Greater Player: Honus Wagner or Babe Ruth?

[Honus-Wagner Org]

Bill James ranked Babe Ruth #1 of all time and Honus Wagner #2.

Honus Wagner was an excellent defender and speedster on the base paths - neither of which Babe Ruth could claim.

Babe Ruth had better offensive numbers but also faced a livelier ball than what Honus Wagner was up against. If Wagner played during Ruth's era many speculate that they would be neck and neck with offensive statistics.

So who is the best player of all time?

[Westlake]

I'll choose "None of the Above" and say its Tyrus Cobb.

[Blackout]

is this a joke???

a 207 career OPS+ vs the second best shortstop ever behind Pop Lloyd?

[Westlake]

is this a joke???

a 207 career OPS+ vs the second best shortstop ever behind Pop Lloyd?

Did you mean....

Is this a joke: Honus Wagner is the second best shortstop ever behind Pop Lloyd.

If so, yes, it is a joke.

[Wade8813]

Hey, welcome to BBF.

You'll find a huge majority will vote for Ruth. Ruth didn't play SS, but he actually was a good fielder, at least for the beginning of his career. Also, hitting is more important than fielding and baserunning. And Ruth dominated hitting like nobody else.

[DiMag4Life]

The Rebel could hold his own.

And welcome!

[frehleyscomet]

Factor in Ruth has an excellent pitching record and its hard not to vote for him.

[frehleyscomet]

IMO the greatest player ever is Ted Williams. The babe never hit .400.

[OleMissCub]

Tyrus Raymond Cobb


But for the sake of this poll, I'm definitely going with Ruth.

[philkid3]

What if I want to vote Barry Bonds or Willie Mays? I'm not allowed to? How is Bill going to handle this poll?

[philkid3]

IMO the greatest player ever is Ted Williams. The babe never hit .400.

Batting average is suddenly important, let alone that important?


Ted Williams never got on-base at .540. Ted Williams never slugged .800.


So is Pete Browning better than Babe Ruth?

[stejay]

Gotta be the Babe. I dunno, Wagner was unlucky, because he did not have much documentation on his career, as Babe has had. To be totally honest with you, as discraceful as it is, some baseball fans Iknow have never even heard of Wagner, so I suppose, because I don't know a huge amount on his career and such, I willhave to go the one I know more about- Babe.

[frehleyscomet]

Batting average is suddenly important, let alone that important?


Ted Williams never got on-base at .540. Ted Williams never slugged .800.


So is Pete Browning better than Babe Ruth?

Has anyone hit .400 since Williams?

How many players hit 500 homers with a .340 or higher lifetime batting average?

Williams probably would have hit 650-700 homers if not for the war years.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Has anyone hit .400 since Williams?

How many players hit 500 homers with a .340 or higher lifetime batting average?

Williams probably would have hit 650-700 homers if not for the war years.

Ruth has 714 HRs with a .342 lifetime batting average.

He probably would have hit 850-900 homers if not for his pitching years.

[leecemark]

Ruth has 714 HRs with a .342 lifetime batting average.

He probably would have hit 850-900 homers if not for his pitching years.

--I doubt it would have been 800. The 4 seasons he spent as a pitcher were in the deadball era. He'd have been doing great to hit 20 a year. It is also very possible he would not have been the same hitter had he come up as an outfielder. Managers almost certainly would have tried to "fix" that upper cut swing if they expected him to hit. As a pitcher nobody cared about his swing though.