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  • March 26, 2008 01:08 PM ET

Best Baseball Player of All-Time

tgriff89 (8-25-0) vs gonets (60-40-4)
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the best baseball player of all time is Willie Mays. A player who possessed the rare talent of speed, power, and defense. Although he may not have pitched and hit as many home runs as the normal pick BAbe Ruth, Willie Mays was a far better athlete. Playing in a non-steroid era and to put up the stats he did at the time were remarkable and he did it with a great amount of calss as well.


Babe Ruth would be the obvious choice here, so to avoid the obvious i will say Joe DiMaggio. Since you stated best PLAYER, I picked DiMaggio for his all around play. He currently holds the record for consecutive game hit streak with 56. A record that probaby will never be broken. It doesnt matter whethr those hits were HRs, triples, doubles, singles, they wer hits, all around. He was also a superb defender. More to come.


Although DiMaggio was a outstanding player. He is not as good a player as Mays. Mays is third or fourth on the HR's lists, perhaps one of the best fielders of all time and hit for a very consistent average. Also, DiMaggio never was much of a base stealer


DiMaggio didnt have to be much of a base stealer. He oftentimes set the table for others with his outstanding hitting. He was a career, CAREER .325 hitter. Also, you mentioned Mays was 3rd or fourth all time in HRs. So what? As great as he is, being a good PLAYER doesnt mean swatting home runs all the time. Take for example ARod (no offense to ARod homers out there). If you look at his past 2 seasons, the majority of his HRs came with no one on base, and werent even directly affecting the result fo games, except for a coupleof walkoffs last April. His batting average with RISP was a mer .167. So HRs dont define a player.

DiMaggio was an All Star from 1936-1942, and again from 1946-1951, he was AL MVP in 1939, 1941, and 1947. He won the batting title in 1939 and 1940.

He was also en excellent fielder. In 13 seasons, he had a total of 105 errors at his position, which averages out to a little over 8 a year, which is about 1 every 18 games. And DiMaggio ahd the ability to take off for 3 years for WWII. And when he came back from war, he was still a VERY effective baseball player.


Although Mays is third or fourth on the HR list that dosn't mean thats all he was. Mays was good an every aspect of the game besides pitching. And although DiMaggio was one of the best to ever play, maybe the three year hiatus from baseball might have made his numbers a little stronger. What if in those three years he had a hitting slump or hit under .300? that would increasingly drop his career average.

Now i'm not saying Joe wasn't a great baseball player cuz he was i just think that if you compared the numbers between Mays and DiMaggio besides the outstanding hitting streak, Mays would beat DiMaggio in almost every category


Well it turns out Joe did play baseball while he was serving in the military, so a hitting slump was possible, but never achieved. He played on his military squad. And the three year hiatus did make his numbers stronger. You say mays was good in every aspect of the game but you dont specify what those aspects were. You only say he was a great HR hitter. So is ARod. So is Bonds. Heck, I was even a good HR hitter when I played in high school. Does that mean Im the best? Heck no! Half the lineup I played with was better than me.

As great a player as Mays is...no, as outstanding a player as Mays was, DiMaggio is better all around. And if Mays is, you failed to mention why.

Comments (24) Add A Comment

March 26, 2008  01:09 PM ET
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gl Willis...i was just a click away from taking this one

March 26, 2008  01:16 PM ET
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You got it. I don't have the heart to TD against a Giant legend like Mays.

March 26, 2008  01:18 PM ET
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thanks man, listen I dont have the heart either, but I'll do my best...Mays was a great man

March 26, 2008  01:19 PM ET
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IS, a great man. He ain't dead yet.

March 26, 2008  01:19 PM ET
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yeah true, i meant IS...

March 26, 2008  01:31 PM ET
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Better arguments from gonets, but still, DiMaggio isn't better than Mays.

March 26, 2008  01:34 PM ET
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Gotta vote for the better arguments...so my vote goes to nets....will change if tgrif makes a great argument for his final one....

March 26, 2008  01:35 PM ET
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Better arguments from gonets, but still, DiMaggio isn't better than Mays.
Willis..sez hey... | 03/26/08, 01:31 PM

As much as I know you like SF, and as much as I respect you as a TDer, if my arguments are better, popular opinion sould not be a factor

March 26, 2008  01:36 PM ET
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As much as I know you like SF, and as much as I respect you as a TDer, if my arguments are better, popular opinion sould not be a factor
gonets | 03/26/08, 01:35 PM
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Exactly! Vote for the arguments Willis not your personal opinion....

March 26, 2008  01:38 PM ET
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Ty Cobb, Honus WAgner, Babe alll good picks.

March 26, 2008  01:39 PM ET
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Chengy, Babe would have been too obvious...I did think of Cobb, good call on Wagner

March 26, 2008  01:39 PM ET
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so far right has actually made an argument. left has just said that Mays was better. Vote to the right for now...

March 26, 2008  01:46 PM ET
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Unless <--- comes with a good final argument, i am going to change my vote to ---->. What? You thought i would act hypocritically? lol

March 26, 2008  01:56 PM ET
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lol

March 26, 2008  02:01 PM ET
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Willis, your poor argument skills got our TD deleted.

March 26, 2008  02:01 PM ET
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And it's not 'popular opinion'. It is my personal opinion that Mays is better than DiMaggio. But <---- is doing a VERY POOR job of argueing what should be an obvious td.

March 26, 2008  02:02 PM ET
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Willis, your poor argument skills got our TD deleted.
Ghosthunter is spooky! | 03/26/08, 02:01 PM

Hey man! Don't get all sanctimonious on me! You're the one who's entire argument was pasted links to random internet porn sites!!!


lol

March 26, 2008  02:04 PM ET
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hahahaha.

March 26, 2008  02:07 PM ET
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i wouldve have to go with ted williams, mantle, cobb

 
March 26, 2008  02:34 PM ET
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Babe Ruth IS the obvious choice, because he is the greatest player ever. He pitched and he hit. And he did both very well.

But since this argument is now Mays vs. Joey D, it's obvious that Mays is the better player. Dimaggio played on better teams, thus offering him more opportunities to do great things. Mays didn't always have that around him. Most of his (great) offensive numbers came at a time that the Giants weren't good enough to make the playoffs. Plus, 12 straight Gold Gloves and 20 straight All-Star selections don't hurt a resume, either.

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