Top 10 baseball players of all time



10.    Honus Wagner, SS

Career: 1897-1917, Pirates
Fun fact: Eight-time batting champion
The Flying Dutchman -- who is the greatest shortstop ever -- was an eight-time batting champion who hit .328 for his career. Wagner was so good that he actually took the Pirates to the World Series. (Really, you can look it up.)
And if you happen to have his T206 baseball card, you're advised to not clip it to the spokes of your bicycle to make a whirring sound. --Jim Caple


Previous rank: 10


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09.     Mickey Mantle, CF

Career: 1951-68, Yankees
Fun fact: World Series-record 18 homers
Named after Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane, Mantle hit home runs as far as Babe Ruth from both sides of the plate and when young could run like the wind.
He won three MVP Awards and could have won more. He drank too much and his knees went bad, but there's still only one Mick. "All I had was natural ability," he once said. There's no doubt Mantle was born to play ball. --David Schoenfield

Previous rank: 9
 Mickey Mantle

08.       Stan Musial, 1B/OF

 
Career: 1941-63, Cardinals
Fun fact: 1,815 hits both home and road
The Man led the league in batting seven times, hit 475 home runs, scored nearly as many runs (1,949) as he drove in (1,951), won three MVP awards, and made 20 All-Star Games.
Not bad for a guy who started his career as a pitcher (he was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA for the Cardinals' Class D team in 1940, his final season on the mound). --Jim Caple
Previous rank: 8
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07.      Roger Clemens, RHP

 
Career: 1984-2007, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees, Astros
Fun fact: Record seven Cy Youngs
The images flash through your mind: the 20 strikeouts against Seattle, the TV shot of him nervously watching the end of Game 6 in the '86 World Series, the meltdown in the 1990 playoffs, another 20-strikeout game, the dominance in Toronto, finally getting a ring, Game 7 in 2001.
Seven Cy Youngs and 354 wins … then the end. What will you remember? --David Schoenfield
Previous rank: 7
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06.    Ty Cobb, CF

Career: 1905-28, Tigers, Athletics
Fun fact: Highest career average (.366)
While he won't win any "Good Guy" awards, Cobb was one of baseball's greatest, winning 11 batting titles, stealing 897 bases and finishing with a record .366 average.
He was so respected as a player that Cobb received more Hall of Fame votes than Babe Ruth. And he was so disliked as a person that biographer Al Stump said only three people from baseball showed at his funeral. --Jim Caple
Previous rank: 6
 



10.   Hank Aaron, RF

Career: 1954-76, Braves, Brewers
Fun fact: Most career RBIs (2,297)
He dealt with hate mail, oppressive media scrutiny and the ghost of Babe Ruth en route to setting baseball's career home run record of 755. Along the way, Aaron "expressed no more agitation than a man brushing aside a housefly," wrote Sports Illustrated's Ron Fimrite. Amazingly, Aaron never surpassed 47 homers in a season.
He just kept showing up for work each day, quietly wielding that hammer. --Jerry Crasnick
Previous rank: 5
Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs ... but how many of those came hitting cleanup? 


04.  Ted Williams, LF

 
Career: Red Sox, 1939-60
Fun fact: .344 hitter; zero 200-hit seasons
The Splendid Splinter carried a bat to class in high school and once proclaimed, "A man has to have goals … and that was mine, to have people say, 'There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.'"
He won six batting titles, led his league 12 times in OBP and nine times in slugging percentage. At 41, he hit .316 and slugged .645. That goal just may have come true. --David Schoenfield
Previous rank: 4
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03.  Barry Bonds, LF

 
Career: 1986-2007, Pirates, Giants
Fun fact: Single-season (73) and career (762) home run leader
I don't know for sure what funky vitamins Barry Bonds took or didn't take. I just know the stuff he did on the field still boggles my mind.
In 2004, he reached base 376 times, walked 232 times and was intentionally walked 120 times. In one year. And my favorite Bonds stat: Even with no hits that year, he would've had a higher OBP than the man who led the league in hits. --Jayson Stark
Previous rank: 3

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02.  Willie Mays, CF

 
Career: 1951-73, Giants, Mets
Fun fact: Played in 24 All-Star Games
Mays, after Babe Ruth, is the greatest player of all time: 660 home runs, 3,283 hits, 1,903 RBIs, 338 stolen bases, 12 Gold Gloves (they weren't awarded before 1957) and he made every All-Star team from 1954-73.
When Mays came to the majors in 1951, no one had ever seen anyone like him. Even now, he remains the greatest combination of power, speed and defense in baseball history. -- Tim Kurkjian
Previous rank: 2
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01.  Babe Ruth, RF/LHP

 
Career: 1914-35, Red Sox, Yankees, Braves
Fun fact: 714 homers, two 20-win seasons
There is no doubt that the Babe was the greatest player who ever lived. That doesn't mean he was the greatest person.
Years ago, I was sitting at a picnic table in the Yankees' clubhouse when Pete Sheehy, the ancient clubhouse man, plopped down opposite me. I asked him, "Pete, you knew Ruth -- what was he like?" Pete thought for a moment, and said, "He never flushed the toilet." -- Steve Wulf
Previous rank: 1
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