Who is the greatest baseball player of all time?

[Rad_Hazard]

I would tend to agree with what most people are saying here. Ruth is #1, Mays is definitely #2, and in my opinion, Williams is #3.

Third on the list is where the debate comes in, since we are mostly in agreement with Ruth and Mays at 1 and 2.

I like Williams at 3, but Gehrig, Musial, Bonds, Aaron, and Cobb all have an argument here.

Pitchers would be a fun 1,2,3 debate as well.

Mine would likely be:

1. Cy Young
2. Walter Johnson
3. (I'm going to get opposition here, but...) Nolan Ryan. Wild and unpredictable, but dominant on a level that is almost alien to us mere humans.

[RCMcKenzie]

Official answer- Babe Ruth

Honest answer- Jose Altuve

[Rad_Hazard]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

Official answer- Babe Ruth

Honest answer- Jose Altuve

I had to…

[RCMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by Rad_Hazard

I had to…

Very funny, he looks like him, and was almost as tall. When I was a kid, I would have said Terry Puhl.

[Jewish-collector]

It's all opinions. It's like asking who's the best dentist in a particular state or the best tax attorney in the state. Right ? Right.

[G1911]

That an issue is one of opinion, rather than of a strict true or false dichotomy, does not make that issue not worth discussing. Especially if it’s just a little fun for fans, though many very serious issues are also matters of opinion. Everyone knows there is not a strictly true definitive answer, because the question is one of weighting many factors in an arbitrary way.


For the top 3
Position Players:
Ruth
Mays
Cobb (can swap with Mays, picking between them I find very difficult)

I would probably put Williams somewhere around 5-10. If we ignored anything but hitting, he is ~2/3/4 with Cobb and Bonds (who I understand both writing off and counting very highly).

Pitchers are easier. I think the top 3 is a preference between balancing longevity and peak performance, but whichever way I lean at a particular time the top 3 are the same, just in a different order.
1. Cy Young
2. Walter Johnson
3. Lefty Grove

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Rad_Hazard

I would tend to agree with what most people are saying here. Ruth is #1, Mays is definitely #2, and in my opinion, Williams is #3.

Third on the list is where the debate comes in, since we are mostly in agreement with Ruth and Mays at 1 and 2.

I like Williams at 3, but Gehrig, Musial, Bonds, Aaron, and Cobb all have an argument here.

Pitchers would be a fun 1,2,3 debate as well.

Mine would likely be:

1. Cy Young
2. Walter Johnson
3. (I'm going to get opposition here, but...) Nolan Ryan. Wild and unpredictable, but dominant on a level that is almost alien to us mere humans.

I would tend to agree with #1 and #2. 3 is harder I agree. And you have a good discussion list at #3. Of those I would lean towards Aaron.

On the Pitchers I would have to think more on it but I would not put Nolan Ryan in the top 5. And you said the Reason why Wild and Unpredictable.