Best Baseball Player Ever (Hitter)

[scotty21690]

Honus Wagner

Caleb, may I ask why you chose him? Ty Cobb is [IMO] 10x better than Wagner, and I would put Tris Speaker above Wagner as well....would like to hear your reasoning though..

During his time he retired with more of everything except Home runs than ANY other NL player...won 8 batting titles and batted 300 17 straight years

Thanks man....I respect your opinion but Ty Cobb is ahead of Honus Wagner is every offensive catagory.

 

[Incline Investments]

Statistics wise (completely leaving out the steroid ********) I think the only possible choice is Bonds. His numbers are absolutely insane, especially if you take into account how many legit pitches he got to hit.

Without Bonds, I'd go Williams, followed by Aaron.

 

[hive17]

Williams without even thinking about it. In fact, I like this question, because it generally leads to even more examples that I wasn't aware of or wouldn't have thought of on why Teddy was the best hitter ever.

Just think what could have been...

 

[jeremy]

ty cobb leads williams in every stat besides home runs

Probably wouldn't if he hadn't missed the years for the war.

Most projections say that war years included Williams would have hit between 700-710 home runs.

i dont think he gets 2000 more hits

 

[jeremy]

ty cobb leads williams in every stat besides home runs

Probably wouldn't if he hadn't missed the years for the war.

Most projections say that war years included Williams would have hit between 700-710 home runs.

i dont think he gets 2000 more hits

leading your team to 3 straight pennats should count for something

 

[fengzhang]

Thought this would be an interesting topic and I haven't seen it on here before. Who do you think was the best hitter ever? This is overall (contact, power, speed, fielding, arm). If you voted other, please specify.

I think you're asking two different questions in the title vs. your post. From your title, I was about to vote Babe Ruth but your question seems to be asking for the best overall player (taking into account speed, defense, etc.). In that case, Bonds would be my answer: 600 HR's, 500 stolen bases, .300 batting average, 8 Gold Gloves, 3 MVP's, 2000 walks, close to 2000 RBI's, 2000 runs scored=most complete player ever.

Comparing across generations is really hard but I would take Barry in his prime against pitchers of any era. There was a great article about the at bat against Gagne when Gagne was throwing 101.

Was this the epic extra-innings at-bat where Bonds fouled off some ridiculous fast-balls from Gagne, worked out a walk, stole a base (ended up being his 500th stolen base, making him the first 500/500 player in the history of Major League Baseball), and then scored the winning run on Benito Santiago base hit? (this was all when Gagne was absolutely untouchable) That's the only at-bat I remember b/w Bonds and Gagne.

 

[abncollectsautos]

i picked bonds, maybe not everyones favorite, but no one can say he wasnt the best of the past 50 or so years, maybe ever. might not have been succesful back in the 20's and 30's with babe, but babe might not have been as good now.

 

[JoshB.]

Thought this would be an interesting topic and I haven't seen it on here before. Who do you think was the best hitter ever? This is overall (contact, power, speed, fielding, arm). If you voted other, please specify.

Also what does fielding or arm have to do with hitting?

I just meant best player, not including pitchers. Sorry, I didn't know of a better way to put it.

 

[sportscardtheory]

Comparing across generations is really hard but I would take Barry in his prime against pitchers of any era. There was a great article about the at bat against Gagne when Gagne was throwing 101.

...and they were both juiced.

hand/eye coordination to hit the baseball doesn't have a thing to do with power or bulk created from steroids.

Sadly, that is a common misconception that many uninformed tend to agree with.

 

[carlitoson]

I voted Gehrig. His numbers are very comparable to Williams with a few hundred fewer plate appearances (Ted has a lot more walks). Lou had more hits, doubles, triples, RBI. We've all seen how much Ted Williams' hitting ability is worshipped by fans, but I think if Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, etc. were still around to "defend themselves", not everyone would be publicly proclaiming Williams as the all-time best.

Unfortunately, when we think of Gehrig, we think of his illness first. When we think of those Yankee teams, we think of Babe Ruth first. Besides that, Lou is my all-time favorite player.

 

[[email protected]]

ty cobb leads williams in every stat besides home runs

Probably wouldn't if he hadn't missed the years for the war.

Most projections say that war years included Williams would have hit between 700-710 home runs.

i dont think he gets 2000 more hits

There was only about 1500 difference...also Cobb played 5 more seasons...

 

[fengzhang]

[quote="JoshB.":1a3e937z]Thought this would be an interesting topic and I haven't seen it on here before. Who do you think was the best hitter ever? This is overall (contact, power, speed, fielding, arm). If you voted other, please specify.

Also what does fielding or arm have to do with hitting?

I just meant best player, not including pitchers. Sorry, I didn't know of a better way to put it.[/quote:1a3e937z]

Tools-wise, the player in your sig (Vladimir Guerrero) probably beats Bonds. He had a much better arm, more of a high average hitter, similar power, and good speed. Unfortunately, none of those skills became refined. Guerrero continued to swing at pitches 2 feet outside. He never became a spectacular base runner. And his fielding is atrocious so despite the arm he never had a chance at a Gold Glove. He's still one of my favorite players but honestly, he could've been even better than Bonds.

 

[sportscardtheory]

I went with Ted Williams. I personally only give true merit to players that played after segregation in baseball was abolished. Of those players, Williams is clearly the best of the best, and if he hadn't lost many years fighting for our country in the war, it would be even MORE obvious how above everyone else he was (and still is).

 

[[email protected]]

I am actually surprised no one voted for Willie Mays....If he hadn't lost years in the service, he would have beaten the Babe's HR record before Aaron..

 

[soccerman034]

Its Ruth, and its not close (at least for me). For those that want to use the Korean War argument for Williams, how about the fact that Ruth lost 5 years to pitching :?:

Ruth is essentially 0.01 % percentage points away from Williams career OBP (which is the best in history). Williams had 12 OBP titles, and Ruth had 10....its much closer than you think, at least from the getting on base viewpoint.

Ruth's career slugging percentage is 0.055 percentage points better than Williams....he had 13 SLG% titles to Williams 9.

I could go on and on and on in terms of stats, but I really don't think there is a correct answer to this poll. One of the big misconceptions about Williams was that he didn't have a hole in his swing...look at his platoon splits against lefties (granted its a small sample size, but still, eye opening). You also have to remember that Fenway was an extremely favorable hitters park back then (as it still is), and although Williams has fairly even home/road splits, you have got to wonder how the favorable hitting conditions helped his game.

 

[[email protected]]

Its Ruth, and its not close (at least for me). For those that want to use the Korean War argument for Williams, how about the fact that Ruth lost 5 years to pitching :?:

Ruth is essentially 0.01 % percentage points away from Williams career OBP (which is the best in history). Williams had 12 OBP titles, and Ruth had 10....its much closer than you think, at least from the getting on base viewpoint.

Ruth's career slugging percentage is 0.055 percentage points better than Williams....he had 13 SLG% titles to Williams 9.

I could go on and on and on in terms of stats, but I really don't think there is a correct answer to this poll. One of the big misconceptions about Williams was that he didn't have a hole in his swing...look at his platoon splits against lefties (granted its a small sample size, but still, eye opening). You also have to remember that Fenway was an extremely favorable hitters park back then (as it still is), and although Williams has fairly even home/road splits, you have got to wonder how the favorable hitting conditions helped his game.

Very nice post....I was torn between Ruth and Williams, but had to give it to Ted.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I'm trying to figure out your third sentence - are we to consider fielding and arm - if so we're talking complete player incl. fielding and then Joe D. would (or maybe should) receive the most votes.

Thought this would be an interesting topic and I haven't seen it on here before. Who do you think was the best hitter ever? This is overall (contact, power, speed, fielding, arm). If you voted other, please specify.

 

[JoshB.]

I'm trying to figure out your third sentence - are we to consider fielding and arm - if so we're talking complete player incl. fielding and then Joe D. would (or maybe should) receive the most votes.

Thought this would be an interesting topic and I haven't seen it on here before. Who do you think was the best hitter ever? This is overall (contact, power, speed, fielding, arm). If you voted other, please specify.

I knew this would be confusing haha. What I mean is the best overall baseball player ever- not including pitchers. I didn't want to get into comparing pitchers and hitters. So yes, I'm including fielding, arm, and each of the 5 tools.

 

[soccerman034]

Its Ruth, and its not close (at least for me). For those that want to use the Korean War argument for Williams, how about the fact that Ruth lost 5 years to pitching :?:

Ruth is essentially 0.01 % percentage points away from Williams career OBP (which is the best in history). Williams had 12 OBP titles, and Ruth had 10....its much closer than you think, at least from the getting on base viewpoint.

Ruth's career slugging percentage is 0.055 percentage points better than Williams....he had 13 SLG% titles to Williams 9.

I could go on and on and on in terms of stats, but I really don't think there is a correct answer to this poll. One of the big misconceptions about Williams was that he didn't have a hole in his swing...look at his platoon splits against lefties (granted its a small sample size, but still, eye opening). You also have to remember that Fenway was an extremely favorable hitters park back then (as it still is), and although Williams has fairly even home/road splits, you have got to wonder how the favorable hitting conditions helped his game.

Very nice post....I was torn between Ruth and Williams, but had to give it to Ted.

Its really tough to truly compare across decades....although Williams played in a time that was fairly close to when Ruth played, it was still a completely different game.

 

[Anthony K.]

I'm trying to figure out your third sentence - are we to consider fielding and arm - if so we're talking complete player incl. fielding and then Joe D. would (or maybe should) receive the most votes.

[quote="JoshB.":1nlxmlx2]Thought this would be an interesting topic and I haven't seen it on here before. Who do you think was the best hitter ever? This is overall (contact, power, speed, fielding, arm). If you voted other, please specify.

I knew this would be confusing haha. What I mean is the best overall baseball player ever- not including pitchers. I didn't want to get into comparing pitchers and hitters. So yes, I'm including fielding, arm, and each of the 5 tools.[/quote:1nlxmlx2]

If you are indeed looking for the BEST 5 tool player in the HISTORY of the game, no one should look further then Barry Lamar Bonds.

Steroids or not, he had made his case BEFORE his was accused of steroids (or starting to take steroids) by being in the 400/400 club.

I will argue for eternity that he is the BEST player of all time. The most COMPLETE player of all time.

His 500/500 club will most likely stand the of time (Hanley COULD challenge it, but he needs to start hitting 40 homers a year).

Love him or hate him, he is the greatest player of the live ball era EASILY (even better then Pujols).