MLB: Who’s the greatest hitter of all time?

[candg4ever]

Initially, I thought of Ted Williams, as did most of the poll responders. He did things no one will probably ever rival. Obviously, I never got to see a game back then. Was pitching close to comparable? How strict were official scorers, and was the official scoring system similar to today's?

Also, how often was the ball altered to increase interest and ticket sales? It seems to happen more often now than when I was younger, or maybe MLB is just more open about to greater affect attendance from year to year.

I was surprised to see George Brett left off that list. He was consistent for a number of years,

 

[Entropy]

I voted Williams. I did see an unreal stat that Tony Gwynn could strike out 1100 times in a row and go like 0-1100 and his average would still be above 300. Crazy stuff

One thing I think about with Williams was the time lost to baseball due to military service, both WWII and Korea.

 

[cyputz]

Roberto Clemente could be on the list.

 

[heitclone]

Gwynn and Ichiro are the best I've seen

 

[kansascy]

Initially, I thought of Ted Williams, as did most of the poll responders. He did things no one will probably ever rival. Obviously, I never got to see a game back then. Was pitching close to comparable? How strict were official scorers, and was the official scoring system similar to today's?

Also, how often was the ball altered to increase interest and ticket sales? It seems to happen more often now than when I was younger, or maybe MLB is just more open about to greater affect attendance from year to year.

I was surprised to see George Brett left off that list. He was consistent for a number of years,

Agree, I was surprised George Brett was missing also. Great clutch hitter, amazing consistency!

 

[cymac2408]

Mario Mendoza

Many people might not get this. But that is funny right there.

 

[BDAL23]

One thing I think about with Williams was the time lost to baseball due to military service, both WWII and Korea.

It is crazy that he lost 5 seasons to war time service! 5 seasons in his prime to 2 different wars. He could have ended up with more homers than the babe. He could have had 3400 hits and the record for walks.
In his return from the Korean War after having missed nearly 2 years he batted over .400 in 37 games. He batted .388 in his age 39 season.

In Korea he flew most of his missions as a wingman for John Glenn. His plane caught fire on one mission and he able to belly land the plane and escape by jumping off the wing.

 

[cymac2408]

Wade Boggs

I watched Wade Boggs play 3 games, 1 Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. He was 11 for 11 until his last at bat when the left fielder made a diving catch on a liner in the gap. He was a machine but not best.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

My father.

 

[cymac2408]

My father.

Pants, maybe you should have taken up boxing. Sounds like you should have been bobbing and weaving.

 

[isucy86]

I am going with the Babe. His ability to slug home runs changed the game. He led the league (tied 2x) in HR's 12 years during a 14 year period from 1918 to 1931. In 1919 when Babe had 29 home runs, the 2nd place guy had 10. In 1920 when Babe hit 54 home runs, the 2nd place guy had 19.

Williams is viewed as the greatest pure hitter, but Babe wasn't far behind in batting average. Plus once Babe got on, he dominated Ted as a base stealer!!

Ted
Avg. .344
OBP .482
SLG .634
HR 521 or 37 over 162 games
RBI 1839 or 130 over 162 games
SO 709 or 50 over 162 games
SB 24

Babe
Avg. .342
OBP .474
SLG .690
HR 714 or 46 over 162 games
RBI 2214 or 143 over 162 games
SO 1330 or 86 over 162 games
SB 123

 

[Gunnerclone]

I watched Wade Boggs play 3 games, 1 Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. He was 11 for 11 until his last at bat when the left fielder made a diving catch on a liner in the gap. He was a machine but not best.

I just loved how he hit. There are no great technicians left and he had more power than Gwynn. Also he was a freaking meatball.

 

[BCClone]

I just loved how he hit. There are no great technicians left and he had more power than Gwynn. Also he was a freaking meatball.

And with the stories of him drinking a couple cases on cross country trips. You gotta like a guy who can wake up still probably drunk and go 2-4 or 3-4 on the day.

 

[brett108]

It is believed that the hardest throwing pitchers from the 1920's on have been in the low 90's. That wasn't consistent because of the higher amount of innings pitchers worked, but these dudes weren't scrubs or anything.

I don’t think anyone can quantify what a 15” pitching mound did to hitters. No modern player had to deal with that so let’s not act like they would go back in time and bat 1000. It’s idiotic.

 

[Lyon309Cy]

If Bonds were playing even a generation earlier he wouldn't have gotten so many walks, why spend 4 pitches to send him to 1b when you can do it with 1 and send a message too. Modern players are soft. Can't pitch inside, can't go hard into home or 2b, and any sign of trouble and the pitcher is pulled. I'm not saying player safety is a bad thing, but today's players would mostly fail outside of the era they're in. With today's scouting and shifts and such, I'm not sure the old-timers would fare too well in today's game either. All we can do is compare players to their contemporaries.

 

[Rabbuk]

If Bonds were playing even a generation earlier he wouldn't have gotten so many walks, why spend 4 pitches to send him to 1b when you can do it with 1 and send a message too. Modern players are soft. Can't pitch inside, can't go hard into home or 2b, and any sign of trouble and the pitcher is pulled. I'm not saying player safety is a bad thing, but today's players would mostly fail outside of the era they're in. With today's scouting and shifts and such, I'm not sure the old-timers would fare too well in today's game either. All we can do is compare players to their contemporaries.

I think the opposite is true too, an extreme pull hitter like anthony rizzo I think has a significantly higher batting average 40 years ago due to all those outs into shifts being hits then.

 

[BCClone]

If Bonds were playing even a generation earlier he wouldn't have gotten so many walks, why spend 4 pitches to send him to 1b when you can do it with 1 and send a message too. Modern players are soft. Can't pitch inside, can't go hard into home or 2b, and any sign of trouble and the pitcher is pulled. I'm not saying player safety is a bad thing, but today's players would mostly fail outside of the era they're in. With today's scouting and shifts and such, I'm not sure the old-timers would fare too well in today's game either. All we can do is compare players to their contemporaries.

Bonds would not do as well a generation before due to no juice.

 

[cymac2408]

And with the stories of him drinking a couple cases on cross country trips. You gotta like a guy who can wake up still probably drunk and go 2-4 or 3-4 on the day.

Yeah, when seeing 3 balls. Always hit the one in the middle.

 

[AlaCyclone]

Bonds would not do as well a generation before due to no juice.

To be fair, Barry Bonds was already an All-Star, MVP and great hitter before he juiced.

 

[BCClone]

Yeah, when seeing 3 balls. Always hit the one in the middle.

My oldest had a teammate in HS who showed up late to an away game. Was put in to pinch hit, made contact and ran like his hair and his pants were unfire. Everyone was wondering why he was running like that. Turned out he was late due to smoking dope. Was kind of impressed that he even made contact. He thought he was just flying down the base path when it looked like he had some major issues. Coaches didn’t know what the deal was.