Laffit is one of the all time greats, top 5 at least, probably top 3.
Baze is a different kind of story. The ultimate big fish in a small pond.
Lots of 12-15% riders over the years in NY and Socal could have gone to tracks at a level of Nocal and ridden their choice of mounts in every race.
Baze does deserve credit for his hard work and consistency shown at the level of track hes chosen to ride at.
But there is no comparison, anyone who ever saw Laffit ride back in his prime knows that there never has been and never will be a stronger jockey who sat in a saddle. His strength was incredible. He was also incredibly intelligent in the saddle.
Angel was the craftiest in the saddle, no doubt, but he wasn't quite as strong as Laffit. Hard to seperate those two on who was better. A dead heat in my mind. Bailey was as good as those guys for a while, but not for the same period of time. He did however go out at a higher level than those two did.
Chris McCarron would be the fourth great I ever personally saw, in his prime he always made the right move and his agility and teh way he switched in the blink of an eye without missing a signle beat to left handed stick down the lane was something to see.
Those are the four guys I've witnessed who were "all time greats".
I know the Day and Stevens fans will shout at this, but Stevens didn't do it long enough or consistently enough to join those ranks in my opinion. He may have had the talent level, but injuries and venue changes which disrupted his continuity cost him. Day was incredible as well, but so much of his career was at "b" level tracks that to put him with guys who rode at nothing but the hardest venues for almost their entire careers would be very hard to do.