Top Ten Black First Basemen of All Time Part 1
This is the third article in a series where I will rank the top ten Black baseball players at each position.
Introduction
This is the third article in a series where I will rank the top ten Black baseball players at each position.
Some of these lists will include active players, and you may be surprised by some of my additions and omissions. I hope to spark debate and discussion of Black baseball players of the past and present with my writing, especially by baseball fans who are a part of the African diaspora.
The careers of those who played in the Negro Leagues, Latin America, and the Caribbean before the integration of MLB will be included. Black baseball players who have worn MLB uniforms will be featured as well.
Because of the lack of statistical data for Negro Leagues players, firsthand and secondhand accounts will play a significant part in these rankings. Surface level and advanced statistics will be present, so I hope those who strongly prefer one or the other are satisfied with my assessments.
The position player rankings will be much more difficult but rewarding and exciting, so I wanted to get those out of the way first. I will be starting with the catcher position and going in order based on each position's assigned number. There will be separate lists for Black starting pitchers and Black relievers, which will be published last.
Honorable Mentions
Ryan Howard
Cecil Cooper
Cecil Fielder
Bill White
Jud Wilson
Lee May
Andre Thornton
Mo Vaughn
Top Ten Black First Basemen of All Time (#10 - #6)
As the lowest position on baseball’s defensive spectrum, the contributions of first basemen are expected to be extra-base hits and RBIs. Trying to compare first basemen can be tricky when pretty much all of them are bad defenders and/or terrible baserunners. The first base position is crowded with Black talent from all over the African diaspora throughout the different eras of professional baseball across the globe. While many Black position players were forced to transition to first base from other positions due to injury and/or age, this list focuses on full-time first basemen only.
10. Prince Fielder
“It's a physical grind when you work in Detroit," Leyland said. "You've got to get up at 5:30 and go to the automotive plant and get on the assembly line, and you've got the bad weather and the traffic. That's a mental grind, too. We're no different than anybody else. People work hard in this country, and there are a lot of days when people would like to stay home. When you've got stars and they go out there every day, that's a big plus. And Prince is a very proud guy…… He likes to play. He likes to be in the lineup. He knows that he gets paid to be in the lineup, and that's what he does. And I give him the utmost credit." - Jim Leyland
Prince Fielder was one of the most talented first basemen of his generation who had his 12-year career abruptly cut short by neck and spinal injuries. A six-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger winner, he is the son of former Tigers first baseman Cecil Fielder. Fielder played in at least 157 games for nine of his 12 seasons in MLB and was one game shy of recording five straight seasons with 162 games played. He retired with 1645 total hits and 319 home runs, hitting at least 150 hits and 30 bombs in six consecutive seasons.
Amongst the 173 qualified first basemen to have recorded 1000 plate appearances during the 21st century, he is: 20th in total hits, 27th in doubles, 15th in home runs, 15th in on-base percentage, 18th in slugging, and 17th in RBI, and 23rd in total games played. Fielder was more than just a one-dimensional slugger who drew a few walks, owning a 133 wRC+, 16% strikeout rate, and 0.73 BB/K ratio for his career.
Fielder was born in California but was raised in Detroit and Florida, standing out on the diamond as a savant-level slugger from an early age. At 12 years old Fielder hit a home run into the upper deck of the old Tigers Stadium, one of the biggest ballparks in MLB history. A naturally right-handed individual, Prince started batting left-handed under the tutelage of his father at five years old. He was practically raised in the clubhouses of the teams that Cecil played for, getting to learn from the best up close and absorb the atmosphere of his future profession.
The younger Fielder was drafted with the seventh overall pick of the 2002 MLB Draft out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida by the Milwaukee Brewers. He was the second position player selected after shortstop/centerfielder Melvin Upton, who was drafted second overall.
While some scouts and organizations had concerns about his weight and whether it would allow him to perform, Milwaukee’s brass was persuaded by the potential of Fielder’s power, his MLB bloodlines, and his positive makeup off the field. He signed for $2.4 million dollars, renouncing his commitment to Arizona State’s baseball program. He was ranked as the top high school first baseman in the country by Baseball America.
Fielder slashed .297/.398/.524 during his four years in MiLB, hitting at least 20 home runs in three straight seasons. He made his MLB debut on June 13, 2005, against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after 103 games with Milkwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate. He went .288/.306/.458 in 39 games in 2005 and established himself as one of the best first basemen in MLB during the 2006 season when he hit 28 home runs and logged 81 RBI.
Fielder’s 2007 season featured a plethora of accolades, making his first appearance in the MLB All-Star game and going .288/.395/.618 with 35 doubles and 50 home runs. He finished third in NL MVP voting and won his first Silver Slugger Award for first basemen. Fielder and his father Cecil became the first father-son duo in MLB history to hit 50 home runs in a season and they were also the first to hit at least 40 home runs in a season.
The Brewers’ young first baseman had developed into the durable centerpiece and clubhouse leader of a Milwaukee Brewers team featuring Ryan Braun, Bill Hall, and Rickie Weeks on the infield. He played at least 150 games in all six of his full seasons in Milwaukee. His 327 consecutive games streak in a Milwaukee uniform is his career's second-longest consecutive game streak. He set the Brewers franchise records for on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. He helped Milwaukee make two playoff runs including a 6 game NLCS showdown against the division rival St. Louis Cardinals.
Upon becoming a free agent after the 2011 season, he signed a 9-year, $214 million dollar contract with the Detroit Tigers to be their full-time first baseman and cleanup hitter, protecting future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera. He played for two years in Detroit before being traded to the Texas Rangers in exchange for second baseman Ian Kinsler. He played 162 games in consecutive seasons for Detroit, going .295/.387/.491 across 1402 plate appearances. This was a part of his streak of 547 games played, the 26th longest in MLB history.
Fielder struggled with neck injuries upon being traded to the Rangers, suffering a herniated disk in his neck twice along with a variety of other spinal injuries. He made a final All-Star appearance in 2015, playing in 158 games and hitting 23 home runs with a career-high .305 batting average. He retired in 2016 after 89 games played because of complications from multiple neck surgeries to correct his recurring herniated disk issue.
9. Derrek Lee
"I think he brings a presence in our lineup and in our clubhouse, and a certain pedigree, so to speak, of quality play. One of the criteria when I look at players is: ‘Do they make their teammates better?’ And Derrek Lee makes his teammates better by the way he carries himself and the example he sets. And he's a physical presence. Guys like Derrek bring so much more to the table than just statistics" - Buck Showalter
Derrek Lee was raised in Japan and California as the son and nephew of Leon and Leron Lee, two African-American baseball lifers from Sacramento, California who pioneered foreign players competing in Japan during their primes. The Lee brothers grew up with fellow professional baseball player and Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker. The story goes that the Lee brothers and Baker were so good at an early age that they were not allowed to play on the same Little League team. The two Lee brothers dominated in Japan for the Lotte Tigers during careers that lasted over a decade. Derrek’s father was also the first African-American manager in Japanese baseball history.
One of the best all-around first basemen of the 2000s, Derrek Lee won a World Series, was a 2x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove winner, and led MLB in batting average during the 2005 season to win his only Silver Slugger. Lee’s 1901 defensive appearances as a 1B during his 15-year career is the 31st-highest amount in MLB history. Since MLB’s integration in 1947, he is one of the 40 first basemen to have stolen at least 20 bases in a single season and one of the 14 first basemen with at least 100 career stolen bases.
He was the fourteenth overall pick of the 1993 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres and was selected directly out of a high school in the Sacramento area. The first player in his position group to be drafted, Lee forewent a commitment to North Carolina’s basketball and baseball programs to sign with San Diego for $600,000 dollars.
His MiLB career started in 1993 at 17 and ended in 1999, recording exactly 100 home runs. He made his MLB debut during the 1997 season for the Padres, playing in 22 games. Coincidentally, his MLB debut came against the Florida Marlins, the team he was traded to during the offseasons between the 1997 and 1998 seasons as the centerpiece in the Kevin Brown deal.
He struggled early in his time with the team but developed into one of the best at his position, hitting at least 20 home runs in four straight seasons and peaking with 31 in his final season with the team. Lee played parts of six seasons in a Marlins uniform and was the starting first baseman when the team won a World Series in 2003. He was subsequently traded to the Chicago Cubs during the offseasons between the 2003 and 2004 seasons and played there until 2010 after signing a 5-year, $45 million dollar extension in 2006. The first baseman grew into the centerpiece in an impressive lineup that included Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez, making two playoff appearances during their run together.
During his time as the Cubs’ first baseman during the mid to late 2000s, Lee found another level and went from an above-average first baseman into one of the best individual hitters in all of baseball. After going .264/.353/.469 in six seasons with the Marlins, he improved to .298/.378/.524 during his seven years with the Cubs. Amongst 65 qualified first basemen who played between 2004 and 2010, Lee is sixth in fWAR, sixth in bWAR, tenth in wRC+, fourth in total hits, fifth in doubles, tenth in home runs, sixth in runs scored, and tenth in RBI and second in stolen bases.
Lee was traded from the Cubs to the Atlanta Braves during the 2010 season and in 2011 he played for the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates before retiring at age 35. He battled ailments to his wrist, back, and knees during his MLB career but still found a way to stay on the field, logging at least 130 defensive appearances in 10 of his 15 seasons.
8. Orlando Cepeda
“When Roberto signed with the Dodgers, that was one of the biggest days of my life, but it all goes back to Jackie. My father was very hot-tempered and he knew he didn’t want to do it because of all the things people would say to him about being Black. The players who played with my father, players who were my idols, like Minnie Miñoso, never knew why they couldn’t play in the majors, they just knew they couldn’t. And all the while I wondered: ‘Who were these people who decided they couldn’t play? How did they make these distinctions that they weren’t white enough to be in Major League Baseball?'“ - Orlando Cepeda
The second Puerto Rican to receive a bronze plaque in Cooperstown after his best friend Roberto Clemente, 11x All-Star Orlando Cepeda had a standout career that spanned 17 seasons. One of the oldest living major leaguers, the 86-year-old is the son of Perucho Cepeda. One of Puerto Rico’s baseball pioneers, Perucho refused lucrative offers to play in the Negro Leagues or barnstorming leagues in the United States because of the commonplace de jure and de facto racism. Because he refused to play baseball in the United States, Perucho lost access to a drastic amount of potential income that a player of his talent level could demand during that era.
The Cepeda household frequently hosted superstars such as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Martín Dihigo during Orlando’s childhood. He knew he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father at an early age and joined the Puerto Rican Winter League’s Santurce Crabbers at 16 years old. He traveled to New York two years later for a tryout with the New York Giants and impressed the brass to the point where they immediately offered him a signing bonus. Orlando’s mother had to persuade his father to accept the bonus and let him play baseball in the United States.
Cepeda’s MiLB career began in 1955 at 17 years old and he was a full-time MLB player at just 20 years old, tearing through minors with at least 22 home runs in all three seasons he played. His rookie MLB season was the same year the Giants franchise had relocated from New York City to San Francisco. He was part of a talented rookie class for the Giants, including fellow first baseman Willie McCovey, Felipe Alou, Leon Wagner, José Pagán, and Willie Kirkland.
Cepeda made his MLB debut on April 15, 1958, against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first MLB game ever played in California. He hit a solo home run in an 8-0 victory, making a lasting first impression that put him on the path to being a fan favorite in The Bay Area. He would go on to win NL Rookie of the Year unanimously and finish ninth in NL MVP voting after going .312/.342/.512 across 148 games with 38 doubles and 25 home runs. Out of 72 qualified players in MLB, he was top ten in total hits, batting average, and doubles.
Cepeda was the best first baseman in MLB from 1958 to 1964, owning a .309/.353/.537 slash line that produced the most total hits, the most doubles, the second most home runs, and the third highest wRC+. He was voted to the All-Star roster for the NL in six consecutive seasons during this stint. Cepeda’s best season with the Giants was 1961 when he went .311/.362/.609 with an MLB-leading 46 home runs. The next season he made his only postseason appearance in a Giants uniform, losing to the New York Yankees in the 1962 World Series.
While he was extremely durable, Cepeda suffered from chronic knee pain and injuries in his right knee that started when he had surgery as a teenager to remove cartilage. He later suffered a right knee injury in a home plate collision with John Roseboro but was forced to play through it. Giants manager Alvin Dark was openly bigoted and xenophobic towards Cepeda and other Latino players, refusing to let them take off games due to injury. Dark once tried to ban all the Hispanic players on the Giants from speaking Spanish in the clubhouse and was confronted about it by Cepeda before acquiescing.
"The knee hurt me all the time. And I always aggravate it when I slide or stretch or even hit. Some people think that because we are Latinos—because we did not have everything growing up—we are not supposed to get hurt. But my knee was hurt. Dark thought I was trying not to play. He treated me like a child. I am a human being, whether I am blue or black or white or green. We Latins are different, but we are still human beings. Dark did not respect our differences.” - Orlando Cepeda
Cepeda finally had another knee surgery in December 1964 and appeared in 33 games at the tail end of the 1965 season. 19 games into the 1966 season, he was suddenly traded to the St. Louis Cardinals even though he had looked healthy and had a strong start to the season. The next year he unanimously won the NL MVP award while leading the Cardinals to their second World Series victory of the decade. The next season he led the Cardinals back to the World Series, losing in seven games to the Detroit Tigers.
During the 1969 season, he would be involved in another trade, getting sent to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Joe Torre. He performed up to his typical standards for the first two years of his four-year stint with the Braves but knee injuries limited him to 71 games in 1971 and 31 games in 1972. He had a resurgent age-35 season as Boston’s designated hitter in 1973 before a forgettable 33-game stint with the Kansas City Royals in 1974 before retiring.
Orlando Cepeda finished his career with 2351 total hits on a .297/.350/.499 slash line. 437 of his hits are doubles and another 379 of his hits are home runs. His 1468 defensive appearances at first base are 48th all-time. He is in the top 100 amongst all qualified major leaguers for total bases, home runs, and RBI as well. He was an aggressive free-swinging slugger with elite contact skills. Cepeda batted over .300 in seven seasons, slugged more than .500 in eight different seasons, and never struck out more than 100 times in all 17 seasons he played in MLB. He was the first player in MLB history to receive unanimous first-place votes for the Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards.
7. Fred McGriff
“Fred was skinny, athletic, smiled easily and didn’t take himself too seriously. He just embraced the uniqueness of his swing. He was kind of into the launch angle long before people were, and no one tried to overcoach his swing. I love the guy. Everything was about the team. He had great style because he didn’t have any. His substance was his style. It was a never look-at-me mentality. He’s everything you want in a ballplayer” - Buck Showalter
A career .284/.377/.509 hitter across 19 seasons, Hall of Famer Fred McGriff was a power-oriented first baseman with elite on-base skills. The personification of longevity, “Crime Dog” finished his career 3rd all-time in defensive appearances at first base, is 62nd in times on base, and has 12 seasons with at least 140 games played. He appeared in five All-Star games and hit at least 30 home runs in ten seasons. He was the first MLB player in history to hit at least 30 home runs with five different MLB franchises. He finished in the top ten for MVP voting in seven straight seasons, which is yet another testament to his longevity and consistency. McGriff is one of the most visible and iconic first basemen, having pulled off the insane feat of being an active MLB player for at least three seasons in three different decades.
McGriff was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, growing up four blocks away from the Cincinnati Reds spring training facility. Drafted in the 9th round of the 1981 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees, he accepted a $20,000 dollar signing bonus and forewent his commitment to the University of Georgia’s baseball program. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays during the 1982 season due to the presence of fellow first-base prospect Don Mattingly in the upper minors in what would later be known as one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history. What makes the trade more iconic is the Yankees front office’s logic was perfectly sound because Mattingly was elite in his own right, they just completely whiffed on the players they decided to receive in return.
He made his MLB debut in 1986 and played for Toronto until 1990 when he was traded along with shortstop Tony Fernandez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for outfielder Joe Carter and second baseman Roberto Alomar. He was the starting first baseman on the 89-win Blue Jays team that was defeated by Oakland in the 1989 ALCS. He hit 125 home runs in parts of five seasons with Toronto, going .278/.389/.530. McGriff was selected to his first All-Star game in 1992, the year he became the first MLB player to lead the AL and NL in home runs during different seasons since the 19th century.
During the 1993 season, he was traded again in one of the Padres’ many fire sales between the early 1980s and late 1990s. This time he was going to an Atlanta Braves team with a talented and youthful roster but was missing that veteran presence to take them over the top. He played for the Braves from 1993 to 1997, helping the team appear in four NLCS series and two World Series. He was the most productive position player on the 1995 Braves during their successful quest to capture a championship, posting an OPS above .950 in the NLDS, NLCS, and World Series.
McGriff’s career took another turn when he was selected by his hometown team and expansion franchise Tampa Bay Devil Rays and would go on to become one of the team’s early icons. After parts of four seasons with the club from 1998 to 2001, he was traded yet again, going from Tampa Bay to the Chicago Cubs. He played for the Cubs during the 2002 season and the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2003 season before retiring in 2004 after a 27-game cameo with his hometown ball club.
6. Carlos Delgado
“As a player, a Black player from Puerto Rico, a Latino, getting into the big leagues and hearing the stories of Clemente and (Orlando) Cepeda and Victor Pellot, how hard they had it, when you go in it’s much easier,” he said. “I’m not saying we did not see discrimination, because I did. I personally did. But it wasn’t like, colored players here, whites here. You sit on the back of the bus, or you can’t eat here. It wasn’t as blatant like that. But I feel like Clemente was one of the icons that opened that door, so it’s a tribute to him to wear No. 21.” - Carlos Delgado
A superstar who stayed clean while still posting absurd numbers during The Steroid Era’s peak, Carlos Delgado is one of the most underrated position players of his generation. Batting fourth in over 70% of his total career plate appearances, he is one of the greatest power hitters of his respective era.
The all-time home run and RBI leader for Puerto Rican players with 473 home runs and 1512 RBI, he was a 2x All-Star and 3x Silver Slugger during his 17-year career. In a similar fashion to Luis Tiant III, Roberto Clemente, and Orlando Cepeda, Delgado was an outspoken and politically conscious Afro-Latino player who was known for his intelligence and warm personality.
From 1996 to 2008, Delgado was the best one of the best and most reliable first basemen in MLB. During these 12 years, he is first in plate appearances, total hits, in doubles, second in home runs, second in runs scored, first in RBI, and third in walks. When ranked against other first basemen all-time, he is 43rd in defensive appearances, 49th in total hits, 16th in doubles, 14th in home runs, 17th in RBI, and 20th in walks.
Delgado was born and raised in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico as the son of a social worker and medical laboratory assistant. Born in 1972, he grew up idolizing Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Clemente like most Puerto Rican kids during the early seventies. Delgado signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for $90,000 dollars and a guarantee for fully paid college tuition whether or not he made it to the majors. He was a catcher during his MiLB career, posting a .303/.403/.520 slash line in 5 seasons. He started as a relatively anonymous player but wound up being considered one of the best prospects in baseball by the time he was ready for the call-up to MLB.
He made his MLB debut in 1993 with the Blue Jays but didn’t establish himself as a full-time major leaguer until three years later. As he transitioned from catcher to first base and figured out MLB pitching in between minor league stints, he developed into the centerpiece of Toronto teams during the mid-to-late 90s and early 2000s that didn’t have the talent to get past the Yankees, Orioles, or Red Sox.
After the 2004 season, Delgado became a free agent and was expected to leave Toronto for greener pastures after almost a decade of missing the playoffs. During his negotiations with various teams, he emphasized wanting to play for a ball club that had a chance to reach the postseason and win a World Series. After a massive bidding war that allegedly involved up to seven teams, he signed a 4-year deal with the Florida Marlins for $52 million dollars that included a fifth-year option for $12 million dollars
In typical Marlins fashion, they traded the veteran 1B to the New York Mets in a fire sale the next season. He was the engine in a lineup that had David Wright and Carlos Beltran ahead of him. He only played in one postseason, helping the Mets make a deep playoff run. He put a .429/.429/643 slash line in the 2006 NLDS, sweeping the Dodgers. He then went .304/.448/.826 with three doubles and three home runs in a seven-game slugfest against the Cardinals where the Mets were defeated.
After the 2007 season, Delgado’s home run total dropped below thirty for the first time during the 21st century. He hit 24 home runs in 139 games played, missing time while playing with a strained right hip flexor. During the 2008 season, he bounced back for a respectable last hurrah, hitting .271/.353/.518 with 32 doubles and 38 home runs in his final full season and playing in 159 games at 36 years old. In 2009 he tore the labrum in his right hip 29 games into the season and subsequently retired in 2011 after attempting to make a comeback with the Boston Red Sox in 2010.
Explaining My List
Prince Fielder’s peak put him above the first basemen in the honorable mentions section who got to have entire careers. The numbers speak for themselves, especially when looking at the power and durability. He is very underrated and is somewhat misunderstood.
Ninth seemed like the fairest spot to put Derrek Lee for me. His peak was absurd as some of the more elite players on this list, but his resume has a slight lack of consistency even though he does have a World Series ring. All-around first basemen are too rare and Derrek Lee was too good at everything for me to keep him off of this list.
Orlando Cepeda had one of the greatest rookie seasons by a first baseman in MLB history and then followed it up by pretty much making that his baseline. His stories, career, bloodlines, and friendships speak for themselves as Cepeda is the personification of Black baseball history.
I struggled trying to figure out which order I wanted to put Delgado and McGriff in. McGriff has more total hits due to 400 more singles, but Delgado has more extra-base hits with two fewer seasons under his belt. I decided to favor Delgado not only based on that fact but also looking at their peaks. Yes, they both have ten seasons with 30 home runs. When you look closer, you see that McGriff never hit 40 home runs in a season while Delgado did it three times. McGriff has eight seasons with an OPS above .900 while Delgado has 10.
A lot of people would put Ryan Howard on their top ten Black First Basemen lists, and understandably so. Yes, he has a legit peak, but it was relatively short. Outside of his peak, Howard was anywhere between outright unplayable or slightly above average. He is one of the worst defenders in the history of baseball, and even if he’s a first baseman that has to count for something.