The Great NY Debate - 1951

 New York fielded some pretty good teams back in the day. I'm not talking about any team specifically, I'm talking about the entire city. The Yankees, Giants and Dodgers created a trio of teams that dominated baseball. From 1949-1956, a NY team won the World Series EVERY year. In most of those years it was a guarantee because it was the Yankees vs either the Giants or Dodgers. And this was back when there was no playoff, a NY team always was the best in their league every season, sometimes even both leagues. Except for 1950 (Phillies) and 1954 (Indians), it was all NY in the World Series. And while the AL was almost exclusive property of the Yankees, the NL was a constant struggle between the Giants and Dodgers.

What made such a run of domination possible was a trio of quality lineups, and it just so happened that each lineup was anchored by an elite Centerfielder. Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider terrorized pitchers and helped secure their teams regular visits to the fall classic year after year. The city was spoiled, but with it came a constant debate between fans over which outfielder was superior. Who had the true edge? Was it Mantle and his 7 titles? Mays and his over 600 homers? Snider who was already an all star before the other two arrived?

Obviously, the only way to dive into this question is to go year by year of the dominating years of the city. Let's have some fun...

1951

The first year all 3 men played at once. Mantle was called up and expected to replace the aging Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays debuted from the Negro League and won Rookie of the Year, Duke Snider meanwhile was making his 2nd all star selection.

Your eyes do not deceive you, Mickey Mantle is #6 up there. He had such a high expectation to be the next Joe DiMaggio, that they even gave him the next number after Joe D. He struggled a bit and was sent down to the minors before coming back for good. As such, with DiMaggio hanging around, Mantle had to move over and not actually play CF yet.
The World Series this year was the Yankees v Giants. And while Mays had a stellar year, the Yankee pitching easily handled him, while Mantle had a tragic injury in the field that made him just as absent from the series in what was ultimately the Yankees' 3rd straight title.
This round is close, with Mays putting in a rookie of the year effort, and while that was only a taste of things to come, the top man in the position will go to Snider with his slightly better chart. The on-base is a hair lower, but he does much more with the advantage.
Snider takes round 1, but the other boys had arrived to stay.

Elsewhere in baseball is the great Joe DiMaggio, holding down Center for the final time in his proud career. After this, he would step away from the game, unable to play to his elite standard. While NY fans would fight over the best CF in the 50s, Baseball fans in the 40s were having fights over DiMaggio vs Ted Williams. Starting in '52, Mantle can assume his proper spot in Centerfield.