best hitters of all time

[sfsportsfan]

someone on another site asked if after game 3, is pujols the best hitter of all time. obviously there were a few who popped into my head better. (the home run king for one). so i started thinking who i have ahead of albert. i know he's still got 7+ years ahead of him, but at this moment, who do you have ahead of him?

bonds, mays, griffey, ruth, ted williams, vlad guerrero.(in no order). i'm sure im missing a bunch of people. whos ahead of albert on your all time list.



also, sidenote, is vlad one of the most underrated hitters? dudes carried a .316/379/553 over 16 years while swinging at every pitch.

 

[Heathbar012]

someone on another site asked if after game 3, is pujols the best hitter of all time. obviously there were a few who popped into my head better. (the home run king for one). so i started thinking who i have ahead of albert. i know he's still got 7+ years ahead of him, but at this moment, who do you have ahead of him?

bonds, mays, griffey, ruth, ted williams, vlad guerrero.(in no order). i'm sure im missing a bunch of people. whos ahead of albert on your all time list.



also, sidenote, is vlad one of the most underrated hitters? dudes carried a .316/379/553 over 16 years while swinging at every pitch.

There are a lot. I won't attempt to make a comprehensive list because I'm pretty sure I'll miss most of them. Also, he will most certainly pass a lot of them by the time his career is over.

However, I wouldn't put Vlad ahead of Pujols. The ability to take a pitch is an important part of being a great hitter, in my opinion. Obviously, his numbers are amazing, and there isn't a better bad-ball hitter (Sorry, Panda). He went yard on a pitch that bounced, for crying out loud.

Just for starters, though, Pujols is behind Pete Rose, Hank Aaron, Tony Gwynn and Mickey Mantle, in addition to the others that you listed... for the time being. There is even a decent argument that Albert isn't the best hitter of his generation because of A-Rod, despite his post-season woes and recent injuries.

Then there is always the steroid discussion ad infinitum.

 

[CameronFrye]

someone on another site asked if after game 3, is pujols the best hitter of all time. obviously there were a few who popped into my head better. (the home run king for one). so i started thinking who i have ahead of albert. i know he's still got 7+ years ahead of him, but at this moment, who do you have ahead of him?

bonds, mays, griffey, ruth, ted williams, vlad guerrero.(in no order). i'm sure im missing a bunch of people. whos ahead of albert on your all time list.



also, sidenote, is vlad one of the most underrated hitters? dudes carried a .316/379/553 over 16 years while swinging at every pitch.

Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Honus Wagner. Laugh at Wagner all you want, but the guy had 252 career triples. No, that is not a typo. Two Hundred Fifty Two career triples. Poo-holes has 15. Wagner had more than 15 triples in a single season 7 times.

As for Vlad, he does not get the respect he deserves, but I wouldn't put him above Poo-holes.

 

[calsnowskier]

Off the top of my head, without looking anything up...

Bonds, Ruth, Williams, Mays, A-Rod, Aaron in the top tier...

Maybe...

Griffey, Thomas, Gwynn, Suzuki, Rose

Not to take ANYTHING away from Poo Holes. Dude is a BEAST. First ballot HOFer, no question. This is a legit discussion point.

But he ain't the best ever.

 

[CameronFrye]

We all forgot Ty Cobb too. He may have been a douchebag in real life, but that guy was a witch with the bat in his hands.

 

[tzill]

We all forgot Ty Cobb too. He may have been a douchebag in real life, but that guy was a witch with the bat in his hands.

This. Any discussion of greatest hitter ever has to start with Ruth, Cobb, Bonds, Mays, and Aaron. With Williams, Wagner, Hornsby, Mantle, Speaker brought up fairly quickly.

ARod is the only active player with a shot of cracking the top 10, IMO.

Poo-poo will end up top 15 if he stays healthy.

 

[msgkings322]

This thread also hints that you can't really pick THE best hitter. You can only make groupings. There's no real definitive way to say Ruth > Bonds or vice versa. Of course, that's part of the fun of the sport, endlessly arguing over what can't really be determined. Everyone's right!


Top tier for me (no order): Williams, Mays, Ruth, Bonds, Cobb

Next tier: Aaron, Gehrig, Mantle, Pujols, Wagner, Griffey

Next: Thomas, Henderson, A-Rod, Brett, Vlad, Gwynn, and surely 8-10 others

 

[calsnowskier]

This thread also hints that you can't really pick THE best hitter. You can only make groupings. There's no real definitive way to say Ruth > Bonds or vice versa. Of course, that's part of the fun of the sport, endlessly arguing over what can't really be determined. Everyone's right!


Top tier for me (no order): Williams, Mays, Ruth, Bonds, Cobb

Next tier: Aaron, Gehrig, Mantle, Pujols, Wagner, Griffey

Next: Thomas, Henderson, A-Rod, Brett, Vlad, Gwynn, and surely 8-10 others

I LOVE Rickey, but I am not sure he belongs in a best HITTER list. If you are looking at complete game, sure. His skills at mind-fucking pitchers while on the base-paths ALONE would have him listed as one of the best players ever. AND, he certainly had a HOF bat. But to rate his bat as one of the 20-25 best ever?

I am not surprised to see you agree with me on Thomas, though. There was a good 3-5 years there in the 90s where NO ONE was his equal.

 

[msgkings322]

I LOVE Rickey, but I am not sure he belongs in a best HITTER list. If you are looking at complete game, sure. His skills at mind-fucking pitchers while on the base-paths ALONE would have him listed as one of the best players ever. AND, he certainly had a HOF bat. But to rate his bat as one of the 20-25 best ever?

I am not surprised to see you agree with me on Thomas, though. There was a good 3-5 years there in the 90s where NO ONE was his equal.

Well, depends what you mean by hitting. Rickey got a lot of walks too.

Gwynn is an interesting case here: base hit machine, not known for power. Yet Rickey had a higher career OBP, and Gwynn the higher SLG, and that's even counting Rickey's 297 HRs. As I said it's all arguable. By my definition 'best hitters' means 'best offensive players' so speed is a factor as well as walks, and Rickey is golden.

Thomas gets overlooked for a lot of reasons, primarily a DH, playing for a nobody team, and his best year was the strike year. But pure batting skills, he had it all.

 

[calsnowskier]

Well, depends what you mean by hitting. Rickey got a lot of walks too.

Gwynn is an interesting case here: base hit machine, not known for power. Yet Rickey had a higher career OBP, and Gwynn the higher SLG, and that's even counting Rickey's 297 HRs. As I said it's all arguable. By my definition 'best hitters' means 'best offensive players' so speed is a factor as well as walks, and Rickey is golden.

Thomas gets overlooked for a lot of reasons, primarily a DH, playing for a nobody team, and his best year was the strike year. But pure batting skills, he had it all.

I see you include Gwynn and Brett, but not Rose or Suzuki. Were they oversights, or do you rate them below those guys? All 4 were/are VERY similar hitters.

 

[msgkings322]

I see you include Gwynn and Brett, but not Rose or Suzuki. Were they oversights, or do you rate them below those guys? All 4 were/are VERY similar hitters.

Neither Ichiro nor especially Rose have the SLG numbers to put them in the pantheon, but I could be argued into including them in the "8-10 others" I mentioned.

Rose's stats that stand out are pure longevity. He was very good for a very long time. Not really ever great a la Thomas in the early 90s for example.

 

[calsnowskier]

Neither Ichiro nor especially Rose have the SLG numbers to put them in the pantheon, but I could be argued into including them in the "8-10 others" I mentioned.

Rose's stats that stand out are pure longevity. He was very good for a very long time. Not really ever great a la Thomas in the early 90s for example.

OK...

But you already said that taking a walk was important. Isn't a single BETTER than a walk?

I would argue that Suzuki has had a more-impressive career than Rose, so let's stick with him. Sure, he has NO SLG, but his OBP and BA has been frigg'n epic.

We are really arguing over 5.9 vs a half dozen, here, granted, but there isnt anything else to talk about

 

[Heathbar012]

OK...

But you already said that taking a walk was important. Isn't a single BETTER than a walk?

I would argue that Suzuki has had a more-impressive career than Rose, so let's stick with him. Sure, he has NO SLG, but his OBP and BA has been frigg'n epic.

We are really arguing over 5.9 vs a half dozen, here, granted, but there isnt anything else to talk about

Ichiro, Rose and Gwynn definitely deserve seats at the table. Rickey can hang out by the wall.

 

[tzill]

This thread also hints that you can't really pick THE best hitter. You can only make groupings. There's no real definitive way to say Ruth > Bonds or vice versa. Of course, that's part of the fun of the sport, endlessly arguing over what can't really be determined. Everyone's right!


Top tier for me (no order): Williams, Mays, Ruth, Bonds, Cobb

Next tier: Aaron, Gehrig, Mantle, Pujols, Wagner, Griffey

Next: Thomas, Henderson, A-Rod, Brett, Vlad, Gwynn, and surely 8-10 others

Don't forget Hornsby and Speaker.

 

[guitarmy21b]

I think Pujols is the best of the generation. I'd put him over A-Rod because he can actually perform in the playoffs as well. I don't like to compare hitters of this generation from the past. I would take a Griffey in his prime over Pujols easily though.

 

[TexasMan]

Pujols and Manny Ramirez are the best right handed hitters of my time.

 

[tzill]

Neither Ichiro nor especially Rose have the SLG numbers to put them in the pantheon, but I could be argued into including them in the "8-10 others" I mentioned.

Rose's stats that stand out are pure longevity. He was very good for a very long time. Not really ever great a la Thomas in the early 90s for example.

Rose doesn't crack the top 25, and Ichiro isn't in the top 200.

 

[tzill]

Ichiro, Rose and Gwynn definitely deserve seats at the table. Rickey can hang out by the wall.

Disagree. Ricky is top 20 all time; Gwynn isn't even in the top 50. Rose is in the top 50.

 

[tzill]

I think Pujols is the best of the generation. I'd put him over A-Rod because he can actually perform in the playoffs as well. I don't like to compare hitters of this generation from the past. I would take a Griffey in his prime over Pujols easily though.

ARod is a superior hitter at this point and it's not even really very close. ARod will finish in the top ten of all time, or very close to it. Poo-poo has no chance to make the top 15. Put another way: ARod has already done more offensively in his career than Poo-poo ever will.

 

[4thstreet]

One of the 1st I thought of,and haven't seen mentioned is Rod Carew.