While I will not argue that Davey Lopes is the best 2nd baseman in LA Dodger history and a great leadoff hitter in his own right, I think Brett Butler is man for the job. For one thing we have very few great CF in our past. You could even say we have none. Jimmy Wynn was not here long enough and while I’d love to see him make this team I can’t see a place for him. Willie Davis had his moments but if Willie Davis is on your all-time lineup you have some problems. That doesn’t leave much else so the main reason I’m going with Brett is the three plus 387 OBP which is imperative for leadoff man but also because I think we can find a place for Lopes or Sax or Kent or Gilliam at the bottom of the lineup. Brett Butler has three of the top 15 OBP seasons..

Davey Lopes doesn’t’ crack the top 50. His best OBP was .372 while above average it is not close to the .392 that Butler averaged as a Dodger. Lopes comes in with a .349 career OBP. For me the OBP and the fact we don’t have many strong center fielders puts Butler in the lead off spot.

1542 plate appearances should make him eligible. Our SS position is so weak, if Maury does not win the lead off spot I think Furcal has to be top SS to be used later in the lineup.

Eric, are you restricting this just to what order a batter hit in? Since Furcal only hit lead off, he can’t be used as the no. 8 hitter, right?

is getting some support. Make your case, the career Los Angeles stolen base leader certainly should have some supporters.

I was lucky to see Gilliam, Wills, Sax, Lopes and Butler all in person or on tv in my lifetime.
I would have to say hands down, not statistically, but in my heart, Junior was the greatest leadoff I ever saw for the Dodgers.
He brought SUCH and excitement to the game EVERY game he played.
It is a tough call though, as I LOVED Maury and Brett, but Brett was in the free agent days and I just can’t go with guys who weren’t REALLY Dodgers.
He was a GIANT for crying out loud! Braves too. I HATE THOSE FRIGGING TEAMS!
So, again, the nod goes to Junior with Maury close second. Just my humble opinion and thanks guys for this awesome site, it is linked on my blog!

Sorry Gents, but these guys don’t hold a candle to Wills. He is the only one on the list who will ever come close to the Hall of Fame. The only thing holding him back seems to be the drug problems people discovered when he was a manager. He has led a clean and exemplary life since. If only he had been brought up to the majors at 23 or 24 instead of 27 think of what he would have accomplished.

Until Maury Wills came along the stolen base had largely become a forgotten weapon in the National League. No one had stolen 40 bases in a season since Kiki Cuyler of the Cubs lead the league in 1929. In fact by 1938 it had fallena ll teh way to 16 in a season by another Cub, Stan Hack (aptly named) who pulled himself together and led the league the next year with a whopping 17. Those crack base stealers in the NL kept it in the totals in the 20’s and 30’ until Willie Mays stole 40 in 1956 and even his totals fell off after that.

Then in 1960 Maury Wills began his run of six straight stolen base titles which reached it’s zenith with an unheard of 104 stolen bases. Nobody thought 100 were possible after Ty Cobb had established the so-called “Record the Would Never Be Broken” with an incredible 94 in 1911. He managed to add his second straight Gold Glove award and the NL MVP that year.

He was so feared on the basepaths that teams would soak down the infield before games almost turning them into swamps to try to slow him down. Teams devised defensive strategies just for him. He single-handedly brought the stolen base back as a feared weapon after so many years of neglect of that aspect of the game.

Don’t get me wrong guys, Lopes was and always will be a favorite in L.A. becuase of the record setting infield and his place on the 1977 and 1978 teams who should have beat the Yankees and the 1981 team that did. He did have some pop in his bat that the others did not.

Butler was a hustler and probably the best bunter of the bunch but he was here such a short time you can not compare him to Lopes much less Wills.

Finally, go compare Wills against other Hall of Fame middle infielders and leadoff batters many of whom started much younger that Wills did in the majors. He compares well and actually exceeds many of them in most categories. Don’t get caught up in the minutae. I am lucky enought to remember Wills, Lopes, Sax, Butler, Furcal, both Davis’s and many others. Wills is the man, baby!

Wills is closing the gap! This should be a close race, down to the wire.

(and disappointed) that other people don’t dislike Butler as much as I do. He was the public face of the strike. I vote against Butler reflexively, like I vote against Mountjoys.

If the poll is this close as of Monday (Butler currently leads Wills 85 votes to 84) we might have to do a runoff with just Butler vs. Wills. We’ll see.

Butler was the first to get to 100 votes (Wills has 98 at the time of this comment). Poll over! :)

for the first time with 103 to 102. I’m actually now rooting for Maury so that Mr. Stephen has to find another 8 spot besides Mr. Russel.

Butler is ridiculously underrated.

The late Saturday Night/Sunday morning group were Butler and Lopes supporters. What a surge by Lopes.

The nighthawks have put it neck and neck.

like you are going to have to re-write your next post.

Looks like Wills and Butler are very popular for the lead spot. Let me propose something that would take advantage of both their strengths. I still propose Wills for the top slot as I feel he is more dangerous on the basepaths and disruptive to the pitcher. Butler demonstrated his ability to work a pitcher, take pitches, work deep into a count and his bunting ability. He also is dangerous on the basepaths. This gets Wills into the lineup at SS where he definately has the best glove over Russell or Griffin and Butler can stay in the #2 slot in CF where a lot of folks seem to like him best. Now I say Snider is a much superior CF but you could always move Butler to LF in a defensive alignment.
My feeling is get Wills and Butler into the lineup at the top of the order and you will definately have one of them on base being disruptive to the pitcher and setting up the three, four and five guys.
Seems like a good compromise.

Being a betting man I am going to assume that given the posts here that people will want Bill Russell to bat second. If Wills ends up on top then what of Russell? He spent his first two years as an outfielder because Will was still the shortstop . He then converted to second base and then shortstop. So does Russell make the # 2 slot as a second baseman or outfielder? Should be a nice discussion.