Who is the greatest baseball player of all times?

Answer 1

My top 10:

1.Babe Ruth

2.Cy Young

3. Ty Cobb

4. Willie Mays

5. Honus Wagner

6. Lou Gehrig

7. Jimmie Fox

8. Walter Johnson

9. Christy Mathewson

10.Grover Alexander

Answer 2

I think if you're going to give an answer to this you have to compare players vs their time period..Obviously if Albert Pujols played in Babe Ruths era he would make babe ruth look like the town drunk.....actually nevermind Babe Ruth made Babe Ruth look like the town drunk. But anyway I guess I'd have to say the greatest baseball players in history are:

#1 Babe Ruth - because when Michael Jordan was getting good people used to say he was the Babe Ruth of Basketball. He's the gold standard that will be equated with baseball greatness forever.

#2 Willie Mays - He was one of very few players who played back then, that could probably still play in this time period and be good. This guy was the best fielder and hitter of his time period by a long shot.

#3 Ted Williams - Last man to hit .400, Teddy Baseball what more can you really say.

After that you can debate a lot, but I'm going to throw a name out there which most people won't agree with.

In my mind #4 Ken Griffey Jr - his brilliant career was cut short by injury, but for 10 steriods infested years he was the best player in the league, he was consitantly one of the top 3 in hrs every year, he won like 9 straight gold gloves in CF, and most people would agree, that he unlike most of his competition at the time was not on the juice.

Answer 3

There are four possible answers to your question.

The first, and most popular answer, is Babe Ruth. The overwhelming majority of baseball experts believe that Ruth is the #1 guy. He revolutionized baseball by bringing the Home Run into the sport. He was the greatest, or at worst 2nd greatest overall hitter who ever lived. Early in his career, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. He was also a fast runner and a good fielder when he was young.

Not enough people know about Oscar Charleston. He was, by most accounts, the greatest baseball who every played in the old ***** Leagues, before MLB was integrated. With power to rival Ruth, speed and defense, Charleston may be the most complete player in the history of baseball. He's directly comparable to Willie Mays, and the majority of those who saw both of them play thought Charleston was better.

The third possible "correct" answer is still active in the Majors. Barry Bonds, in the early part of this decade posted the greatest seasons any hitter has ever had. Even better than Ruth's best years. Prior to this, Bonds was already a certain Hall of Famer, and one of the top 15 or so who had every played....an outstanding hitter, fielder and baserunner. The controversy here is whether or not Bonds did this legitimately, or whether he was cheating by using steroids. There is without doubt a cloud over Bonds, but if one believes his numbers are legitimate, he has a good argument as the greatest ever.

The last player with a legitimate claim at being #1 is my personal favorite. His name is Honus Wagner, and he was the greatest player in baseball a century ago. Baseball was a very diffferent game then. For any number of reasons, Home Runs were extremely rare. Runs were scored at a rate about 1/2 of what they are today. Looking at Wagner's batting numbers, they look awfully good, but nothing extraordinary. But in the context of the time he played, he was every bit as dominant a hitter as Ruth and Bonds. But Wagner goes way beyond that. He was the greatest basestealer of his day...even better than Ty Cobb, based on his pct. of successful steal attempts. He's still #5 alltime. And defensively, he might have been the greatest fielder to ever play. He didn't settle in as a shortstop, his primary position, until he was 27 years old. Short is the most demanding position in the field. Wagner had never played it before, and was thought at first to be an emergency fill-in. He became, after Ozzie Smith, the greatest defensive SS of all time. Prior to playing SS, Wagner was a great, 2B, 3B and OFer. He had an extraordinary career...he was more productive after age 35 than any position player in Major League history. It's hard to really get a grip on Wagner, so I like to describe him in terms. Imagine Albert Pujols playing SS like Ozzie Smith and running the bases like Rickey Henderson, add in Roberto Clemente's arm, and you're pretty close.

I hope this helps!. Great question.

Answer 4

That's OBVIOUS.. there's no doubt the best player of all time is Babe Ruth. No one will ever match his numbers, pitching or hitting. There's no telling how much more he could have accomplished had he not been a drunk.

BUT Why are people so willing to overlook Hank Aaron?
HE only topped Babe Ruth's home run record. HE only set the major league record in almost every offensive category.
IF you look at the top records in offense, he's either number one or number two. all star appearances, on base percentage, slugging percentage, hits.. WHAT more did the guy have to do to get some freaking respect.

Answer 5

Like it or not Ty Cobb is baseball's greatest player of all time. He's in the top 5 of 5 major hitting categories.

Answer 6

I always thought that if Ted Williams did not fight in WW2and the Korean War he might have challenged Ruth for the home run record He lost 5 1/2 years and he ended up only 193 home runs behind Ruth. This is an average of 32-38 home runs a year and it was in his prime.His average for the 16 full years he played he average close to 33 home runs a season so it would be possible. He definitely would have had over 3000 hits and still batted for a .344 average in his lifetime. He practiced and practiced and developed the perfect swing. His teaching promos are still taught to youngsters as to how to strike the ball with perfect follow through to get maximum benefits.

Answer 7

Ruth overwhelmingly had the greatest offensive numbers. Not sure what kind of defense he played after his pitching career was over. Not too many black and white film highlights of him making a diving catch, or gunning down someone at the plate.
As the best all-around player I'd suggest Willie Mays. He could do it all. Hit for average, for power, run the bases, play defense.

Answer 8

Top Ten Players not in any order: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Jimmie Fox, Hank Aaron, and Pete Rose

Top Ten Pitchers not in any order: Cy Young, Roger Clemens, Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, and Grover Clevelan Alexander

Answer 9

It boils down to personal favorite. I like Babe Ruth. He has a better home run per game average than Aaron or even Bonds. A .342 lifetime batting average. A .690 slugging percentage. He was also 94-46 with a 2.28 ERA. He could have probably been the greatest left-handed pitcher ever if he had stayed on the mound.

Answer 10

Babe Ruth, 714 home runs and beat his predecessor Roger Conner by 585 home runs, .342 lifetime BA, hit more dingers than any other American league team in 1927, saved the game from the disgrace of the Blacksox scandal and also managed to go 94-46 as a pitcher. You could fill a page on his accomplishments but you get the picture from just this