Who's the best hitter in MLB history?

[PotatoPeeler]

Babe Ruth was so far beyond any of his peers that it makes him the easy choice.

[Faroo6]

Pujols

[marc]

Babe Ruth, the last 2 years of Bonds BS has made this an easy choice, Ted Williams is #2 IMO.

[cooper_gd]

Freddie Patek (other)

[AnotherAlias]

Originally Posted by Ruthian23

If Bonds had never used anything illegal I still think he'd be among the all-time greats, but he wouldn't be what he is. On a purely statistical level, Bonds' last five full years have been as good as any five years in the history of baseball, in my view. However, given the steroids question, I think that it's clearly Ruth. I think that Ted Williams is right up there as well, as is Cobb.

An article I read presented these numbers as being what Barry might have had if he had not taken steroids:

barry without 'roids:
Hits = 2992
HRs = 680
RBI = 1979
games = 2936

BARRY with 'roids:
Hits = 2742
HRs = 708
RBI = 1853
games = 2742

Originally Posted by Bob Zupcic

Ted Williams.

Saw this one coming from a mile away.

Good work!

Originally Posted by KC

Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and all other scientific experiments should be taken out of consideration. That's just my opinion.

Good point. The Hall of Fame might need to erect a separate "Steroid Wing."

[AnotherAlias]

dola,

No Ross Gload option? This poll would never make the "Greatest Polls list."

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by AnotherAlias

An article I read presented these numbers as being what Barry might have had if he had not taken steroids:

barry without 'roids:
Hits = 2992
HRs = 680
RBI = 1979
games = 2936

BARRY with 'roids:
Hits = 2742
HRs = 708
RBI = 1853
games = 2742

Well, once again it hasn't been proven that Bonds has taken steroids, and allegations that he did show him taking them when they weren't forbidden by MLB rules. But we can discuss that elsewhere. What I wonder is how anyone can measure the effect of steroids, that one is ten miles over my head, and I'd like to know.

[Ruthian23]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

Well, once again it hasn't been proven that Bonds has taken steroids, and allegations that he did show him taking them when they weren't forbidden by MLB rules. But we can discuss that elsewhere. What I wonder is how anyone can measure the effect of steroids, that one is ten miles over my head, and I'd like to know.

Me, too. Maybe the article just took his career averages per season up until 1997 and pro-rated them until today? If that's the case, I think it's flawed to assume that he would have kept at his career averages at those ages. I think he'd likely have over 600 HR when he retired without steroids (just a guess), but those numbers seem a bit high to my naked eye. I'd like to see the article, though. (Usually I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt if it hasn't been proven, but the evidence is so strong with Bonds that I just can't. As for not being forbidden by MLB rules, this is true, but they were forbidden by USA law, which I think supercedes that. MLB shouldn't need to make rules banning things that are banned by the government, I don't think. That should be a given. To use a silly (and admittedly exaggerated) example, MLB doesn't need to have a specific rule banning murder in the clubhouse because murder is against the law.)

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by Ruthian23

MLB shouldn't need to make rules banning things that are banned by the government, I don't think. That should be a given. To use a silly (and admittedly exaggerated) example, MLB doesn't need to have a specific rule banning murder in the clubhouse because murder is against the law.)

Arrgh, I want to answer that, but I don't want to highjack this thread, and it's been discussed elsewhere before.

[Dagrims]

Originally Posted by efgn

About who speaks me?

You channelling Yoda?

Why not take some more time and include appropriate choices in the poll? There have been a number of threads on this topic in the past.

[abailey3313]

Originally Posted by Dagrims

You channelling Yoda?

Why not take some more time and include appropriate choices in the poll? There have been a number of threads on this topic in the past.

Because the more time wasted on this stupid poll, the less time he's able to dig up old topics and make stupid polls on that.

[Sandstorm3]

Best Hitter: Williams

Best Player: Cobb

[Jason Moyer]

Best Hitter: Josh Gibson
Best Player: Oscar Charleston

[jmaness84]

Originally Posted by Jason Moyer

Best Hitter: Josh Gibson
Best Player: Oscar Charleston

Racist

[Rasmuth]

all I know is Ted Williams lost around 6 season total due to 2 wars.....

if you're conservative and give him 30 homers per year and 175 hits per year...imagine his numbers then...let alone rbi and so on...

Babe Ruth was the best all around player ever...fantastic pitcher and great hitter, but Williams was the best pure hitter ever.

[Rasmuth]

heres an interesting article discussing war years and such...and also here is the stats projected for Williams....

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/war-begone/


Year G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
1939 149 565 131 185 44 11 31 *145 107 64 .327 .436 .609
1940 144 561 *134 193 43 14 23 113 96 54 .344 *.442 .594
1941 143 456 *135 185 33 3 37 120 *147 27 *.406 *.553 *.735
1942 150 525 *151 189 36 6 *51 *147 *154 56 *.361 *.505 *.740
1943 148 507 *145 187 36 6 *44 *135 *148 47 *.370 *.512 *.722
1944 148 514 *139 184 38 7 *39 *128 *148 46 *.358 *.502 *.683
1945 151 518 *137 179 38 8 *36 *122 *155 46 *.346 *.497 *.659
1946 150 514 *142 176 37 8 38 123 *156 44 .342 *.497 *.667
1947 156 528 *125 181 40 9 *32 *114 *162 47 *.343 *.499 *.634
1948 137 509 124 188 *44 3 25 127 *126 41 *.369 *.497 *.615
1949 150 566 *150 194 *39 3 *43 *159 *162 48 .343 *.490 *.650
1950 89 334 82 106 24 1 28 97 82 21 .317 .452 .647
1951 148 531 109 169 28 4 30 126 *144 45 .318 *.464 *.556
1952 138 480 *105 157 27 4 31 *119 *134 40 .327 *.473 *.596
1953 137 426 94 151 26 2 37 113 *125 38 *.354 *.500 *.685
1954 117 386 93 133 23 1 29 89 *136 32 .345 *.513 *.635
1955 98 320 77 114 21 3 28 83 91 24 .356 .496 .703
1956 136 400 71 138 28 2 24 82 102 39 .345 *.479 .605
1957 132 420 96 163 28 1 38 87 119 43 *.388 *.526 *.731
1958 129 411 81 135 23 2 26 85 98 49 *.328 *.458 .584
1959 103 272 32 69 15 0 10 43 52 27 .254 .372 .419
1960 113 310 56 98 15 0 29 72 75 41 .316 .451 .645

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
2966 10054 2409 3475 687 96 709 2429 2719 919 .346 .485 .645

[mlyons]

Originally Posted by Rasmuth

all I know is Ted Williams lost around 6 season total due to 2 wars.....

if you're conservative and give him 30 homers per year and 175 hits per year...imagine his numbers then...let alone rbi and so on...

Babe Ruth was the best all around player ever...fantastic pitcher and great hitter, but Williams was the best pure hitter ever.

How many plate appearances did Babe Ruth lose due to the Red Sox not playing him every day?

[jmaness84]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

Well, once again it hasn't been proven that Bonds has taken steroids, and allegations that he did show him taking them when they weren't forbidden by MLB rules. But we can discuss that elsewhere. What I wonder is how anyone can measure the effect of steroids, that one is ten miles over my head, and I'd like to know.

Have you seen how big his head has gotten? Literally your head is not supposed to grow from the ages of say 28-40.

[JDOldSchool]

Originally Posted by remangiii

Bonds with his steals and gold gloves is easily the best player in the group.

But what about Babe Ruth's 94 wins as a pitcher?

[Jason Moyer]

Originally Posted by jmaness84

Have you seen how small his testicles have gotten?

I can't say I've looked that closely.