Who are the greatest players ever?

[CuseCubFan69]

This kind of comparision is way too difficult IMO. Ali or Tyson....Brown or Payton...Chamberlin or Shaq it's just too hard to compare those types of players and ERA's. Great for debates though and my list of hitters is:

 

Ruth

Bonds

Cobb

T.Williams

Aaron

[OleMissCub]

This kind of comparision is way too difficult IMO. Ali or Tyson....Brown or Payton...Chamberlin or Shaq it's just too hard to compare those types of players and ERA's. Great for debates though and my list of hitters is:

 

Ruth

Bonds

Cobb

T.Williams

Aaron

 

thank you for getting this thread back on track

[Tim]

If you look at stats in college baseball, what you find is that the overall league averages are about the same as pro ball. However, you have the great players of college ball stand out with much, much greater clarity than you have in the pro game. That is because the disparity of talent is so big between the best players there and the average players there.

 

However, that does not mean that the best players in college ball are necessarily going to make a great player in MLB. It just means that when competing in a shallower talent pool they can stand out.

[BigbadB]

There are many valid points from both sides of this debate. I think the debate originally stemmed from my top 5 list, that only includes players from Aaron and Mays and prior.

 

I think there are great players in this generation. Albert Pujols is a guy who is well on his way up my list. However, my list wasn't taking into consideration park adjustments, player equivilencies or anything of that nature. My list is players that I feel dominated the game more than any other player in that era.

 

I could have put Barry Bonds on my list. He's certainly had an amazing career. However, he's been wearing body armor for the last umpteen years, which I think should be illegal. It's clearly given him a clear advantage over pitchers than Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth ever got. There is also admitted steroid use. While he only admitted to rubbing a little "skin cream" on his leg just once, his close buddy is involved in one of the biggest steroid scandals in history. Yes, innocent until proven guilty is the way it's supposed to be. But, in Bonds case, I have no mad desire to find him innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, the opposite exists. I was a huge fan of Tony Gwynn. He was a huge fan of Ted Williams. They both have things named after them here in San Diego (Ted Williams Parkway and Tony Gwynn Stadium where the SDSU Aztecs play baseball).

 

Roberto Clemente was a favorite of mine when I first started watching baseball. His career was too short, however.

 

I'm not a big fan of moving the fences in every few years to increase offense to promote more attendance. I'm a big fan of station to station baseball. But, it doesn't work in this day and age where the home run can be hit by any one of 8 guys starting on offense. Ty Cobb's style of play was what baseball was all about. Sacrifice yourself for the good of the team in whatever way possible. Steal 2nd, steal 3rd and steal home if it will win you a ball game. And there was no one better at the things he did. He wasn't a nice man. But, he's the greatest player in the history of the game, IMO.

 

If I was told I had to list someone from the recent era, then Rickey Henderson it is.

 

Where does Juan Marichal fit in on everyone's pitching list? He was always one of my favorites.