Who is THE BEST HITTER in MLB HISTORY?

Question

Pete Rose who was banned from MLB for a life time broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record with his 4,192nd hit..Rose has the Most career hits - 4,256, Most career singles - 3,315,Most career doubles - 746 ,Most consecutive seasons of 100 or more hits - 23 , ,Most career games with 5 or more hits - 10 ,Most career total bases by a switch hitter - 5,752 and He had a 44-game hitting streak..

I think Pete Rose is THE BEST HITTER in MLB HISTORY..

Answer 1

Nobody can argue this as far as productivity in a hitter...................

#3 all time career hits
#1 all time in RBI's
#1 all time in home runs
#10 all time in doubles
.305 career average
.555 career slugging percentage

Played in 3,298 games and had 3,771 career hits. That is amazing considering he had almost 500 more hits than games played in. That is an average of more than a hit a game in a 23 year career. Talk about consistency.

Ty Cobb was a great hitter in a time when pitching was not as dominant as years later. Cy Young was out of his prime when Cobb came into the league and Babe Ruth was the dominant pitcher of Cobb's time and Ruth only won 94 games and back then they pitched on no rest in between starts sometimes. He should have had many more wins considering how many starts he made. People mention that Ty Cobb won the "Quadruple Crown" in 1909, that he did, but they failed to mention that he led the league in HR's with 9. He also led the league in RBI's with 107. Those are some pretty weak numbers compared to the baseball that has been played over the last 75 years. Not that it matters but he also beat his wife regularly.

Therefore the best hitter (if you don't know right now) in the history of baseball is.......................
HAMMERIN' HANK AARON!

This guy that answered below me is crazy. I love Cal Ripken but he was a .275 career hitter. That is far from the best.

Answer 2

Obviousily the guy is putting more emphisis on power. That's the only explanation of Ty Cobb being 9th. [I'm not sure where he gets his information from because from reading the article he is totally wrong about Cobb. He says he batted .340 (actually .366) and his career on base PCT (.433) was lower than Alvin Davis (.380), Mark Grace (.383), Keith Hernandez (.384), Gene Woodling (.386), J.D. Drew (.392), Merv Rettenmund (.381), Tim Salmon (.385), Bernie Carbo (.387) and Gene Tenace (.388) ]** **never mind, I misread the article Cobb should be higher on the list and Hank Aaron (higher batting average and more home runs than Mantle and Mays) should be in the top 10. Other than that it's not a bad list. I do think Al Simmons (307 HR and a .334 batting average) deserves mention. edit: Ivystung: You are correct, he is talking about Sisler. I read it too fast the first time.

Answer 3

I'm with Chipmaker - Pete Rose isn't even in the top 50. Interesting that you didn't include "most career outs," since Pete owns that one by a huge margin.

The guy was a decent singles hitter who hung around for a long time, but there's no way he belongs in the discussion. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but you're horribly misguided here on thinking Rose is that good.

And for Liltyman - Try using facts instead of making things up. Babe Ruth is NOT the all-time leader in strikeouts. He's not even top 5, 10, or 50. Check the numbers - he's 83rd.

Answer 4

The best hitter of all time is Ty Cobb. He had a .367 carrer average and over 4100 hits. Pete Rose has a few more hits then him but his average is around .300, so it really is not even close.

Answer 5

I'll take Joe Jackson over Babe Ruth any day. Ty Cobb called him the best natural hitter he had ever seen, and Babe Ruth Copied his swing.

Otherwise one of the most underrated hitters of all time, but one of the best was Carl Yastrzemski, yes he is in the hall of fame, but when you talk about best hitters his name NEVER comes up. Last triple crown winner in hitting, 3419 hits, 452 Home Runs and hell he had a .282 average. Not bad at all but not the best obviously, if i was taking a team id put Yaz on there for sure.

Answer 6

Well I am not gonna go with someone way back when and I am not gonna go with someone in today's age...

I am going to go with Tony Gwynn, that guy can flat out hit, a nice pure compact swing, he makes contact every damn time. In 20 seasons the guy only struck out 484 times in 9288 career at-bats, now thats always putting the ball in play. He won numerous batting titles and got over 200 hits 5 times in his career. Over 3000 hits and almost twice as many walks as strikeouts (790BB). It was a priviledge to watch this guy hit...one of the best pure hitters in the game.

Notables:
Ted Williams
Barry Bonds
Ty Cobb
Pete Rose
Babe Ruth

Answer 7

Yes, Pete Rose did all those things but he only had a .303 lifetime average and Ty Cobb had a .367 lifetime average! Big difference!

Answer 8

If you go for average it was Ty Cobb, the original hit king.

For power and average it was Ted Williams. Williams always said he wanted the man on the street to see him and say, "There goes Teddy Ballgame. The best d*** hitter in history."

Answer 9

I would like to argue that.

Pete Rose was banned as a manager and not as player so this did not effect him getting more stats.

Ty Cobb vs. Pete Rose where they rank all-time.
#1 All-time ba .366 - Pete Rose .301
#2 All-time hits 4,189 - Pete Rose #1 All-time 4,256
#2 All-time runs 2,246 - Pete Rose #5 All-time 2,156
#4 All-time steals 892 - Pete Rose 198
#5 All-time rbi's 1,937 - Pete Rose 1,314

Pete Rose had 746 doubles. Ty Cobb had 724 doubles.
Pete Rose had 14,053 at bats. Ty Cobb had 11,429 at bats.
That's 2,624 less at bats than Rose had with 22 less doubles.
I think it's fair to say that Cobb would get 22 more double with 2,624 more plate appearances.

Rose hit 160 home runs. Ty Cobb hit 117 in an era where the ball was often not visible and mangled by the 6th inning because they only used one ball back then.

Ty Cobb hit 297 triples. Rose hit 135 with 2,624 more plate appearances.

Ty Cobb struck out a measly 357 times out of 11,429 at bats.
1 out of 32 at bats.
Pete Rose struck out 1143 times out of 14,053 at bats.
1 out of 12 at bats.

In 1909 Ty Cobb became baseball's 1st and only "Quadruple Crown Winner. He led the league in hr's, rbi's, ba., and steals.
He won 12 batting titles and 9 in a row at one point.
He hit over .300 23 straight seasons.
Had 3 seasons over .400.

Pete Rose won 1 MVP in 1973. Had there been an MVP award during Ty Cobbs era he would have won no less than 12 of them.

You tell me who's better.

Answer 10

Rose was great. Cobb was good. Ortiz is nowhere close to their level yet granted he's a great POWER hitter but plain and simple Ted Williams is the best.