San Francisco Giants: Top 30 players of all-time

NY/SF Giants best players all-time: No. 23-Ross Youngs

36.2 WAR

Let’s go back to 1917 when Ross “Pepp” Youngs made his debut with the New York Giants. A two-time World Series champion with the Giants, Youngs was known to hit for average among other things

In his rookie season Youngs came up for the last nine games of the season, playing in seven of them. He went 9-26 (.346 average) with three triples and two doubles.

In 1921, Youngs hit .327 and became the first player in baseball history to record two hits in the same inning of a World Series game. Just a few years later in 1924, he hit .356 which was good enough for the top three in the National League.

When he got near the end of his career, Youngs was a mentor of sorts to Mel Ott who became his replacement in right field at the Polo Grounds.

Unfortunately, a kidney disorder was what cut his career short after he was exposed to an infection in 1924. He would end up passing October 22, 1927, at just 30 years old.

In Youngs’ obituary, then Giants manager John McGraw was very supportive of his former player. “The greatest outfielder I ever saw on a ball field,” he said.