And here's a question ... is there any question that 1B is the strongest lineup position in Blue Jay history? They have apparently not EVER had a player who was not of All-Star calibre at 1B in the team's entire history, dating back to Mr. Ault all the way through the current Mr. Overbay.

Gotta go with Olerud, though!

King Carlos.  But it was a tough choice.  I'm a youngin', so I only remember Olerud, McGriff, Delgado and obviously Overbay.  McGriff hit bombs.  Olerud was a wonderful hitter and was 1B in the glory years.  Overbay is good fun to watch and is having a hell of a season.  But Carlos is it.  One of the best Blue Jays ever and a classy guy.

All four of these guys are/were awesome hitters.  And I've heard of the other three, so they can't be slouches either.

 

If I could rig this to vote a million times for Johnny O, I would.

Note for the link in this poll, it should be to jaybackstops not to bluejaybackstops

Good catch, Geoff (no pun intended there) -- fixed it.

Gord's biggest blunders are bigger than any (so far) for JP I'd have to say.  Olerud plus cash for a failed starter?  ugh.  It looked bad at the time and worse as time went by.  The less said about his Wells trades the better.

Btw, I was one of the lucky ones at the game that Fred McGriff hit his first home run (in Exhibition Stadium, it just cleared the fence, although it was a line drive so it was solid) and also at Johnny O's first major league appearance (sitting in the LF bleachers for that one with my little sister, told her to watch as he was going to be a good one).

Gotta say the Jays did amazing at first for quite awhile there.  From Ault (decent) to Mayberry (very solid) to Upshaw (All-Star) to McGriff (near HOF) to Olerud (also near HOF) to Delgado (HOF).  I was hoping someone would show up out of nowhere from the minors to keep the streak of greatness that keeps getting better going but sadly it wasn't to be.  Overbay I'd rank in the Upshaw class, All-Star potential but not ever going to be debated for the HOF.

The choice is undeniably Carlos Delgado 2000, who had one of the best seasons of all time. Using a stat I quite like - runs created - note to non-stat head, this stat is not that intimidating. It's just a refined version of OPS, whereas when OPS adds apples and organes, RC deals with them accordingly: multiply total bases by rate at which you get on base, divide by the number of outs in a game (27), and you get a number that I think is akin to the number of runs a lineup of just that player would get per game. (The more complicated versions incorporate stolen bases, etc etc, brilliantly. The one downfall is its not league or park adjusted, but anyway). For comparison, Cal Ripken has a career RC/27 of 5.38. Anyway, in 569 at bats, in 2000, Delgado had a RC/27 of 12.05. Among active players, the only players to have better seasons with this stat were Barry Bonds a few times, Luis Gonalez, Sammy Sosa and Todd Helton. (See a trend?) Who is #100 on this list? None other than 1993 Olerud, with a RC/27 of 11.32.

If there's any shoo-in, it's got to be the upcoming 2B vote. Unless O-dog gets some major affection for being more likeable.