Greatest baseball player of all time?

who you got?

For me I think it's gotta be Ken Griffey Jr. He was definitely the best I've ever seen. He had it all, the picturesque lefty swing, one of the greatest fielders of all time, for my money it's either him, Ted Williams (never saw him live, but have seen a lot of highlights) , or Cal Ripken Jr. I can't count Babe Ruth, I don't the league was as competitive or had as great athletes as the 1950's through modern day.

What say you and why?

 

Tough question. Its hard to compare players from different eras. Griffey was a great power hitter and fielder but his teams never won anything. For an all around great player you have to throw Pete Rose into the mix. Babe Ruth was a great pitcher before he became the Sultan of Swat.

My favorite pitcher to watch was Nolan Ryan. Truly amazing stats and he was a threat to pitch a no hitter every time he took the mound. But how do you compare any pitcher with Cy Young who won 511 games. Without a doubt Mariano Rivera was the greatest ever closer. He only threw one pitch, a cut fastball that more often than not was unhittable.

Then there's Willie Mays. And Barry Bonds was already one of the greatest before he started juicing.

 

best player in my lifetime that ive seen in person was pedro martinez. And Ive seen nolan ryan when i was a kid and remember the sound the glove made sounded like nothing ive heard since.

anyhow pedro was 5'9 or so 160lbs soaking wet. And simply dominated for something like 7 or 8 years straight. keep in mind this is the heyday of the juicing error.

here it is.

Pedro, 1997-03: 2.20 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 2.0 BB/9

 

Wow, how do you nail this one down. Ozzie Smith comes to mind, there are just so damn many Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Tony Gwynn (best hitter in my lifetime) Rod Carew is another, JR Richards before he had a damn stroke We could throw a new name up every day.

 

Lastros had an awesome rotation with Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott with a split finger that was unhittable, Joe Neikro with the knuckleball and follow it up with Richards with his 100 mph fastball. How could hitter adjust to that?

Ozzie Smith was the greatest defensive shortstop but had a weak batting average but I'll go with Derek Jeter for the way he rose to the occasion on the biggest stage. Johnny Bench has to be the best catcher ever.

Brooks Robinson was the best defensive third baseman but I'll go with Mike Schmidt with his 548 home runs. Pete Rose played several positions so put him at second base. I can't think of another one besides Ryne Sandberg.

Willie Mays at centerfield, Ken Griffey. Jr in left an even though Mickey Mantle was a great centerfielder when he was healthy I'll put him in right field.

Babe Ruth as lefty DH and Mark McGuire as the righty. Reggie Jackson at pinch hitter.

Nolan Ryan and Fred Maddox as right handed starters and Sandy Koufax and Randy Johnson as lefty starters.

Mariano Rivera as the closer.

 

George Brett?

 

George Brett was great, as was The Wizard, Carl Yaztrimski was also great. Ryne Sandberg was also a great player. I agree Tony Gwynn was the best pure hitter I've ever seen, Griffey Jr and Will Clark and Bonds had the sweetest swings I've ever seen.

On the hill Nolan was great, but Tirk nailed it with Pedro. He was unbelievable. Nolan had 7 no hitters I think, a ton of wins but also a ton of losses. Clemens when he was in Boston was great, i remember watching the 20 strikeout performance that's pretty tough to do. All in all I still gotta say the best I've ever seen was The Kid, Griffey Jr. He was the total package, one of the best defensive center fielders to ever play the game, and could hit for power and average.

 

Starting in the '60s
Willie 'the say hey kid' Mays is the best ever. Saw him a few times at Candlestick in 1965 he is the center fielder. Barry Bonds in left and Griffey Jr in right.
Infield Mike Schmidt at 3rd, SS Jeter 2nd Pete Rose 1st Thurmond Munson (I know he was mostly a catcher but he was the best leader ever)
Pitchers Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, sandy Koufax, Pedro and Mariano
Catcher Bench
Mantle would be the DH best switch hitter ever.

 

Pretty close to my picks but since they wall go with a 5 man rotation add Greg Maddox to the team.

 

that wasnt an actual rotation, right? jr and niekro was before scott, nolan, knepper, deshaies and one other. dave smith in the pen with larry andersen and charlie kerfeld.