You have the first pick in the all-time baseball player draft; who do you take?
| Hank Aaron |  13 (7.51%) |
| Barry Bonds | 18 (10.40%) |
| Josh Gibson | 7 (4.05%) |
| Walter Johnson | 6 (3.47%) |
| Mickey Mantle | 8 (4.62%) |
| Stan Musial | 4 (2.31%) |
| Satchel Paige | 9 (5.20%) |
| Babe Ruth | 76 (43.93%) |
| Honus Wagner | 16 (9.25%) |
| Other (please specify!) | 16 (9.25%) |
Although I actually voted for the shortstop...
I thought long and hard about Gibson though.
Also, Wagner's better in the clubhouse than Ruth, Paige, Gibson, Bonds, or the Mick.
Had to go for Honus though. No one will ever come close to being as good a shortstop.
i have heard from really serious baseball experts that the best all around player in the history of baseball is Martin Dihigo "el maestro", but there are not major league numbers to confirm this...
Rogers Hornsby is certainly worth thinking about too, hitting over 400 3 times while playing second base and having a full season or more worth of playing time at SS and 3B over his career, just 55 games at 1B or the outfield. 4 times with an OPS+ of 200+, two triple crowns, getting the MVP award in one of the years he didn't win the triple crown. Heck, he even has a WS win as a manager. Yeah, he was viewed as a cancer in the clubhouse but if he plays like that who cares.
The biggest difference I see was that A-Rod got to the majors at 18, and was a star by twenty, while Wagner was a couple years behind, and had an extremely atypical career, maintaing his fantastic ability until his late thirties. By all means, that could affect your franchise player choice. Basically... A Rod is pretty darn good, I would personally choose Wagner.
I can't think of Bonds in these kinds of debates due to the whole steroid issue. I'm sorry, but no one has come close to the Bonds 73 HR, McGwire 70 HR, and Sosa 66 HR seasons, and I personally think they were all on the juice. The sad part is that Bonds was an amazing player before he put on 40 lbs. of muscle. He didn't need to do it. But I can't consider him in this conversation. Sorry. He might have been able to have those amazing seasons without illegal drugs, but we'll never know. And that jackass does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Ah, but you only get to pick one player, not two. If you want Ruth circa 1918, maybe, but by 1919 his concentration on developing his hitting had led to his pitching suffering an inexorable decline.
Contrary to what most believe, I have always believed the Babe to be the proof that 20th-century (or 21st) cannot really be an elite-level pitcher and hitter at the same time. There is too much practice to generate the necessary poerfection.
I still wish Olerud had been given a shot on the mound too though so I guess I could be just too much of an optimist. Probably due to Vance Law with the Expos who looked like he might be able to do it too.
I'm with Craig on this - the more Ruth pitched, the better he pitched. The more he hit, the better he hit. But you can see quite clearly that he's not as effective a pitcher in 1918 and 1919 as when he was working 300+ innings. He was still pretty good, mind you.
Obviously, Ruth's pitching exploits with the Yankees - five appearances scattered over 14 years - have no significance whatsoever. But here they are:
Tuesday June 1, 1920. The Yankees had a double header the day before and the day after. So Ruth started against Washington, and went four innings before moving back to the outfield. He allowed four runs, but the Yankees scored many more and won 14-7.
His two 1921 appearances were a start against Detroit (who finished 6th) in June, and a relief outing on the final weekend of the season in the second game of a DH against Philadelphia (who finished last). In his start against Detroit, he went five innings and allowed 4 runs. The Yankees won 13-8 and Ruth hit a pair of HRs. In his relief outing, he came in for the seventh and immediately blew a 6-0 lead. He hung around for the 7-6 win in 11 innings.
In 1930, he pitched the season finale against the last place Red Sox and did fine, a CG 9-3 win.
And in 1933, he pitched the season finale against the 7th place Red Sox, got an early 6-0 lead, and hung on for a 6-5 CG win.
odds being they were all emergency situations
The 1920 start sure looks like an emergency fill-in. The 1921 start - I have no idea why he started. The Yankees were playing for the 19th straight day. They had been turning over four starters (Hoyt, Mays, Shawkey, Quinn) and occasionally working in Collins. Either Collins or Quinn would have been the expected starter (Collins started the next day, Quinn the day after that.)
The other appearances all look like season-ending stunts.