GreyWolf

Babe Ruth, Ted Williams top list of 10 greatest hitters ever - Joe Posnanski - SI.com

I read this article with interest. I didn't have a lot complaints about the final 4, but I would change the order. I'd actually have Bonds #2, Gehrig #3, and Williams #4. Williams was great, unquestionably, but Gehrig was just the epitome of consistency. Bonds... well, steroids or not, the man was the most feared hitter in history. It used to disgust me when they would deliberately walk him in the lead-off position, or even deliberately load the bases with less than 2 out. Took a lot out of the game for me. And Ruth... he has to be the number one simply for the legend aspect, if nothing else.

__________________
The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.

Glory's Sun

Teddy for #1. Nobody has ever matched him.

thirdsun

Ted, no doubt.

If he can stay healthy, Pujols just might become the greatest batter of all time (already of our time), and he's only 9 seasons into his career. Best lifetime BA of any active player at .334 and best all-around active player in MLB. His accomplishments are pretty amazing.

djtestudo

I'm glad someone posted this, if only for the fact that the more people read Joe Posnanski, the better it is for everyone.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

paddyjoe

I won't argue with his top ten, but if I needed a base hit to win a ball game, I'd bet on Pete Rose every time.


(oops, did I say bet....damn)

thirdsun

I'd take Ichiro or maybe Dustin Pedroia, just for sheer probability...

jaymoney

Ruth 1 gehrig 2 pete rose 3 ted williams 4 bonds 5 pujos 6 mantle 7 ty cobb 8 joe d 9 willie mays 10
And if you were to tell them that steriods will give you 10 to 15 hrs extra a season they would have all juiced

kutulu

It isn't their fault but half of the list never faced a black pitcher.

Strange Famous

Ty Cobb was the best batsmen of all time in baseball.

Comparing someone like Barry Bonds to him is like comparing Ricky Ponting to Don Bradman.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

thirdsun

pfft...barry bonds....

I don't care what his numbers are, nothing about him is worthy of note.

There is no comparison to real heroes like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, or Jackie Robinson.

GreyWolf

I think you're buying into the steroid thing too much (yes, I think he took them). But while he was playing, he was the most feared hitter in the game, and he changed the basic structure of any game where he played. Managers would do things to avid pitching to him that were absolutely unheard of (intentionally walking him to start an inning in a tie game, intentionally loading the bases from men on first & second, constantly putting the go ahead run on base to avoid the possibility he would hit a home run... in effect giving him a base rather than risk giving him 4). Imagine, just imagine, what his statistics would have been if he'd gotten the number of chances to hit that other great hitters did!

__________________
The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.

Strange Famous

I dont deny that with or without the juice Barry Bonds was a great player... Im just saying he's no Ty Cobb

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

paddyjoe

Although I completely understand where you're coming from here, I think the list was strictly hitting, not 'heroes', per se.

If it was a hero list, it would probably be headed up by players such as Roberto Clemente, and Cal Ripkin.

thirdsun

Yeah, I get the list. No issues with people making lists, per se.

Just saying I have no real respect for Bonds. That's all.

jaymoney

[quote=kutulu;2717711]It isn't their fault but half of the list never faced a black pitcher.[/QUO


Or a dominican pitcher so I every era can have some sort of * on it

---------- Post added at 08:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 PM ----------

Get off your high horse so what if he juiced he still has to hit the damn ball plus there no real proof that the roids help. Plus it wasn't banned when they were juicing so they were not cheating. Yes it was illegal in america but so is coke and the 86 met team was on that do they get a * for that world series win. And all this respect thing who ever said a baseball player plays for respect none of them do not even your heroes of old

GreyWolf

[quote=jaymoney;2718409]The argument about no black pitchers is valid... but then, the great white pitchers of that era never faced any black hitters, either. The records for each era have to stand as they are. Personally, I've always hated that Maris's 61 homers had a "*" next to it. Thank heavens HE wasn't black, they probably wouldn't have recognised the record at all!

Steroids are a definite problem when it comes to evaluating players from different eras. I tend to be fairly laissez-faire about it myself, but they definitely give a unnatural enhancement to natural talent (I won't necessarily say unfair). But then again, the training and equipment available to the players of today is quite different than in earlier eras. Even things like lights in stadiums can change things. How many hitters in the early days were foiled by failing light in late games?

Basically, you have judge the players on their results, not on the era. Correcting for all the differing variables is just impossible, and moves this argument into the realm of opinion, which means no one is right except me,.

__________________
The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.

djtestudo

Holy God.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun