Kevin's Watch

ok who do you all think is the best baseball player of all time? this is all just opinion, i doubt any of us are truly able to make a decision like this for good. anyways, i am going to have to go with Babe Ruth. i know a lot of ppl probably assume im blinded by his home runs and legendary status. and some probably would say that babe ruth isnt as good as hank aaron because hank has the record for home runs. i say its the babe because of the amazing stats he put up in his career.

first i have to defend my view that he is the true home run king. the babe had 714 home runs as compared to hanks 755. here is what i think is why babe had less. seasons had less games back when babe played. also, he played for several years as a pitcher, giving him many less at bats in those seasons because he played less games. hank aaron had 12364 at bats. babe had 8399. a difference of roughly 4000 at bats. also, babe was walked 2056 times, the current record. these are times he didnt get to have a chance at a homer. hank was around 1,4??..i dont know the exact number. so, add another 500 or so chances for home runs. so hank had roughly 4500 more at bats than the babe did. in those 4500 at bats, i would definitely believe that the babe could have hit 42 more home runs to beat that record. actually, he had 11.8 at bats per home run...going by this, one could predict a conservative 200 more home runs. it took hank aaron 8612 at bats to get his 500th home fun. in less at bats, babe had 714. he also had a .342 batting average, which is in the top 10 best. hank had .305, still very good, but not to the babes standards. dont get me wrong, hank was in incredible baseball player, but i think babe was better and is the real home run king.

as a pitcher, the babe had a career ERA of 2.28, which is extremely good. this is better than the likes of Cy Young and Sandy Koufax. the only reason he was taken off the position of pitcher was because he hit so well, they wanted to put him in regular rotation every game so they could better benefit from his batting. too bad they didnt do this earlier. once moved to outfield, he was a solid defensive player.

all in all, i believe that this puts the babe on top as the best player in baseball history. rivals would include: Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Rogers Hornsby, and a few others.

for pitchers, my call is a little less clear, running between Christy Matthewson, Sandy Koufax, Ed Walsh and a few others here as well.

this is just my interpretation of statistics and my own opinions. who else would you say could be the best ever?

You gotta respect everything that Babe Ruth accomplished, both as a hitter and pitcher. But as far as pure hitters, I like to look at batting averages, slugging percentages, and on-base percentages. So, you can't overlook Ty Cobb, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig.

As far as pitching, Cy Young of course. Also, Walter Johnson's 110 shutouts had to make him one of the most dominiating pitchers of all time!

I'll give you two possiblities that few will agree with but the numbers are there; Pete Rose and Rickey Henderson. You've got to repect a guy with the nickname Charlie Hustle, a guy who invented the head first slide, and the man who will forever own the all time hit record. I don't care if he gambled. Rickey on the other hand leads in 3 or 4 categories alltime although most people don't realize it.

I dunno... The catcher... Dan something, from the Mariners... he's kinda cute. I'll have to go with him.

That's right TLF, cos any sportsman's ability is directly proportional to his level of cuteness.....that's why Joe Montana was soooooo great, cos he had the cutest blue eyes and the nicest bu........he played very good.

But wait a minute.....Joe played football.

Kevin Costner or Robert Redford. Oh, wait, you mean real players, don't you?

Somebody keep these silly Aussies o/o the baseball threads! Barry Bonds is quickly craving out his place--no 1 else has stolen 500 bases and hit over 500 home runs (in fact no one else is in the 400/400 club).

Its the Aussie invasion Danlo....better learn to live with it

Kinslaughterer wrote:I'll give you two possiblities that few will agree with but the numbers are there; Pete Rose and Rickey Henderson. You've got to repect a guy with the nickname Charlie Hustle, a guy who invented the head first slide, and the man who will forever own the all time hit record. I don't care if he gambled. Rickey on the other hand leads in 3 or 4 categories alltime although most people don't realize it.

You're right about Pete Rose. No matter whether he gambled or not, it shouldn't take away from everything he accomplised on the diamond.

He should be in the Hall of Fame. period.

Rickey Henderson, Teddy Ballgame, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds (is the best NOW), Cy Young, and many more greats.

Is Teddy Ballgame Boston slang 4 Ted Williams? I never heard that b4...

You got it right. I'm not form Boston though, just a baseball fan. Teddy Ballgame, the Splendid Splinter, nobody could outhit Williams

Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Yep, Teddy Ballgame is Williams! Really hurt for me when he died..

Wow, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Willie Mays. Check his stats sometime. And don't forget what a fabulous fielder he was. The Say Hey kid.

Until all the injuries, Junior Griffey had a shot at being the greatest all time. I don't see that happening now, with basically three years lost to injury.

As for Pete Rose, he was average defensively, and had average speed. His accomplishment of passing Cobb is one more of endurance and longevity. He retired with his career average at just above .300. That doesn't come close to Cobb or a lot of other players. He's remarkable because he played effectively well into his forties. Of course, being the manager helped a lot in keeping him in the ball game.

Aaron falls in the Rose category. His accomplishment is remarkable based on his longevity, and the number of very productive years he had. You can't take that away from him, but his numbers pale in comparison to Ruth when you look at the frequency with which he hit his homers. Also, surprisingly, Ruth had a much higher overall batting average.

So my vote would go to Willie Mays, as the total package of defense, power and speed.

IMNSHO.

Griffey Jr's gonna make the Hall of Fame.

I forgot Mays and Ty Cobb!

As a Seattle native, I grew up watching Griffey play at his best. He played the game so well because he loved it so much. He played loose but intensely. He made impossible plays look effortless and was amazing to watch. Just like Ichiro does now.

But something happened to Griffey in the late 90's, his attitude became petty, whiny, and moody... and even worse he tightened up on the field. After complaining how he never got enough love and respect from a city that practically worshipped him, he orchestrated his own trade to Cinicinnati. But his attitude there only got worse, and I think his bad attitude had a lot to do with the way he played, and ultimately, his injuries.

If he is ever going to have a chance to regain any of his former glory and make it into the Hall of Fame, he is going to have to find a way to loosen up and just enjoy playing the game the way he did in Seattle. It's sad because he really was the real deal.

Three words - Cal Ripken Jr.

Although I'm kinda biased, being from Baltimore and all, heh.

Plus, I pratically grew up watching Cal play.

Seriously, though, Cal had more class playing the game of baseball then a hundred of current players added up together.-jay

Yeah, he was awesome. Just the record he holds alone guarantees a place in the Hall of Fame. But, he was stil a great player.