Which Player Do You Want?

[cgjackson222]

I think it's hard to make the case that DiMaggio was a better hitter than Mantle. Mantle was just much more dominant.
His black ink score is 62 to DiMaggio's 34.

Mantle led the League in Runs 5x, HRs 4x, OBP 3x, Slugging 4x, OPS 6x.
DiMaggio led the AL in Runs 1x, HRs 2x, OBP 0x, Slugging 1x, OPS 0x.

Mantle won the triple crown.

DiMaggio had 30 Stolen Bases in his career. Mantle had 23 in one season and 5x as many in his career.

Pretty much the only things DiMaggio had on Mantle was Batting Average (led the League 2x vs. Mantle's 1x), he never struck out, and he stayed healthier.

The exercise of comparing their career stats per 162 games is misleading because Mantle's body broke down and his career stats were watered down by his final years. It is almost as misleading as comparing their counting stats, which Mantle dominates.

Now if DiMaggio played at Fenway or some other place that was friendlier to Right Handers, maybe things would be different. Or if DiMaggio didn't serve in the military. But those are IFs.