Posted By:
warshawlawRuth was the greatest player of all time. He could beat you on the mound and at the plate with HOF-caliber play. No one else has ever been able to do that. 714. .342, an RBI record that held up even longer than the HR record, a consecutive scoreless innings streak in the World Series. The man was the most complete ballplayer in history.
Anyone who leaves Lefty Grove off their top 5 list of pitchers...I dunno. He led the league in ERA 7 times, won 300 despite having a late start because Baltimore held him for a few years trying to run up his sale value, and has the highest winning % of all time. Also, where is Warren Spahn on a lot of these lists? 363 victories in the modern era. His 1965 Topps card is great because the lifetime stats on the back are eye-popping.
Koufax makes a lot of lists because for 5-6 years he was virtually unhittable, as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, etc. all say. Cumulative stats are sometimes misleading; was Fred McGriff a HOFer? I think many breathed a sigh of relief when he fell short of 500 HR. Would anyone prefer Don Sutton to Sandy Koufax on the mound?
As far as Mantle goes, what ifs are fun but still hypotheticals. What if Mantle had been a teetotaler with good knees? He might have blown out a knee anyhow, been killed in combat in Korea, etc. Williams lost prime years to two wars? Maybe. For all we know he might have been hit by a taxi cab and crippled (hey, a Boston cab hit Casey Stengel while he was managing the Braves). Feller might have blown out his elbow in 1942.