Who is Northeast Florida's all-time best baseball player? Vote now

Vince Coleman, Raines

The National League's most feared base-stealer of the middle and late 1980s, Coleman won two pennants with the St. Louis Cardinals and twice made the All-Star team. His 752 stolen bases, including six consecutive stolen base championships and three 100-steal seasons, place him sixth on the MLB all-time list in the category. Coleman won NL Rookie of the Year in 1985 and finished his career with a .264 average, 1,425 hits and 849 runs scored. An all-around athlete at Raines, Coleman was a nationally-pursued punter at Florida A&M and spent time in Washington mini-camp.

Glenn Davis, University Christian

Both an All-State linebacker and a state champion slugger at UC, Davis played 10 MLB seasons at first base with Houston and Baltimore and twice made the National League All-Star team. He batted .259 with 190 homers and 603 career RBI. In 1986, he batted .265 with 31 home runs and 101 RBI, placing second in NL MVP voting. He hit 20 or more home runs in five consecutive seasons, the first Astro to do so. Davis also set a school record of 15 homers to go with a .414 average and 71 RBI at Manatee Junior College.

Storm Davis, University Christian

A high school superstar at UC, with 496 career strikeouts and a 42-3 record with the state champions, Davis went on to pitch 13 MLB seasons with a 113-96 record and a 4.02 ERA. The Orioles drafted him in the seventh round and he made his MLB debut in 1982 while still only 20 years old. He won three pennants with the Baltimore Orioles (1983) and Oakland A's (1988 and 1989), and was twice on World Series-winning rosters. He had a 19-win season with Oakland in 1989, the most single-season wins for an MLB pitcher from a Jacksonville high school.

Chipper Jones, Bolles

Originally from DeLand, Jones was a multi-sport superstar at Bolles, a No. 1 overall draft pick in 1990 and a Baseball Hall of Fame selection in 2018. He won NL MVP in 1999, helped earn a World Series title in 1995 and received eight All-Star Game selections during a 19-year career spent entirely with the Atlanta Braves. He won a batting title (.364) at age 36 in 2008. Primarily a third baseman, he ranks near the top of MLB's all-time switch-hitter standings in numerous categories. Jones batted .303 with 2,726 hits, 549 doubles, 468 home runs, 1,623 RBI and 150 steals.

Howie Kendrick, West Nassau

From West Nassau to St. Johns River Community College to the big leagues as a 10th-rounder, the versatile Kendrick is famed nationwide for his World Series-winning seventh-inning home run for the Washington Nationals in Game 7 in 2019. Over a 15-year career, mostly at second base, he batted .294 with 1,747 hits, 127 home runs and four .300 seasons. His 2019 postseason is one for the books, even before his World Series hit. He won the NLDS with a 10th-inning grand slam against the Dodgers and whacked four doubles against the Cardinals to earn NLCS MVP.

John Henry (Pop) Lloyd, Old Stanton

While Lloyd's days at Old Stanton came before the Florida High School Athletic Association even began its state tournament, he earned a reputation among the greatest shortstops ever while playing in baseball's years of racial segregation. While some of his statistical feats in baseball's Negro Leagues remain elusive, the Palatka-born Lloyd surpassed .400 in consecutive years in 1910 and 1911, and is credited with a .381 average as late as 1930 at age 46. He entered the Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1976.

Dick Lundy, Cookman Institute

Like Pop Lloyd (see above), Lundy was celebrated for his defensive skills as well as his batting during more than 20 years in the Negro Leagues. Statistics are fragmentary, but researchers credit his career batting average from .306 to .331, winning multiple pennants and generally earning recognition among the top three shortstops in Negro League baseball history. From 1923 to 1929, Lundy batted .306 or higher six times. He was named on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2006 but not inducted.

Daniel Murphy, Englewood

Murphy was a productive player at Englewood whose career really took off beyond high school. He played 12 MLB seasons with a .296 batting average, 138 home runs, 735 RBI, 1,572 hits and three All-Star appearances, primarily at second base. In 2015, Murphy became the first player in MLB history to slug home runs in six consecutive playoff games on his way to the National League Championship Series MVP award and a spot in the World Series. The 2016 runner-up for NL MVP with .347 with 25 home runs and 104 RBI, he was also Atlantic Sun player of the year at JU in 2006.

Jonathan Papelbon, Bishop Kenny

Among the most successful closers of the 21st century. Papelbon reached the FHSAA semifinals in 1999 at Bishop Kenny, earned an SEC title at Mississippi State and pitched 12 MLB seasons with six All-Star Game selections and a 2007 World Series title with the Boston Red Sox. His 368 saves rank 12th on baseball's all-time list. Papelbon eight times achieved the 30-save mark, including a career-high 37 in 2008, and three times finished the year with an ERA under 2.00. He was at his best under pressure, with 17 consecutive scoreless postseason games and a career 1.00 ERA in the playoffs.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Who is Northeast Florida's all-time best baseball player?