[Mick]

Nobody in baseball history played a shallower CF than Speaker. I believe he still leads the majors in unassisted double plays by an outfielder. Probably threw some games too.

You're dead right, Phog.  I compared six center fielders with each other (Speaker, Mays, Griffey, DiMaggio, Cobb and Mantle) and compared their core metrics on a per-inning-played-at-center-field basis in four major categories; fielding percentage, errors, chances, putouts, assists, double plays and range factor (who had the most chances compared with the rest of the league in their careers).  All of the comments below are on a per-inning basis.

Mantle stuck out as not being worthy of that group.  He easily had the poorest range factor and accepted the second fewest chances besides Cobb.  Cobb had the fewest putouts per inning and the most errors per inning.  he had the lowest fielding percentage, but of course, he and Speaker had the terrible fielding gloves that the others didn't.

Speaker easily had the most double plays with 143, with Cobb second most at 105, most likely a sign of the times.  Speaker had the most errors, Cobb had the second most.  the older era outfielders had 2.5x the number of double plays that mays had, 3x what Griffey and DiMaggio had.

Speaker played his entire career in the dead ball era, Cobb played 2/3 of his career in the dead ball era.

The delta between range factor of the player and average range factor for the league at that position was Speaker beating out Mays by a whisker.  Both Cobb and Mantle failed in that regard.  DiMaggio actually had the highest range factor, but the league range factor at the time was so high for CFs, that his delta wasn't that much.  Delta's by greatest difference with league average over career was:

Speaker, .56
Mays, .51
Dimaggio, .33
Griffey, .24
Cobb, .22
Mantle, -.35

Other good outfielders: there was a 10 year player named Douthit in the 1920s and 1930s who had a career .68 difference between league range factor and his own.  Best I've been able to find.  Richie Ashburn's was pretty good at .35 for center fielders.  Max Carey's was similar.  Both Carey and Ashburn led the league in most POs nine seasons, Speaker led the league in seven seasons.  Mays was first only twice, but was second eight times.  Don't forget, Mays missed two seasons in the military.

Fewest errors on average were Griffey's, so he had the highest fielding percentage.

Chances accepted per inning were:

Speaker, .314
Mays, .302
Griffey, .293
DiMaggio, .292
Mantle, .281
Cobb, .271

For me, it's Tris Speaker, best fielder ever, with Mays second.

P. S....Speaker holds the record with unassisted double plays with six.  He had two unassisted double plays in a season twice, that's the record for an OF.  he had 139 total DPs as a CF.

[Mick]

Nobody in baseball history played a shallower CF than Speaker. I believe he still leads the majors in unassisted double plays by an outfielder. Probably threw some games too.

You're dead right, Phog.  I compared six center fielders with each other (Speaker, Mays, Griffey, DiMaggio, Cobb and Mantle) and compared their core metrics on a per-inning-played-at-center-field basis in four major categories; fielding percentage, errors, chances, putouts, assists, double plays and range factor (who had the most chances compared with the rest of the league in their careers).  All of the comments below are on a per-inning basis.

Mantle stuck out as not being worthy of that group.  He easily had the poorest range factor and accepted the second fewest chances besides Cobb.  Cobb had the fewest putouts per inning and the most errors per inning.  he had the lowest fielding percentage, but of course, he and Speaker had the terrible fielding gloves that the others didn't.

Speaker easily had the most double plays with 143, with Cobb second most at 105, most likely a sign of the times.  Speaker had the most errors, Cobb had the second most.  the older era outfielders had 2.5x the number of double plays that mays had, 3x what Griffey and DiMaggio had.

Speaker played his entire career in the dead ball era, Cobb played 2/3 of his career in the dead ball era.

The delta between range factor of the player and average range factor for the league at that position was Speaker beating out Mays by a whisker.  Both Cobb and Mantle failed in that regard.  DiMaggio actually had the highest range factor, but the league range factor at the time was so high for CFs, that his delta wasn't that much.  Delta's by greatest difference with league average over career was:

Speaker, .56
Mays, .51
Dimaggio, .33
Griffey, .24
Cobb, .22
Mantle, -.35

Other good outfielders: there was a 10 year player named Douthit in the 1920s and 1930s who had a career .68 difference between league range factor and his own.  Best I've been able to find.  Richie Ashburn's was pretty good at .35 for center fielders.  Max Carey's was similar.  Both Carey and Ashburn led the league in most POs nine seasons, Speaker led the league in seven seasons.  Mays was first only twice, but was second eight times.  Don't forget, Mays missed two seasons in the military.

Fewest errors on average were Griffey's, so he had the highest fielding percentage.

Chances accepted per inning were:

Speaker, .314
Mays, .302
Griffey, .293
DiMaggio, .292
Mantle, .281
Cobb, .271

For me, it's Tris Speaker, best fielder ever, with Mays second.

P. S....Speaker holds the record with unassisted double plays with six.  He had two unassisted double plays in a season twice, that's the record for an OF.  he had 139 total DPs as a CF.