Posted By:
Rob D.Gee, Frank, you're brandishing the TSN poll like it's the definitive answer to a question that really can't be answered.
One flaw in putting all your eggs in the TSN-poll-basket is that many of the players you cite either broke into the majors during the dead-ball era and/or played the majority of their careers in that era. Given the fact that Ruth was a threat to that style of play and pretty much single-handedly changed the way the game was played -- or at least provided another successful style of playing baseball -- and Cobb epitomized the dead-ball era, is it really a surprise that your all-knowing collection of baseball people would pick Cobb over Ruth?
I'm not even debating whether Ruth or Cobb or Wagner should receive your mythical title of "best ever." All I'm suggesting is you don't rely so much on one poll conducted more than 60 years ago that obviously has its flaws to try to prove your point.