: Cal Ripken Jr. Ripken spent every game of his career at shortstop, so they had to use a play that would not leave the other infielders exposed. Otherwise, Cal Jr. might have kept the Orioles from winning the World Series during his 20 seasons, when they came close a lot. A year away from a Hall of Fame career probably didn't hurt the Orioles' chances, but maybe if they had let Ripken swing away the Orioles might have won more championships. That isn't part of the record books, but we do know that the Orioles played a lot more games in the decades when Ripken wasn't around. Ripken's career was long enough to encompass the two World Series that the Orioles won while he was around. He also won one championship while he was gone, but he wasn't there to see it. What Ripken did on the field, though, was nothing short of miraculous. Baseball as a rule doesn't go away, but he still has no equal in the pantheon of the best players in the game. #1: Ken Griffey Jr. At his peak, Griffey had the power to outpace almost any other centerfielder. He hit so many home runs that he could have played every game in right field and driven in 200 runs most of the time. He was a threat to hit a home run on any swing he made. But Griffey wasn't the prototypical home run hitter. He hit more doubles than home runs and led the league in both categories on three occasions (1993, '94, and '95). He was also just as likely to beat you with his speed as he was with power. He led the league in triples three times in his career, and he's the only member of the 400-home run club to have scored 100 more runs than he drove in during his career. So he was the most valuable player who didn't have the highest batting average. He always was well ahead of the count on the player at bat and made enough contact to hit the ball hard more often than not. Ken Griffey, Jr., is the best defensive centerfielder in the history of baseball, but you shouldn't need me to explain why. The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.