who is the greatest baseball player?

Answer 1

Baseball's greatest player was it's craziest player and that was Ty Cobb. Had this man been loved by fans there would be no question. His numbers are astounding.

#1 all-time batting average - .366
#2 all-time hits - 4,189
#2 all-time runs scored - 2,246
#4 all-time stolen bases - 892
#5 all-time rbi's - 1,937

Won 12 batting titles ( 9 in a row )
Hit over .300 for 23 seasons in a row
Hit over .400 3 times
1 Triple Crown

If you can find a player that comes close than he can have my vote.

I'm not going to get into the petty thumbs down thing instead I will give a better reason as to why I picked Cobb.

Cobb did not have a fraction of the talent around him that Ruth did and yet his numbers are unreal.

It was easy for Ruth to put up monster numbers with teams like "Murderers Row" with guys like Lou Gehrig whom is often considered better than Ruth by a lot of historians.
And had Gehrig not gotten sick things could have turned out differently in Yankee history.

Michael where did you get this bs! about Cobb's defensive play? Don't try and fool a few minors with long winded crap.

Cobb was hated and despised by so many people and Ruth was just the opposite.

Answer 2

It would be a hard question to answer if you went position by position , even if you were to go hitter or fielder, and don't include pitchers. The best player of all time has to be a combination and in the end boils down to an opinion. There is no way to measure and balance all the required elements. That said the best was the Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio. In my opinion, LOL

Answer 3

Imagine a guy spending four years as a lefthanded pitcher as good as Randy Johnson in his prime. Now imagine that he switches to the outfield and puts up numbers like those of Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez or Albert Pujols would if they had an extra 10 to 20 games to play in. Now imagine that he's doing this in a league where the average foul-pole distance is over 350 feet and the average center field distance is 450 feet. Now imagine that science has yet to discover the substances we now call "steroids."

You don't have to be a Yankee fan to know that Babe Ruth was Randy Johnson turned into Barry Bonds. Or Sandy Koufax turned into Mickey Mantle. Or Lefty Grove turned into Ted Williams.

How about the other contenders? Willie Mays? The argument for him is his great defense, on top of 660 homers and almost 3,300 hits. But he never pitched, and pitching is the first line of defense. And, having been a power pitcher, it's reasonable to presume that the Babe had one of the best outfield arms of his era. Hank Aaron? As good as Hank was, he wasn't as good as Willie, and Willie wasn't as good as the Babe. Mickey Mantle? He may have been the most talented player in baseball history, but injuries prevented him from putting the truly scary career stats. Joe DiMaggio? He only played 13 years, and was a righthanded hitter with a 457-foot left-center power alley at the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium. Ted Williams? Not great defensively, so his reputation rests solely on his hitting, and Babe is right behind him in batting average (.344 to .342) and the only man ahead of Ted in on-base percentage. When he wrote "Ted Williams' Hit List," compiling his list of the greatest hitters of all time, "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived" chose Ruth as Number 1. (He didn't rank himself.) Ty Cobb? Only average defensively, and when the 1920s began the Lively Ball Era, he was 33 and should have put up some decent numbers, but his doubles, triples and homers remained roughly the same. Tell Cobb as his peak to step into the DeLorean, and today, he'd be the Redneck Ichiro. Barry Bonds? If you have to ask why the Babe is ahead of him, you'll never understand.

Finally, the argument that the Babe never played against black pitchers: It's not true. Like most of the great players of his time, he did a lot of barnstorming, playing exhibition games against local teams, including all-black teams. There was no appreciable dropoff in his performance when facing guys like Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams. And the ratio of black pitchers to black position players in the Hall of Fame is much lower than that of white pitchers to white position players. So the segregation argument makes some sense when used against the top pre-1947 white pitchers, but it doesn't hold much water against the hitters.

There's Babe Ruth. And then there's everybody else.

Answer 4

My top ten of all time in no particular order:

Babe Ruth
Ted Williams
Henry Aaron
Mickey Mantle
Willie Mays
Stan Musial
Mike Schmidt
Roberto Clemente
Lou Gehrig
Johnny Bench

Top ten pitchers of all time in no particular order:

Roger Clemens
Cy Young
Tom Seaver
Bob Feller
Bob Gibson
Steve Carlton
Whitey Ford
Walter Johnson
Warren Spahn
Juan Marichal

Answer 5

Tough question. My top 3...

Ruth, Mays, Cobb

Pitcher - Walter Johnston
Cathcer - Johnny Bench (my fav is Thurmonfd Munson though)
1B - George SIsler
2B - Jackie Robinson
3B - Brooks Robinson
SS - Ozzie Smith
OF - Mays, Mantle, DiMaggio

Answer 6

Had Babe Ruth taken better care of himself I would have picked him.

I have to say Ty Cobb regardless of how much people hate the man. To be 5th all time in rbi's in an era that really didn't have home runs is amazing. He had to drive people in the old fashion way and that is often over looked.

Answer 7

Babe Ruth. No one brought more to the plate, coupled with amazing pitching ability than Ruth. The next few would include Williams, Musial, Cobb, Mays and Gehrig.

Answer 8

Only the one you like most, and this changes from one individual to another one.

In my case, I dont like the game, so I have no idea, The only name I have heard of is the Bambini with a women name... and that was just cause I went to the movies some years ago and the fil m had something to do with the baseball game..

So in conclusion.. is up to you!

Answer 9

No question -- its Babe Ruth -- he was the first player to hit 30, 40 & 50 homeruns all in the same season -- he pretty much outhit the whole damn league -- Oh yeah AND he was apparently also one of the best pitchers of his era -- really, what could the guy have done better?

Answer 10

Hands down the best baseball player of all time is Hank Aaron, sure Bonds might break his record but Aaron didn't hit all of his homeruns by taking steroids.