Who are the greatest baseball players of all time? There are a lot of fantastic top MLB players to pick from.
It is a beautiful honor to be regarded as one of the best in any sport. It denotes that you are the finest at something.
Furthermore, hitting the most home runs or having a high batting average is considered a baseball accomplishment.
Great players also have a high level of talent. They usually have above-average speed, strength, self-discipline, self-confidence, and eyesight.
As a result, individuals react to difficult situations more swiftly and correctly. Are you interested in learning about the best baseball players of all time? Then stick around with us to find out:
1. Babe Ruth
This is a no-brainer if ever there was one. Yes, Babe Ruth played in a talent pool that was artificially limited before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.
Decades before, improved training regimens produced athletes who looked like, well, athletes, but Ruth had such a historic talent that he transcended these limitations.
His entry into the major leagues was so significant that it signaled the end of the dead-ball era.
Additionally, the record for home runs in a season was 27 when he entered the majors in 1914. He had more than quadrupled it in seven years, with 59, and he hit a personal high of 60 dingers in 1927.
In his early years, he was a fantastic pitcher, leading the American League with a 1.75 ERA in 1921 and pitching 29 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless innings in two World Series.
His contributions to the famed New York Yankees teams of the 1920s launched baseball into the national spotlight, which it still enjoys today. Additionally, Ruth was the greatest baseball player, but he was also the most influential.
2. Willie Mays
Willie Mays is one of the best baseball players of all time. Unlike his godson Bonds Mays’ presence on this list does not require any mental gymnastics.
Additionally, Mays’ incredible numbers at the plate—3,283 hits, 660 home runs, and 1,903 runs batted in—were matched by his excellent outfield performance, which earned him 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards (1957–68).
These caused many to call him the finest all-around player the game had ever seen.
Mays’ most memorable moment (and one of the most unique in baseball history) occurred on defense when he made an over-the-shoulder catch at the warning track in the eighth inning of a tied 1954 World Series game.
Allowing the New York Giants to win the game and, ultimately, the championship. Although he only won one championship in his career, the 20-time All-Star and two-time MVP’s legacy is unblemished by a lack of team success (1954 and 1965).
3. Ted Williams
Even with two absences while serving as a Navy aviator during World War II and the Korean War, “The Splendid Splinter” was one of the greatest players ever, with a lifetime batting average of.344 and 521 home runs.
He is an exceptional pilot. Williams served as John Glenn’s wingman on combat missions in Korea.
Furthermore, he was such a tremendous hitter that he still retains the record for on-base percentage (.482) and is the last player to bat over.400 in a season (he did it in 1941).
During the Red Sox curse, Williams only made it to the World Series in 1946, falling to the Cardinals in seven games. On September 28, 1960, he hit a home run in his very final at-bat.
4. Barry Bonds
Next on our list of best baseball players of all time is barry bond. Many baseball fans consider Barry Bonds the poster kid for the steroid era and its alleged illegitimacy.
But, he was already a lock for the Hall of Fame before he reportedly started juicing, and steroids would have did not influence his unrivaled eye-hand coordination. These resulted in an all-time high of 2,558 career walks and a mind-boggling—444-lifetime on-base percentage.
And that’s the issue about steroids: no one can state with certainty how they affect a baseball player’s performance. So let us marvel at Bonds’ astounding numbers:
Additionally, 762 home runs (including a single-season record 73 in 2001) seven career MVP awards. And 688 intentional walks, which is more than double the amount given to any other player.
5. Hank Aaron
Hank Aaron was an American professional baseball player who spent 23 seasons in the league. During his professional baseball career,
Hank played for the Indianapolis Clowns, Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, and Milwaukee Brewers. Additionally, Hank Aaron is well known for breaking the all-time home run record with 755 home runs in 1974, which he held until 2007.
In 1999, Aaron was voted sixth among the “100 Greatest Baseball Players” by The Sporting News. However, he’s also one of only two players in MLB history to smash 30 or more home runs at least fifteen times in a season.
Hank Aaron, a 25-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner, won the World Series in 1957. He also won the National League hitting title twice and the NL home run and RBI leader four times. In 1982, he was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
6. Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson is also one of the best baseball players of all time. He was so good that he frequently led the American League in strikeouts, topping the league 12 times in his 21-year career.
Pitching with the Washington Senators his entire professional career, “Big Train” tossed 110 complete-game shutouts, the most in major-league history and a record that will never be broken.
In 1913, he won the Chalmers Award, the equivalent of today’s MVP. with a 1.14 ERA and a mind-boggling 0.78 WHIP.
Furthermore, in 1924, he won his second MVP award after leading the Senators to their first World Series title. Johnson set a 56-year record with 3,509 strikeouts, and his 417 victories are second only to Cy Young’s 511.
7. Ty Cobb
Some regarded him to be the greatest player in baseball history. Cobb, born in Georgia and known as “The Georgia Peach,” still has the greatest career batting average of all time, at.367.
Ty Cobb got almost 4,000 hits and nearly 900 stolen bases throughout his career with the Detroit Tigers, but he never won a World Series.
Cobb was known for his rough and tumble attitude both on and off the field, often going into the seats to fight hecklers (something other players of that era, such as Babe Ruth, also did).
In addition, Cobb served in the same regiment as Christy Mathewson during World War I. Several sensationalist biographies claimed that he was a racist after Cobb’s death.
Cobb was a supporter of integration in baseball, according to biographer Charles Leerhsen, who told the Sporting News in 1952 that “the Negro should be accepted and not grudgingly but wholeheartedly.”
8. Stan Musai
“Stan the Man” was a historically good player and a model citizen, making him probably the greatest person on this list.
The adored St. Louis legend spent his entire 22-year career with the Cardinals and is as tightly attached to his hometown as any athlete has ever been.
Furthermore, Stan Musial led the Cardinals to three World Series championships while winning three MVP awards and earning a. Batting average of 331.
Meanwhile, Musial’s greatest single-season strikeout total as a 41-year-old starting outfielder for the Cardinals was a meager 46 (in 505 plate appearances), demonstrating his keen eye for the ball. (He still had a.330 batting average that year.)
His batting was so steady that opponents often accepted their fate, as pitcher Carl Erskine put it: “I’ve had excellent luck with Stan by throwing my best pitch and backing up third.”
9. Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) is ranked seventh on our list of the greatest baseball players of all time. He was an American former professional baseball player.
Lou spent his 17-year MLB career with the New York Yankees. Gehrig was noted for both his hitting ability and his stamina.
He still holds the record for most runs scored plus runs batted in per 100 plate appearance and 100 games. Furthermore, he also set other significant league marks, including the most career grand slams (23) and the most consecutive games played (2130).
Lou was a seven-time All-Star and six-time World Series champion. He also led the American League in home runs three times and RBIs five times.
In addition, on June 3, 1932, he blasted four home runs in a single game. In 1939, he was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the first baseball player whose number (4) was retired together with the player.
10. Cy Young
Next on our list of best baseball players of all time is Cy Young. It’s no surprise that the Cy Young Award is presented to the greatest pitcher in Major League Baseball every season.
However, as a minor league pitcher, he earned the nickname “Cyclone” for his fastball, tearing the boards off the grandstand. His nickname was eventually shortened to “Cy” by reporters.
Additionally, young played for five MLB teams, notably with the Cleveland Spiders and Boston Americans/Red Sox. He won the first World Series in 1903 with the latter.
Young has the most career wins (511) and the most career-complete games (749). He threw three no-hitters and one perfect game in his career.
11. Honus Wagner
Honus Wagner is arguably best known to current baseball fans as the subject of the most valuable baseball card in history, the American Tobacco Company’s rare 1909–11 T206 Wagner card.
Meanwhile, the card’s scarcity is one of the reasons it can sell for upwards of $2 million at a sale. Still, it wouldn’t be nearly as valuable if the player pictured on it was simply a regular player and not one of the finest to ever tread on a diamond.
Despite playing during the offense-killing “dead-ball era,” “The Flying Dutchman” led the National League in batting an average eight times throughout his career and retired with a stellar.328 average.
He had the second-most hits (3,420), doubles (643), triples (252), and runs batted in (1,732) in major-league history when he retired in 1917, and all of these totals still rank among the top 25 of all time.
Wagner’s prowess can be seen in the 1936 balloting for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s inaugural class. He was one of only five players chosen out of thousands who had played the game up to that point.
12. Rogers Hornsby
Rogers Hornsby is also one of the best baseball players of all time. Hornsby, dubbed “The Rajah,” was one of baseball’s all-time great hitters. Nevertheless, in 1924, he had a batting average of—424, which has not been surpassed since.
He hit.400 three times had a lifetime batting average of.358 (second only to Ty Cobb), had over 2,900 hits. He is the only player ever to hit.400 with 40 home runs in a season while playing mainly for the Cardinals and Cubs. Hornsby was unpopular among his teammates and was challenging to get along with.
13. Roger Clemens
Roger Clemens won a record seven Cy Young Awards as the greatest pitcher of the year in either the American or National Leagues during his spectacular 24-year career. He threw 4,672 strikeouts, the third most of all time.
After posting a 24–4 record with a 2.48 earned run average (ERA) and 238 strikeouts for the Boston Red Sox in 1986, he became one of the few starting pitchers to win a league MVP award.
Furthermore, he did all of this while several opposing batters were on steroids, causing offensive numbers to skyrocket at the time. So, why isn’t he in a higher position?
Well, it’s possible that Clemens used steroids; thus, his achievements aren’t exactly as impressive as they appear for the era.
14. Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle is ranked number 14 among the best baseball players of all time. He was an American former professional baseball player.
Throughout his career, Mantle was a member of the New York Yankees. Furthermore, his 172 OPS+ ranks second among centerfielders behind Mike Trout.
In addition, compared to the other four center fielders on the All-Century team, he had the lowest double plays over his career. He also led the World Series in on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Mickey Mantle was a 20-time All-Star, seven-time World Series champion, four-time AL home run leader, and Golden Glove Award winner in 1962. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as well.
15. RHP Roger Clements
The first of two PED-affected players on this list was one of the best pitchers of all-time—alleged chemical enhancement aside.
Furthermore, Clemens had a 3.12 ERA, a 143 ERA+, and a 354-184 record in his 24-year career. His career WAR of 139.2 places him eighth all-time and second among pitchers.
With the Boston Red Sox, he also won seven Cy Young Awards over three decades. And was also voted the American League MVP in 1986.
How much did PEDs contribute to his elite achievement and ability to pitch until he was 44 years old? We’ll never be able to tell for sure.