The Top 100 Baseball Players Of All Time

[Pace Cap'n]

1. Babe Ruth (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/ruthba01.php)
2. Willie Mays (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/mayswi01.php)
3. Stan Musial (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/musiast01.php)
4. Alex Rodriguez (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/rodrial01.php)
5. Ty Cobb (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/cobbty01.php)
6. Lou Gehrig (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/gehrilo01.php)
7. Ted Williams (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/willite01.php)
8. Honus Wagner (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/wagneho01.php)
9. Mike Schmidt (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/schmimi01.php)
10. Rickey Henderson (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/henderi01.php)
etc.

www.thebaseballpage.com/positions/rankings/Top100.php (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/positions/rankings/Top100.php)

Good to see Musial get a little recognition for a change.

"I've had pretty good success with Stan by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third." - Carl Erskine

[BillW]

Wow, I guess this one guys opinion. Ricky Henderson ahead of Hank Aaron :eek: (among other eye openers)

[Dan Montilion]

Pete Rose?

[BillW]

Pete Rose?

That was my second :eek:

[eastie]

MIke Schmidt at #9 , ahead of Joe Dimaggio. He couldn't carry his jock. Ted Williams at #7 ? He is top 3 for sure.

[Pace Cap'n]

Yep, that is a strange list...not so much overall, but the ranking order is somewhat whacked.

The links are cool, however...sort of a thumbnail bio of each player listed.

[Valuist]

Aaron not in the top 10??? And behind Henderson and Mike Schmidt? Absolute joke.

[Marshall Bennett]

This list is full of so many mistakes I don't even know where to begin . :D

[OTM Al]

They don't give us their methodology that I can see, but I can see that list being justified with certain metrics, though I don't think pitchers should be ranked along side the other position players. Apples and oranges there

[Bubbles]

Whoever compiled the list is obviously a fan of small ball and speed. That's the only reason I can see Henderson ahead of Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, and others. A-Rod is also too high, too early. In five years, he may justify it, but for now, I'm semi-uncomfortable placing him in a top ten. Here is mine...

1) Ruth
2) Mays
3) Williams
4) Cobb
5) Musial
6) Gehrig
7) DiMaggio
8) Aaron
9) Frank Robinson (one of the most underrated and forgotten players in history)
10) Rose

Honorable mentions: Mantle, Schmidt

[BillW]

Whoever compiled the list is obviously a fan of small ball and speed. That's the only reason I can see Henderson ahead of Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, and others. A-Rod is also too high, too early. In five years, he may justify it, but for now, I'm semi-uncomfortable placing him in a top ten. Here is mine...

1) Ruth
2) Mays
3) Williams
4) Cobb
5) Musial
6) Gehrig
7) DiMaggio
8) Aaron
9) Frank Robinson (one of the most underrated and forgotten players in history)
10) Rose

Honorable mentions: Mantle, Schmidt

Lots, lots closer to reality. I'd also move Bobby Clemente into the top 45 or so :p

BTW Pace Cap'n, sorry to lead the charge in dragging your thread off topic. Stan Musial IS deserving of being near the top. :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

[OTM Al]

I'm going to have to argue that Alex even now belongs right where he was listed. He belongs on the list for his hitting without a doubt, but he also played a gold glove caliber middle infield position whereas the other top ones on the list were all outfielders. In terms of talent he is as good as any on the list

[andicap]

My top five and comment

1. Ruth. See below.
2. Aaron (dont forget what a great fielder and arm he had. And he could run/steal bases. The most complete player of all time.)
3. Willie Mays. See Hank Aaron. You might reverse 2 and 3.
4. Walter Johnson. See below
5. Pete Rose. See below. Just a winner. Best competitor ever.


First you have to define what "greatest" means since you can't compare Ty Cobb's .367 lifetime average with the players of today. Or even Babe Ruth's records.

Hitters back then didn't have to face black pitchers.
Pitchers didn't have to throw against Josh Gibson.

So i would downgrade any player before say 1950 -- to say I wouldn't put Cobb/Ruth near the top because I believe they would excelled agaisnt anyone.

Also, my definition of "best" are those were the most superior among their own generation. That is, who dominated their era the most?

For that you have to name Ruth as the best IMHO.
Cy Young won most of his games before 1900 when the rules were different, but what about Walter Johnson , the winningest pitcher of his era?
Yes his 414 wins came when there were no relief pitchers and they went out every four days but he sure had longevity and an iron arm to win that many games. And he pitched for one of the WORST teams ever, the Senators.

So Walter Johnson belongs in the top 10.

Pete Rose belongs in the top 5 because he set his hitting records in an era of night games, relief pitchers, black and hispanic players in the game. Air travel. In the old days they would have 3-week home stands and then take trains. No West Coast travel.

Plus he was one of the best clutch players ever and played almost every position in the field -- wherever they needed him.


I love this stuff...

[Marshall Bennett]

Not only are you right about Johnson , look where Mathewson is !! A joke !!

[JustRalph]

Pete Rose off the list? What a farce. Did anybody see him on Costa's Now ? He did a town hall meeting about The state of baseball" Good show. Catch it on HBO this month if you can.

Only player in Major League history to play more than 500 games at five different Positions:
1B (939) 2B (628) 3B (634)
LF (671) RF (595)

All-time Major League record for most career hits:
4,256
All-time Major League record for most games played:
3,562
All-time Major League record for most at bats:
14,053
All-time Major League record for most singles:
3,215
All-time Major League record for most total bases by a switch hitter:
5,752
All-time Major League record for most seasons of 200 or more hits:
10
All-time Major League record for most consecutive seasons of 100 or more hits:
23
All-time Major League record for most seasons with 600 or more at bats:
17
All-time Major League record for most seasons with 150 or more games played:
17
All-time Major League record for most seasons with 100 or more games played:
23
Major League record for playing in the most winning games:
1,972
All-time National League record for most years played:
24
All-time National League record for most consecutive years played:
24
All-time National League record for most career runs:
2,165
All-time National League record for most career doubles:
746
All-time National League record for most games with 5 or more hits:
10
Modern National League record for longest consecutive game hitting streak:
44

[BillW]

Pete Rose off the list? What a farce. Did anybody see him on Costa's Now ? He did a town hall meeting about The state of baseball" Good show. Catch it on HBO this month if you can.



It's funny, when I saw comments about Joe Morgan and the greatest 2nd baseman, my first thought was "What about Pete Rose" even though he only played 2nd to start his career.

[rufus999]

Don't you guys know anything?

http://c.imagehost.org/t/0605/Gaedel.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/view/0605/Gaedel.jpg)

[skate]

Not sure if the list order had any meaning.

i'd have to look at the list as The-Top-Hundred.

Stats, imo, can mislead.
I'll always want Yoga up top, toughist job in BB.

Stat wise, give me Ruth, did it all.

[Valuist]

I think people forget how versatile Rose was. I believe he was an all-star at 2B, 3B, 1B and OF. I also agree w/OTM Al that A-Rod DOES deserve to be there. And as much as people hate Bonds, you'd have to consider him for that list. He had a damn good career before he started juicing. I would rank the top 3: 1) Ruth 2) Mays 3) Aaron. The next group would be pretty tricky but Williams, Rose, Gehrig, Clemente, F. Robinson, A-Rod, Bonds and Cobb would be in the mix. I would not put Dimaggio in there because he didn't play long enough. Musial is borderline; I'd put him in ahead of Dimaggio. Schmidt doesn't belong. He's one of the all-time strikeout leaders and about a .270 or so lifetime hitter. Yeah a gold glove 3B but he's Reggie Jackson with a better glove but worse post season stats. Henderson is top 20 material but probably not higher, IMO. I'm sure there's other old timers that I left out like Hornsby and Honus Wagner but without black or Latin players in the mix, old timers records have to be taken w/a bit of a grain of salt. But that said, Ruth and Gehrig were so much better than everyone else in their day, they belong in the list.

[andicap]

You didn't see him? He was number 1/8 on the list.


Don't you guys know anything?

http://c.imagehost.org/t/0605/Gaedel.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/view/0605/Gaedel.jpg)

[Overlay]

Did Rose's ineligibility for the Hall of Fame exclude him from consideration for the list?

I grew up in Cincinnati during the days of the Big Red Machine, so I'm a Rose fan from way back, but Pete was (and is) his own worst enemy as far as getting into the Hall. I guess it's the negative side of the same personality that made him the great competitor he was, but until he agrees to see his own admitted actions in the same light as the MLB establishment sees them, he'll never get in the Hall. That's a shame, but he has no one to blame but himself.

[toetoe]

Frank X. frig'n Farrell. Remember the name.

[rastajenk]

My new pal Leo Cardenas says that Pete Rose was the best ballplayer he ever saw, and he was on that '65 All-Star team mentioned in another thread. He says that Pete's game was the most complete; not just the stats, which are huge, but everything about the game. Never threw to the wrong base, never got picked off napping, always took whatever the situation called for, totally into every minute and loving every minute he was out there. He didn't hit the home runs that others on the list did, because in almost any given situation, he could help his team more by doing something more useful than swinging for the fences, although his size and strength were comparable to some of the other prominent home run hitters.

I call "Mr. Automatic" Leo my new pal because he has been coming to a lot of Reds' games this season, where I work as an usher, and he always stops by to shake hands and shoot the breeze for sizable chunks of time; we talk about the good ol' days, and current baseball events, and whatever else he has on his mind that night. Fun stuff.

For similar reasons he calls Billy Martin the best manager he ever had. He played for him in Texas toward the end of his career. Whatever personality flaws Martin may have had, he was totally into the game and committed to winning. At least that's what my man "Chico" says.

[boomman]

Pete Rose off the list? What a farce. Did anybody see him on Costa's Now ? He did a town hall meeting about The state of baseball" Good show. Catch it on HBO this month if you can.

Only player in Major League history to play more than 500 games at five different Positions:
1B (939) 2B (628) 3B (634)
LF (671) RF (595)

All-time Major League record for most career hits:
4,256
All-time Major League record for most games played:
3,562
All-time Major League record for most at bats:
14,053
All-time Major League record for most singles:
3,215
All-time Major League record for most total bases by a switch hitter:
5,752
All-time Major League record for most seasons of 200 or more hits:
10
All-time Major League record for most consecutive seasons of 100 or more hits:
23
All-time Major League record for most seasons with 600 or more at bats:
17
All-time Major League record for most seasons with 150 or more games played:
17
All-time Major League record for most seasons with 100 or more games played:
23
Major League record for playing in the most winning games:
1,972
All-time National League record for most years played:
24
All-time National League record for most consecutive years played:
24
All-time National League record for most career runs:
2,165
All-time National League record for most career doubles:
746
All-time National League record for most games with 5 or more hits:
10
Modern National League record for longest consecutive game hitting streak:
44

Come on MLB wake up! Pete has been banned long enough! He (finally) admitted his wrong doing, he didn't fix any games, and he needs to be inducted into the Hall NOW!!!

Boomer

[OTM Al]

Actually Boom, last interview I heard with him a few months ago he still was lying about what he actually did. He did bet on his own team while he was managing and that is fixing games, even if it is fixing them to win, and he still doesn't admit to it. The bookies that were in on what he was doing would lay heavy on the opposition any time he didn't bet on his own team and were doing pretty well, knowing that he wasn't going to go all out to win that night. He could have gotten himself out of this long long ago, but chose not to. It is a shame, but he's gotten what he deserves.

[Marshall Bennett]

Cheaters don't belong in the hall of fame . This includes steroid abusers , gamblers , whatever . If you can't play fair with the rest of them .. tough luck !!

[JPinMaryland]

Year after year people just pencil in Ty Cobb at the top of these lists, if you compare him year by year to Tris Speaker, Cobb is getting like 15 hits and 20-25 more stolen bases.

Meanwhile Speaker is playing a demanding defensive position in CF and getting to something like 80 more balls per year than the avg CF of his day. The vast majority of those balls would be in the gap or to the wall. Go figure; he didnt get that much respect in his day..


If you are enamored with careers than go with Aaron, but the fact is he was not the best power hitter in his day, in the NL it was always Mays, McCovey, Cepeda and probably Frank Robinson. Aaron was helped a bit by playing in Fulton Cty park for the last half of his career. He really had an unbelieveable career after age 30 but he just wasnt the most feared hitter of his day.

Mike Schmidt consistenly comes out ahead of folks using any objective sabermetric measure. CIting his .270 batting average just shows how ignorant you are of the mathematics involved in the game. When you factor in how players get on base and how runs are driven around he bases the value of a HR is about 1.4 runs on average and the value of a single is about 0.57.

So go ahead take Bill Madlock over Mike Schmidt or whatever. You really ought to think about he value of 570 HRs.

[Bubbles]

Cheaters don't belong in the hall of fame . This includes steroid abusers , gamblers , whatever . If you can't play fair with the rest of them .. tough luck !!I'm with you on steroid abusers, Marshall. That said, I don't think you can prove that some "gamblers" cheated. The Black Sox, sure, but Pete Rose? You can't prove he tanked games or bet against his team while playing or managing.

In terms of the Hall, I've always said to put Rose in, but I hope to never see Barry Bonds and other juicers get inducted.

[Valuist]

Year after year people just pencil in Ty Cobb at the top of these lists, if you compare him year by year to Tris Speaker, Cobb is getting like 15 hits and 20-25 more stolen bases.

Meanwhile Speaker is playing a demanding defensive position in CF and getting to something like 80 more balls per year than the avg CF of his day. The vast majority of those balls would be in the gap or to the wall. Go figure; he didnt get that much respect in his day..


If you are enamored with careers than go with Aaron, but the fact is he was not the best power hitter in his day, in the NL it was always Mays, McCovey, Cepeda and probably Frank Robinson. Aaron was helped a bit by playing in Fulton Cty park for the last half of his career. He really had an unbelieveable career after age 30 but he just wasnt the most feared hitter of his day.

Mike Schmidt consistenly comes out ahead of folks using any objective sabermetric measure. CIting his .270 batting average just shows how ignorant you are of the mathematics involved in the game. When you factor in how players get on base and how runs are driven around he bases the value of a HR is about 1.4 runs on average and the value of a single is about 0.57.

So go ahead take Bill Madlock over Mike Schmidt or whatever. You really ought to think about he value of 570 HRs.

I was the one who cited Schmidt's .270 batting average (and his high strikeout total which you left out). Schmidt was arguably top 25. But no way does he deserve top 10. Nobody said take Bill Madlock over him although the difference isn't as big as you suggest. You show your ignorance by making a case for another player who played in the closed-club era of white only players (Speaker). And I've NEVER heard anyone claim that Cobb was a better player than Ruth, Mays or Aaron.

[lamboguy]

pete rose gets my vote for giving the best effort at all times

[boomman]

pete rose gets my vote for giving the best effort at all times

Pete Rose gave 110% at all times, and was maybe the greatest competitor baseball has ever seen (ask Ray Fosse if you don't believe me)...I don't know how anybody could compare his stupidity of betting on his team to win as a manager could be compared to guys that were juicing who I agree should never be in the Hall of Fame, because their numbers were obviously performance enhanced...Hey Pete has his share of character flaws for sure, but if that is a disqualifying factor in itself, what the hell is Ty Cobb doing in the HOF??? And even though he didn't bet, he tried to kill guys with his spikes when sliding in to a base....That's not cheating???:bang:

Boomer

[OTM Al]

There is no comparison between steroid use and betting on baseball. There was no rule against steroids, short sighted as that may have been. However, every single lockeroom has a sign citing one particular rule in baseball. No betting. Every year in spring training, players are reminded of this rule. They know the penalty for doing it. And Pete did it. Thing is, it was this that got him banned, not a character flaw. It was his character flaw the kept him banned as he is incapable of telling the truth. He would have been cleared in a couple years had he just come clean. He still hasn't

I just don't think some people understand the magnitude of betting on your own team even if it is just to win. Sometimes there are games that a manager will just let go so as to not sacrifce more games in the future. With a long season, this is good management. You bet on your team to win though and are the manager, then you are in the position to throw everything you have to make the win happen, thus potentially degrading your chances to win in the next couple days. Leave that top reliever in for an inning more than you know you should. Play a hurting player when you shouldn't. And then, when you don't bet the game, you send the bookies a clear signal that you don't think you are going to win. Its game fixing no matter how you look at it. Pete bet a lot on his own team and the signals he sent when he didn't bet were crystal clear.

His numbers are certainly HOF caliber, top of the class.. But unless this guy really admits to what he did, he's never going in and that is the punishment he deserved.

[Bubbles]

I was the one who cited Schmidt's .270 batting average (and his high strikeout total which you left out). Schmidt was arguably top 25. But no way does he deserve top 10.I tend to agree with him out of the top ten. An argument could be made that Eddie Mathews was a better-hitting third baseman.

You show your ignorance by making a case for another player who played in the closed-club era of white only players (Speaker). And I've NEVER heard anyone claim that Cobb was a better player than Ruth, Mays or Aaron.This confuses me. Does that mean that any player who played before blacks were allowed in the majors shouldn't be on the list? In that case, Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Speaker, Walter Johnson, and other huge stars of the pre-1947 era should just be left off? That, I disagree with.

[Valuist]

I tend to agree with him out of the top ten. An argument could be made that Eddie Mathews was a better-hitting third baseman.

This confuses me. Does that mean that any player who played before blacks were allowed in the majors shouldn't be on the list? In that case, Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Speaker, Walter Johnson, and other huge stars of the pre-1947 era should just be left off? That, I disagree with.

No, I had said earlier that Ruth and Gehrig belonged because their numbers were so far dominant over their peers, they would've been great players in any era. But they were playing not only against one segment of the population, but they were playing in the days of 4 man rotations, no split fingered fastballs or sliders, very little in the way of specialization of closers, not to mention no pitch counts. I personally believe the game apexed in the 60s and 70s. As for Johnson, I don't believe pitchers of any era should be on the list. Its apples and oranges. Now if you are talking about a top 10 pitcher list, Johnson would have to be on it. One guy I would not have in my top 10 pitchers would be Clemens.

[rufus999]

http://c.imagehost.org/t/0928/aumpatkin.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/view/0928/aumpatkin.jpg) http://c.imagehost.org/t/0697/BillVeeck2001.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/view/0697/BillVeeck2001.jpg)

[PeteKoch]

My new pal Leo Cardenas says that Pete Rose was the best ballplayer he ever saw, and he was on that '65 All-Star team mentioned in another thread.

Willie Mays was the best player I ever saw and certainly the most exciting (Ted Williams the best hitter). But Pete was close. I remember the first time I ever saw him play.

It was one of those televised Saturday games (not as much BB on TV back then). This guy with really bad hair and a face like a clenched fist gets up and draws a walk, then, amazingly, RUNS to first at about 7/8 speed. I was thinking, "Wow, who's this guy?" Great player, always exciting to watch.

BTW, I think I saw Leo Cardenas play a few times when he was in TripleAAA. Ask him if he was with the Havana Sugar Kings and if he played in Jersey City when Castro took over Cuba. If so, he probably played with Jim Pendleton and Yoyo Davalillo.