Which Player Do You Want?

[Fred]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Obviously, by this time everyone knows that Player A is Joe DiMaggio and player B is Mickey Mantle. After Mantle retired in 1969 baseball selected its’ all time team. the outfield: Ruth, Cobb and DiMaggio. In 1994, Ted Williams was asked to rank the greatest hitters ever. On his list DiMaggio was number 5, Mantle was number 12. I just think that after both have been long retired Mantle continues to get better relative to DiMaggio. This is just hitting. As a fielder DiMaggio was clearly better. Mantle was routinely replaced in late innings for defensive purposes. DiMaggio was the premier center fielder of his day.

Did Williams rate himself? If so, where did he rank himself?

It's hard to rank players from different eras, but there was that one year overlap for both of them. From a purely entertainment value I'd pick the Mick because he gave some great interviews! Both were great.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by Fred

Did Williams rate himself? If so, where did he rank himself?

It's hard to rank players from different eras, but there was that one year overlap for both of them. From a purely entertainment value I'd pick the Mick because he gave some great interviews! Both were great.

He did not

[Misunderestimated]

I would take Mantle since he played against tougher competition... Mantle's career coincided with the all-too-gradual integration of the "major leagues" and population growth that increased the potential pool of major league players....also more foreign born players especially Latin Americans were drawn into americas premier leagues -- the NL and the AL. The `spread of the majors from the northeast and the midwest across the entire US in the late 1950's also meant that the best players were no longer content to stay in the PCL or other regional leagues.
None of that's part of the statistical comparison exercise though.

I think that one of the reasons Mantle is increasingly regarded as being "greater" than DiMaggio is simply the declining number of living people who saw DiMaggio play or experienced him as something other than a handsome legend who doubled as "Mr. Coffee." DiMaggio's grace on the field and his persona as the the Yankee Clipper were integral to his greatness. This not really captured by the stats..His statistical legacy is mainly the 56-game streak.

[oldjudge]

..His statistical legacy is mainly the 56-game streak.

Brian--if in your mind this is DiMaggio's statistical legacy what is Mantle's?

[Misunderestimated]

Jay -
Mantle has nothing comparable as his legacy (who does?).. He doesn't hold any major records that I'm aware of and no numbers belong to him like 56 does for DiMaggio or 714 and 60 do for Ruth.

If I had to pick one its the Home Runs :
372 homers left-handed and 164 right-handed. He's probably the greatest switch hitter of all-time,