[Mick]

All great outfielders.

I'll go with Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and Sam Rice.  Three American leaguers, #1, #2 and #11 all-time in career OF assists.  Their careers overlapped for 11 seasons, 1917-1927.  No GG then, but I imagine they would have been the three.

Dead ball era for much of that.  Speaker played incredibly shallow.  No idea what those arms were like.

True, it was a dead ball era for three of those 11 seasons. I would also submit that the gloves of the day were quite mediocre as well. And all three guys had speed. Cobb stole 897 bases, Speaker stole 436 (and is the career leader in doubles with 792), and Rice stole 351 bases. They had 295, 222 and 184 triples, respectively. As much as I admire Mays, Clemente and Flood, they weren't in the same ballpark in terms of doubles, triples or stolen bases.

[Mick]

All great outfielders.

I'll go with Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and Sam Rice.  Three American leaguers, #1, #2 and #11 all-time in career OF assists.  Their careers overlapped for 11 seasons, 1917-1927.  No GG then, but I imagine they would have been the three.

Dead ball era for much of that.  Speaker played incredibly shallow.  No idea what those arms were like.

True, it was a dead ball era for three of those 11 seasons. I would also submit that the gloves of the day were quite mediocre as well. And all three guys had speed. Cobb stole 897 bases, Speaker stole 436 (and is the career leader in doubles with 792), and Rice stole 351 bases. They had 295, 222 and 184 triples, respectively. As much as I admire Mays, Clemente and Flood, they weren't in the same ballpark in terms of doubles, triples or stolen bases.