Best Baseball Player --- Ever

Carp said:
I'm not arguing pitching being better, but certainly it was tougher to hit in significantly larger parks and with baseballs that didn't travel as far as they do today.
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I agree with the pitching being better, but if the parks are bigger that also means more area for the outfielders to cover. I think the popularity of the slider makes it harder to hit in the majors. Without the low and away slider Andruw would have been better than Trout is now.
 
gtcway said:
I was angry about Bonds back in the day just like every other non Giants fan, but looking back at it, there's just no way I can say anyone else was better. He just flat out dominated. Other guys who were also on roids, didn't even come close. Did he get some super special roids that other players couldn't get? I doubt it. He just had the talent and the body to put together the best career of any batter in baseball. Did steroids help him? Absolutely, but no one else steroids or not even came close to what he did.

I'm glad I got to see him play, because I'll probably never see anyone like it again in my life.
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That's part of what makes Bonds and his steroid use so frustrating. He would have been a Hall of Famer even if he'd never touched the juice. Granted it would have been with about 500 home runs instead of 762, but he would have still gotten there. Barry just got jealous of all the attention that guys like McGwire and Sosa, both players who couldn't carry Bonds' jock with or without chemical enhancement, received from the home run record chase.
 
Babe Ruth changed the entire paradigm of baseball. Same with Wilt Chamberlain in basketball. The game became different because they played it (Wilt actually caused rules to be changed).

That said, Ted Williams ranks as the best to me. The missed service time probably kept him from breaking just about every hitting record.

I think Griffey's injuries prevented him from being the best all-around player in the past 40 years. Bonds was a great offensive force, but Griffey was a tremendous CF.

I don't want to wade into the steroid discussion (although I believe it has tainted the game to the point that there will be an asterisk shortage), but the other thing about Bonds is that he went to the plate with more armor than a Samurai. Take the padding off some of these guys and then see how close they want to stand to the plate. Former Minnesota manager (and noted crank) Tom Kelly used to beef about that all the time and I agree.

The best hitter I ever saw personally was Rod Carew. Simply unbelievable hitter who labored in obscurity for the most part.
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
Why does no one consider Pete Rose.
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Not that special.

He is a pretty excellent hitter, but was not a good fielder. Guys like Ruth, Mays, Bonds, Cobb, Wagner, Speaker, and Hammerin Hank are all clearly better overall players and Williams is clearly the superior hitter if you go for an offensive first player.
 
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