I suggested Pete Rose as potentially one.
I have Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose and Hank Aaron.
In no particular order.
I have Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose and Hank Aaron.
In no particular order.
Top 5 baseball players all time?
- Thread starter Spectrumalaska
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Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Pete Rose, Ted Williams and Roger Clemens. Save it with the Roids talk. Best ever is the best ever. Roids, amphetamines, corked bats, lower pitching mounds, etc…. These folks did what they did, in their era. Guys like Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, etc… are all part of the greatest stats hall of fame. Wish we could’ve seen them play.
Impossible to narrow it to 5! I can't really get invested in guys that didn't play in my lifetime, so I'd be more into listing guys in the last 25-30 years. Junior Griffey, Bonds, Jeter, Trout, Maddux, Big Unit, Pujols.... can't list A-Rod, just can't.
Rose
Bonds
Ryan
Ballgame
Mantle
way too many
Ichiro much higher on this list than many might think
Bonds
Ryan
Ballgame
Mantle
way too many
Ichiro much higher on this list than many might think
Haha ..
Top 5 is pretty much impossible. Hard to ignore recency bias and historical romanticism
I don't have him top 5, but I can see some putting him there. You obviously don't know his numbers, because they are pretty insane. Nobody will come come close to his stolen base record.
While I don’t put Henderson top 5, if you played 22 years and scored 100 runs each season, you’d still be short of Henderson by 95 runs.. insane
Babe Ruth has to be #1. Cy Young has to be on there. Give me Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, and probably Big Train to round it out.
It is impossible. It’s that way in every sport because you have players playing in completely different times and competitions. Look at Lebron the way he cry’s to officials could you imagine him playing against the Bad boys of Detroit. They would have had him in tears. Who knows what his game would have been like.
most hits all time
most careers ended in an all-star game all time
hard to argue
Ricky was my favorite player growing up - but if people are going to withhold votes for Bonds and McGwire for a particular reason … Ricky was right in the thick of it with Jose and Mark in Oakland.
I always like to mention Bob Feller and Ted Williams in these discussions, because of their military service. Williams basically lost five seasons of baseball serving in both WWII and the Korean War. Feller lost three seasons during WWII, and they were right in his elite prime years. If you account for those lost seasons, the numbers these two put up are astounding.
Of course a lot of players served in the military back in the day, but Williams and Feller stand out among them.
Of course a lot of players served in the military back in the day, but Williams and Feller stand out among them.
That era of pre and post WWII baseball is fascinating. If I had a time machine I'd go back and attend Williams' pro debut in 1939. It was at Yankees stadium and there were 12 current or future Hall of Famers there. 11 in the game and Babe Ruth watching. Williams batted .345 with 62 homers in 327 games vs the Yankees.
A tough question. I'll go with these four position players and one pitcher:
Babe Ruth
Ted Williams
Willie Mays
Hank Aaron
Walter Johnson
Honorable Mention:
Lou Gehrig
Ken Griffey Jr.
Ty Cobb
Barry Bonds
Greg Maddux
Why is babe Ruth in this? You all cry about the championships won by Yale and Minnesota from the 1940s and before that they don't matter, what makes the difference with him? He had a diet of whiskey and hot dogs, and had pitchers throwing 84MPH fastballs to him.
Seriously? He was the greatest fan draw in baseball history - by far - and revolutionized the game. He was the greatest player in baseball history and there should be absolutely no debate
So did everyone else at that time. In 1920, Ruth hit 54 dingers. Second was George Sisler, another hall of famer, with 19.
Ruth was on a different planet back then.