Top 3 — Most Important

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Reflecting on this some more I think to be one of the three most important players your fame needs to transcend the sport. You have to be known to people who know nothing about baseball. To me that makes it clear that it is Ruth, Robinson and DiMaggio. While players like Mantle, Mays and Cobb were great, they really weren't household names outside of baseball. DiMaggio may not has been as great as Mays but he was certainly better known.

I completely agree with your thoughts and immediately felt the same way when the question was first posed. I don't think DiMaggio qualifies at this point in the game, however. If we had been asked this question 50-75 years ago, sure, but Joe D's potential place on this list has faded with time. Ruth and Robinson simply can't be argued to me. I chose Branch Rickey as my third because there would be no Robinson without him, and he was a player himself. I didn't mind letting him in on that technicality simply for the sheer magnitude of what he did later on.

It just dawned on me: has nobody mentioned Ted Williams?! He led a uniquely remarkable life in and out of the game. He might be a contender.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

I completely agree with your thoughts and immediately felt the same way when the question was first posed. I don't think DiMaggio qualifies at this point in the game, however. If we had been asked this question 50-75 years ago, sure, but Joe D's potential place on this list has faded with time. Ruth and Robinson simply can't be argued to me. I chose Branch Rickey as my third because there would be no Robinson without him, and he was a player himself. I didn't mind letting him in on that technicality simply for the sheer magnitude of what he did later on.

It just dawned on me: has nobody mentioned Ted Williams?! He led a uniquely remarkable life in and out of the game. He might be a contender.

You make a good point. For a long time DiMaggio's link to Marilyn Monroe, not to mention Mr Coffee and the Bowery Savings Bank, kept him a household name. However, since his passing his fame has faded somewhat. It is really a testament to Ruth and Robinson that their fame continues. I don't think Rickey should be on the list--very few in the general public know of him. I also don't think the Cobbs and the Wagners of the world ever deserved to be on the list. Perhaps the answer is that three was an arbitrary number and there is Ruth and Robinson and then no one else close.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Perhaps the answer is that three was an arbitrary number and there is Ruth and Robinson and then no one else close.

Overall responses on this thread seem to support that (although I haven't done an actual tally). A poll would be interesting...

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Overall responses on this thread seem to support that (although I haven't done an actual tally). A poll would be interesting...

Agreed. Seems near unanimous that Ruth and Robinson are 1 & 2 (I think in that order).

Regarding 3, I think it has to be either Cobb or Mantle.

While there are others who were important (Ricky) and/or bigger than life in their time (King Kelly), if asked to name 3 players who stopped playing before 1980, I think your average person would say Ruth, Robinson and then either Cobb or Mantle; maybe Mays or Aaron.