Who was the best baseball player of all time?

Question

My vote goes to Honus Wagner.

Answer 1

I am a sucker for pitching. I would have to say the immortal Nolan Ryan was the greatest baseball player of all time. He holds the career strikeout record, no-hitter record, one-hitter record, strikeouts in a single season record, and the number of different hitters that he struck out in his career. If Nolan Ryan would have played on more predominant teams he would have more world series rings than any other professional baseball player. His fastball was believed to be over 100 mph earlier in his career. Bob Boone, his catcher when he pitched for the California Angels swears that none has ever threw harder than the Ryan Express. Nolan Ryan's only world series championship came as a member of the 1969 "Miracle Mets."

It is a safe bet that Nolan Ryan's records of 7 career no-hitters, 5,714 career strikeouts, 12 one-hitters, and 1,176 different hitters struck out in a single season will never be broken. Especially, if pitching continues to maintain its present course.

Nolan Ryan was enshrined in National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999, receiving 98.8 of eligible votes. If we take these statistics into consideration I believe we can safely say that Nolan Ryan was one of the greatest pitchers to ever pitch in the major leagues.

Answer 2

Honus Wagner was certainly a great baseball player. He'd be the shortstop on my pre-1950 team. 3400 hits, 8-time batting title king, playing the most difficult position on the field: he deserves every accolade he gets. But calling him the best player of all time is one he does not deserve. For instance, in an era when guys hit .400 regularly, Wagner never hit more than .381. There'd be about 10 players who I'd consider better than him. . The guy I saw play who, in my opinion, was, and still is, the best is Willie Mays. Great stats and he played the game like he was having fun. And his enthusiasm was shared by the other players and fans. How many other players can you say that about?

Answer 3

Babe Ruth. But I will say Honus Wagner if it gets me 10 points!!

Answer 4

Babe Ruth

94 wins as a pitcher
career .690 slugging average
career batting average of .342
506 doubles
136 triples
714 homers
15 World Series homers
119 extra bases in a single season still the record in 1921 with 59 homers 44 doubles and 16 triples. Also had 457 total bases in that season which is also still the record.

Honus was great too and played his entire career in the dead ball era or his numbers would have been even more incredible than they already were.

Babe Ruth changed the game of baseball like nobody that ever played the game and brought an excitement that hasn't been seen since.

Answer 5

I would have to go with Babe Ruth not only did he dominate when he was a pitcher he also changed the game of baseball and put up crazy numbers way before his day and did it without the use of steriods or performance enhancers. If he came into the league as a batter he would have way over 760 homers and be pretty much unbeatable even with today's juiced hitters.

Answer 6

Baseball's greatest player was probably it's craziest player to,
Ty Cobb.

#1 All-Time ba
#2 All-Time hits
#4 All-Times stolen bases
#5 All-Time rbi's

The only thing he didn't do was hit home runs. But when you are constantly on base stealing you don't have to.

Answer 7

There are so many variables to the question. If Ted Williams wouldn't have went to war in the 5 years of his prime he could possibly be. If Satchel Paige played more in the mlb possibly him.

Williams's two MVP Awards and two Triple Crowns came in four different years. Along with Rogers Hornsby, he is one of only two players to win the Triple Crown twice, but he did not win the MVP award in either of his Triple Crown seasons. Williams, Lou Gehrig, and Chuck Klein are the only players since the establishment of the MVP award to win the Triple Crown and not be named league MVP in that season.

Williams's hitting was so feared, and it was known that he was a dead pull hitter, that opponents frequently employed the radical, defensive "Williams Shift" against him, leaving only one fielder on the third-base half of the field. Rather than bunting the ball into the open space, the proud Williams batted as usual against the contrived defense. The defensive tactic is still used to this day, and is appropriately called the infield shift. Interestingly, it is often used against David Ortiz, Jason Giambi, Jim Thome and Travis Hafner.

Ted Williams retired from the game in 1960 and hit a home run in his final at-bat, on September 28, 1960, in front of only 10,454 fans at Fenway Park. This home run—a solo shot hit off Baltimore pitcher Jack Fisher in the 8th inning that reduced the Orioles' lead to 4-3—was immortalized in The New Yorker essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu", by John Updike.

How about this fact possibly opinion changing...In 1920, Ruth hit 54 home runs. That season, only the Philadelphia Phillies (and of course the Yankees) managed to hit more as a team. They hit 64.

Answer 8

Tough question to find agreement on, & w good reason as the game has evolved significantly & we all use different criteria to judge.

That said I'd have to agree w Babe Ruth, Not just the home runs, which were phenomenal compared w ANYONE else playing at the time, but he also excelled as a pitcher.

Imagine if he'd taken care of himself & not been such a party boy!

Answer 9

Dixie Walker

Answer 10

Hank Aaron