DiscConnected wrote:
5. Walter Johnson
Walter "Big Train" Johnson is the best pitcher ever to walk on the mound. He has 412 wins, led the league in strikeouts 12 times, and pitched over 6,000 innings. Longetivity combined with skill easily equals one of the best to ever play the game.
4. Barry Bonds
Not many will look past the steroids accusations to put him on this type of list and fewer still will put him this high but come on, the guy deserves it because roids or no roids, the guy is a beast. The combination of speed, power (possibly enhanced) and natural ability is what gets him on the list. The allegations, lack of team hardware and a weak arm keeps him from cracking the top three.
3. Honus Wagner
Known as "The Flying Dutchman", Honus Wagner was a monster at the plate. He led the league in hitting eight times and led the league in slugging 6 times. In 1908, Honus led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, total bases, doubles, triples, runs batted in and stolen bases.
2. Willie Mays
Perhaps most known for 'The Catch', an over the shoulder grab made in the 1954 World Series, Willie "The Say Hey Kid" kidd was one of the best defensive center fielders to ever play the game (with 12 straight Golden Gloves to back it up). But his greatness wasn't just limited to the field because this guy could hit with the best of them, as evidenced by his 650 career home runs. Mays truly was the total package.
1. Babe Ruth
Like Jim Brown was to running backs and Wayne Gretzky was to hockey, so is Babe Ruth to baseball...simply the best ever. 'The Bambino', as he was called, is easily the greatest overall player to play the game. Hit hitting was ahead of his time (he alone would frequently record more home runs himself than entire teams), and lets not forget that the guy was an above average pitcher as well. Granted, he was a tad wild on the plate, but that didn't stop him from never having a losing record as a pitcher.
Your list sucks.