Top 5 Baseball Players of All Time - Name yours

Volver

Since we have had many discussions about overrated players, the HOF and MVPs I wanted to see who is included in your top 5 players of all time. Any position, any era and for any reason you desire. Lets see what players appears most often.

In no order

Lou Gehrig
Babe Ruth
Willie Mays
Hank Aaron
Barry Bonds (I know I will get love for that one)

StevenJackson39

wheres Williams??

In no order

Williams
Mantle
Ruth
Rose
Ryan

grote15

In no particular order, and off the top of my head (post 1900):

Ty Cobb
Babe Ruth
Ted Williams
Willie Mays
Mickey Mantle

Volver

I thought about Williams, but I would have ranked Dimaggio ahead of Ted anyways.

Believe me I am a Ted fan - wanted to name my first kid Williams (wife said no) but this is the Top 5

1420sports

Kelly Leak could have been one of the best ever

perkdog

In no order as well,

Mays
Ted Williams
Joe Dimaggio
Lou Gehrig
Barry Bonds

Volver

I did see Nolan Ryan and Pete Rose discussed in the most overrated thread. Interesting how we see the same thing different.

perkdog

<< <i><<Kelly Leak could have been one of the best ever>>


Sure, in little league. But when I think of the greatest lost potential at the major league level, only one name comes to mind...Roy Hobbs!!! >>




I dont know who Hobbs is but surely Josh Gibson needs to be at the top of a lost potential list.

stevek

This list is definitive and is really not debatable.

1. Babe Ruth
2. Ty Cobb
3. Willie Mays
4. Ted Williams
5 - 15 is a blanket of around 10 players

Again...the top four are case closed!

PS: I can see #2, 3 and 4 being different on some lists even though that would be incorrect, but anyone who doesn't have Babe Ruth at #1 should be summarily dismissed from this forum and banished forever to the Beckett forum.

Volver

Anyone know who hit behind Gehrig?

Goot

<< <i>

<< <i><<Kelly Leak could have been one of the best ever>>


Sure, in little league. But when I think of the greatest lost potential at the major league level, only one name comes to mind...Roy Hobbs!!! >>




I dont know who Hobbs is but surely Josh Gibson needs to be at the top of a lost potential list. >>





Roy Hobbs is the main character from The Natural, my favorite movie of all time.

grote15

Anyone know who hit behind Gehrig?

Bob Meusel

perkdog

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i><<Kelly Leak could have been one of the best ever>>


Sure, in little league. But when I think of the greatest lost potential at the major league level, only one name comes to mind...Roy Hobbs!!! >>




I dont know who Hobbs is but surely Josh Gibson needs to be at the top of a lost potential list. >>





Roy Hobbs is the main character from The Natural, my favorite movie of all time. >>




Gotcha!

grote15

Is no one going to throw Honus in anywhere?

He's definitely #6 in my book, or #5a, however you want to look at it.

Interesting all players being mentioned are position players so far.

stevek

<< <i>stevek seems to have an interesting and viable take on the matter, though I am worried about his ability to count. Also, I tend to not think of Mays as highly as many others do.

Is no one going to throw Honus in anywhere? >>




I just think #5 is too tough to pick any one player who overall stands out from the others. If I gotta choose #5, I go with Dimaggio - he would be a solid #5, perhaps even #3 if not for a shorter career.

stevek

<< <i>I didn't mean that. I agree it's really tough to pick that 5th spot. I was just being a smart ass about the fact that 5-15 is 11 players, not 10. >>




That's what I get for dropping out of high school to pursue a career as a baseball player. And I would have made the big leagues if I could just hit a curve ball.



and a fast ball, and a breaking ball.....LOL

grote15

That's what I get for dropping out of high school to pursue a career as a baseball player. And I would have made the big leagues if I could just hit a curve ball.



and a fast ball, and a breaking ball.....LOL

Word has it that you could get around that screwball, though, Steve!

Blackborder

Ruth
Mays
Walter Johnson
Cobb
Williams

dallasactuary

<< <i>Is no one going to throw Honus in anywhere? >>


It ain't a top 5 without him.

In order:

Ruth
Wagner
Mays
Johnson
Williams

Blackborder

<< <i>

<< <i>Is no one going to throw Honus in anywhere? >>


It ain't a top 5 without him.

In order:

Ruth
Wagner
Mays
Johnson
Williams >>



Wagner's overrated.

Darin

Babe Ruth
Ty Cobb
Willie Mays
Honus Wagner
Joe DiMaggio

If Volver had asked, best hitters, instead of best players, I would include Ted Williams in the top five.

BobaFett72

this is in no particular order, but i think Ruth is #1. Ted Williams missed 5 seasons worth of prime stats; his final career numbers would be mind boggling.

Ruth
Teddy Ballgame
Honus Wagner
Willie Mays
Ty Cobb/Hank Aaron

My personal top 5, throwing stats out the window....

Jim Thome
Dale Murphy
Joe Carter
Omar Vizquel
Carl Yastremski

cheeks

Good point about Williams missing 5 prime years . He was a Marine Corp. fighter pilot in WWll and Korea. No telling what his final stats would have been. Mays also lost a couple of prime years during Korea. I will always be a Mantle backer but I really wonder what Williams could have accomplished in those five years when he was at his best. The splendid splinter should definitely be in the top 5. Even Mantle said Williams was the best hitter in baseball. Mantle did not have the durability of Aaron, Bank, Williams or Mays, but in his prime he was the fastest and most powerful slugger in baseball.

WinPitcher

mario mendoza

ray oyler

bud harrelson

pepe frias

choo choo coleman


that is my list and I'm sticking to it.


Steve

baseballfan

ruth
cobb
mays
williams
c. young

honorable mention
aaron
w. johnson
rose
bonds (mvp's before thoughts of enhancement use)

dallasactuary

<< <i>ray oyler >>



Hit .135 as the regular shortstop for a WS winning team - and he wasn't a good fielder. One of baseball's true oddities.

MantleMarisFordBerra

Surprised to see how many of you include no pitchers on your lists. I also think it's odd not too many players from the last 40 years (Bonds, Rose, Ryan are all I saw, and I agree with none of those choices). Not to derail the htread, but to be serious about it I really think you need to have two versions, top 5 pitchers & top 5 non-pitchers. Here's mine:

Non-pitchers
1-Ruth
2-Cobb
3-Williams
4-Wagner
5- tie:Aaron/Mays

in a few years we may have to add Pujols to this list

Pitchers
1-W. Johnson
2-Clemens
3-Matthewson
4-Koufax
5-hard to pick a fifth, R.Johnson, W.Sphan, C.Young, B.Gibson,N.Ryan,G.Maddox, G.P.Alexander, who can pick?

mikeschmidt

I know she wasn't a baseball player, but I think Efra Manley is heads above any actual individual player who was on the field and should have a Hall of Fame all of her own.

markj111

I realize that we all have our biases, but I find it impossible to take seriously anyone who puts Ryan or Rose in the top five. Ryan is not even in the top twenty of the greatest pitchers of all time.

Top ten all time in win shares:

1. Ruth
2. Cobb
3. Bonds (does not include 2006 season)
4. Wagner
5. Aaron
6. Mays
7. Young
8. Speaker
9. Musial
10. Collins

markj111

I found a list of the top 100 according to Win Shares. It differs from the first. Note that Rose is #33 and Ryan is MIA.

1 Babe  Ruth 26 R.Henderson 51 Sandy Koufax
2 Honus Wagner 27 Pop Lloyd 52 Smokey Joe Williams
3 Willie Mays 28 Mel Ott 53 Roy Campanella
4 Oscar Charleston 29 Jimmie Foxx 54 Tony Gwynn
5 Ty  Cobb 30 George Brett 55 Robin Yount
6 Mickey Mantle 31 Mark McGwire 56 Bob Feller
7 Ted Williams 32 Jackie Robinson 57 Reggie Jackson
8 Walter  Johnson 33 Pete Rose 58 Ryne Sandberg
9 Josh Gibson 34 Eddie Mathews 59 C Gerhinger
10 Stan Musial 35 Craig Biggio 60 Wade Boggs
11 Tris Speaker 36 Warren Spahn 61 Eddie Murray
12 Henry Aaron 37 Carl Yastrzemski 62 Johnny Mize
13 Joe DiMaggio 38 Tom Seaver 63 H Killebrew
14 Lou Gerhig 39 Arky Vaughan 64 Rod Carew
15 Joe Morgan 40 Nap Lajoie 65 Buck Leonard
16 Barry Bonds 41 Yogi Berra 66 Joe Jackson
17 Satchel Paige 42 C Mathewson 67 Cristoba Torriente
18 Eddie Collins 43 Mule Suttles 68 Hank Greenberg
19 Lefty Grove 44 Johnny Bench 69 Willie McCovey
20 Pete Alexander 45 Jeff Bagwell 70 Home Run Baker
21 Mike Schmidt 46 Bob Gibson 71 Al Simmons
22 Rogers  Hornsby 47 Kid Nichols 72 M Cochrane
23 Cy Young 48 Cal Ripken 73 Ken Griffey, Jr.
24 Frank Robinson 49 Roger Clemens 74 R Clemente
25 Turkey Stearns 50 Duke Snider 75 Frank Thomas


76 Cool Papa Bell
77 Ernie Banks
78 Steve Carlton
79 Mike Piazza
80 Roberto Alomar
81 Tim Raines
82 Willie Stargell
83 Three Finger Brown
84 Paul Waner
85 Minnie Minoso
86 Willie Wells
87 Ron Santo
88 Frankie Frisch
89 Sam Crawford
90 Al Kaline
91 B Robinson
92 Greg Maddux
93 Barry Larkin
94 Carl Hubbell
95 Martin Dihigo
96 Robin Roberts
97 Carlton Fisk
98 Kirby Puckett
99 Ed Delahanty
100 Billy Williams


  
  

bigfische

not in order, just my top five today, it could be different if you ask me tomorrow.

Ruth
Williams
Musial
Aaron
Mathewson

bigfische

<< <i>I found a list of the top 100 according to Win Shares. It differs from the first. Note that Rose is #33 and Ryan is MIA.

1 Babe  Ruth 26 R.Henderson 51 Sandy Koufax
2 Honus Wagner 27 Pop Lloyd 52 Smokey Joe Williams
3 Willie Mays 28 Mel Ott 53 Roy Campanella
4 Oscar Charleston 29 Jimmie Foxx 54 Tony Gwynn
5 Ty  Cobb 30 George Brett 55 Robin Yount
6 Mickey Mantle 31 Mark McGwire 56 Bob Feller
7 Ted Williams 32 Jackie Robinson 57 Reggie Jackson
8 Walter  Johnson 33 Pete Rose 58 Ryne Sandberg
9 Josh Gibson 34 Eddie Mathews 59 C Gerhinger
10 Stan Musial 35 Craig Biggio 60 Wade Boggs
11 Tris Speaker 36 Warren Spahn 61 Eddie Murray
12 Henry Aaron 37 Carl Yastrzemski 62 Johnny Mize
13 Joe DiMaggio 38 Tom Seaver 63 H Killebrew
14 Lou Gerhig 39 Arky Vaughan 64 Rod Carew
15 Joe Morgan 40 Nap Lajoie 65 Buck Leonard
16 Barry Bonds 41 Yogi Berra 66 Joe Jackson
17 Satchel Paige 42 C Mathewson 67 Cristoba Torriente
18 Eddie Collins 43 Mule Suttles 68 Hank Greenberg
19 Lefty Grove 44 Johnny Bench 69 Willie McCovey
20 Pete Alexander 45 Jeff Bagwell 70 Home Run Baker
21 Mike Schmidt 46 Bob Gibson 71 Al Simmons
22 Rogers  Hornsby 47 Kid Nichols 72 M Cochrane
23 Cy Young 48 Cal Ripken 73 Ken Griffey, Jr.
24 Frank Robinson 49 Roger Clemens 74 R Clemente
25 Turkey Stearns 50 Duke Snider 75 Frank Thomas


76 Cool Papa Bell
77 Ernie Banks
78 Steve Carlton
79 Mike Piazza
80 Roberto Alomar
81 Tim Raines
82 Willie Stargell
83 Three Finger Brown
84 Paul Waner
85 Minnie Minoso
86 Willie Wells
87 Ron Santo
88 Frankie Frisch
89 Sam Crawford
90 Al Kaline
91 B Robinson
92 Greg Maddux
93 Barry Larkin
94 Carl Hubbell
95 Martin Dihigo
96 Robin Roberts
97 Carlton Fisk
98 Kirby Puckett
99 Ed Delahanty
100 Billy Williams


  
   >>



I dont know what Win Shares is but Mathewson is not on there top Forty players? Thats crap, they must undervalue the pitchers most important stat: ERA. Wins and strikeouts are both imprtant but wins are dependant on your team scoring runs, and strikeouts are cool and all, but if you cant pitch out of trouble, induce ground balls, and not walk people, those strikeouts are not really going to mean much.

bri2327

Ruth
Gehrig
Williams
Mays
Mantle


I only names position players. Pitchers should be an entirely different thread.

jaxxr

Position Players, You can't just say hitters, because defense and baserunning count.
1. ....Ruth, 2. (tie) Cobb, Mays, Williams. then at a very slightly lesser but distinct level...5 Gehrig. 6. Wagner. 7. DiMaggio. 8. Musial. 9. (tie) Aaron, Henderson, Mantle.

Pitchers
1. (tie) Walter Johnson and Lefty Grove, 3. Ed Walsh 4. Alexander 5. Koufax 6. Hubbell 7. Mathewson 8. Seaver 9. (tie) Brown, Marichal, Young

Only retired players ranked, and I do believe Rickey Henderson the all time stolen base and all time runs scored leader ( walks too until Bonds ), has finally retired. Thus no formal consideration of Bonds and Arod, or Pedro M. and Roger C.

Everything is subjective of course, although, I am very opinionated/confident of my top four positon players and the top two pitchers.

dallasactuary

bigfische - Win Shares definitely does not undervalue ERA; earned runs allowed is essentially the only thing considered in the method, along with how long a pitcher maintained his level. That, and putting the ERA in the context of when and where the games were played.

Christy Mathewson was a great pitcher, but his ERA is seriously impacted by the time he played. Mathewson's 1.43 ERA in 1908, for example, was nowhere near as impressive as Kevin Brown's 1.89 in 1996, or even as impressive as Bret Saberhagen's 2.16 in 1989. Mathewson had a lot more great seasons than Brown and Saberhagen and they aren't in his league overall, but neither was Mathewson in the same league as Johnson and Grove. He was to Walter Johnson what Mel Ott was to Babe Ruth.

Volver

Win Shares had Gehrig at 14 and Joe Morgan - I will have to kindly disagree. And who the heck is Oscar Charleston at #4

dallasactuary

<< <i><<And who the heck is Oscar Charleston at #4 >>


He was a negro league ball player and I have no idea how "win shares" would even calculate his achievements. >>



It doesn't. James just guessed where the top 10 or so Negro Leaguers would fall, and he doesn't pretend it's anything other than a guess.

bigfische

<< <i>bigfische - Win Shares definitely does not undervalue ERA; earned runs allowed is essentially the only thing considered in the method, along with how long a pitcher maintained his level. That, and putting the ERA in the context of when and where the games were played.

Christy Mathewson was a great pitcher, but his ERA is seriously impacted by the time he played. Mathewson's 1.43 ERA in 1908, for example, was nowhere near as impressive as Kevin Brown's 1.89 in 1996, or even as impressive as Bret Saberhagen's 2.16 in 1989. Mathewson had a lot more great seasons than Brown and Saberhagen and they aren't in his league overall, but neither was Mathewson in the same league as Johnson and Grove. He was to Walter Johnson what Mel Ott was to Babe Ruth. >>



Im not trying to be an a$$, but shouldnt Pedro Martinez be way up on this list then? his career era is very impressive compared to his peers. I might have missed him but i didnt see him on the top 100 at all.

ziggy29

<< <i>Sure, in little league. But when I think of the greatest lost potential at the major league level, only one name comes to mind...Roy Hobbs!!! >>

As far as lost potential goes, I'll go with someone who is an all-time great anyway: Mickey Mantle.

There may be no telling how much greater he could have been had the knee injuries and alcohol problems not entered the picture. And that's frightening because even WITH those impediments The Mick was one of the best ever...

estang

1. Babe Ruth
2. Ted Williams
3. Lou Gehrig
4. Walter Johnson
5. Ty Cobb

dallasactuary

<< <i>Im not trying to be an a$$, but shouldnt Pedro Martinez be way up on this list then? his career era is very impressive compared to his peers. I might have missed him but i didnt see him on the top 100 at all. >>


James published this list after the 2000 season; even then, Martinez is pretty high up on the list of the top 100 pitchers, but at that point wasn't close to one of the overall 100 greatest players with barely 1,500 innings pitched.

Stingray

Cobb
Ruth
Young
Gehrig
Williams

GlynRParson

Babe Ruth
Barry Bonds
Ty Cobb
Walter Johnson
Willie Mays

cheeks

1. RUTH
2.MANTLE
3. WILLIAMS
4.MAYS
5.DIMAGGIO or MUSIAL

Mickey71

Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, & Walter Johnson, I know that Williams was in the top couple as a hitter, but was a terrible baserunner and fielder. If you were a manager and had to put someone in the outfield and bat 4th who do you start mays or williams.--Mays all day long. Thanks guys.