Top Ten Greatest Baseball Players

Everyone has their favorite players. Everyone has a couple people they think are the greatest. In short, everyone has heroes. Here are mine:

I normally do not like statistics, but I tried to keep the comments to a minimum, and this was the only way I could do it. Anyone who would like to send me their own top ten, I will be glad to post it right along side mine (if it is reasonable). Enjoy.
1. Babe Ruth Most people consider Babe Ruth the usual choice, the man that's on the top of every fans list. Well, there's a reason. I looked over and over the players, and I realized...Babe Ruth WAS the greatest all-around player. Everyone knows what a hitter he was, with his 60 home runs and .342 liftime batting average, and they know he was quite a pitcher in his time, with an ERA of less than .230. Still, the statistics don't tell all. Ruth, the biggest showman baseball has ever seen, single handedly saved baseball after the black sox scandal, helping the Yankees to four world championships and earning them the nickname of Murderers Row.
2. Lou Gehrig Everyone knows Lou Gehrig. He was the Iron Horse, a family man, a player who retired at 35 and died of amyotrophic lateral scelrosis at 37. Everyone also knows what a great player he was. His streak of 2,130 consecutive games played has only been topped once, and no doubt the streak would have continued longer if he hadn't taken himself from the lineup on May 2, 1939 after learning of his fate. And his numbers in '27, which earned him the MVP despite Ruth's home runs, were an amazing .373 average, 218 hits, a league-best 175 RBI, and a slugging percentage of .765.
3. Ty Cobb Ty Cobb was probably the greatest pure hitter to ever live. While eveyone in baseball knows him for his quick temper, outrageous, cruel acts off the field and in the stands, and his racism and bigotry, most also respect him for what he was...the single greatest hitter for average to ever play the game. He won the triple crown in 1909 with .377 average and 107 RBI, and at 20 he became the youngest player ever to win a batting title. He had tremendous speed, and had 891 career stolen bases, including the 1915 season in which he had 96 stolen bases. He hit above .400 three times, including a .420 season. His defense was more than adequate, since his speed and strong arm allowed him to gun down 20 or more ten times. His most oudstanding acheivement by far is his career batting average mark of .366, matched by none.
4. Joe DiMaggio No one can deny that Joe DiMaggio was (and is) a class act. His grace in the outfield was matched only by his skill at bat. He was shy, and often avoided the public, but his numbers spoke for themselves. One of his most famous records is his 56 game hitting streak, by far the best ever. He one 3 MVP titles in thirteen seasons, and hit as high as .381. His lifetime average was .325, and he was more of a contact hitter, although he got his home runs. He never had more than 39 strike outs per season, and once went as low as 13. He struggled with many injuries, and was out for three years serving in the war. He led the Yankees to nine world championships in his thirteen years.
5. Willie Mays I admit he's not often a choice for the top 5 on ANY Yankee fan's list, but I believe he deserves it. He was a good average hitter, had great power, was a speed demon on the basepaths and was perhaps the greatest fielder of all time. Lots of people remember him for the Vic Wertz catch he made in the '54 series, which somepeople call the best catch in history. He had 660 career home runs, as well as 338 steals. He also won the Gold Glove award seven straight times (the first seven years the trophy was awarded).
6. Cy Young Almost everyone's pick for the best pitcher ever, but one of the few pitcher to make it onto greatest lists, for the simple reason that pitchers only play one in every four games, and rarely help out at bat. Well, with Cy Young, it's different. His 511 win mark stands untouched despite efforts by great pitchers such as Grove, Johnson, and Mathewson, and earns him the honor of baseball's winningest pitcher. His lifetime ERA stands at 2.63, and on one occasion dipped as low as 1.93. 9 years later, after leading the AL in wins with the Boston Pilgrims three seasons in a row, Young had a 1.95 ERA, almost as low as his high points a decade earlier. He also pitched well in the postseason, earning two wins in the first modern world series.
7. Rogers Hornsby Fans who don't know much about baseball history probably don't know anymore than just Rogers Hornsby's name. In truth, his batting achivements from 1921-1925 may be the greatest of all time. During this period, through 2,679 at bats and almost 700 games, Hornsby AVERAGED a .402. During that period, he had two triple crowns, and got a reputation as a slugger by hitting up to 42 homers a season in the dead-ball era. During his great stretch he did better than even Ty Cobb..and was nearly as disliked for his squabbles over money with the owner. His fielding (he was a second baseman) wasn't oustanding, but that streak of hitting consistency in the early 20s earns him a spot on my list.
8. Ted Williams Many people might argue against Ted Williams on the basis that he was an average fielder at best, but his strive for perfection at the plate led him to be one of the greatest hitters of all time. His lifetime achievements include a batting average of .344 and 521 homeruns. He didn't win many MVP awards because of his coldness towards the media, but won two triple crowns, and missed a third one by .0002. He led the league 4 times in home runs and RBIs, and 9 times in slugging percentage. He won the batting crown seven times, and at the age of 39 was able to maintain a .388 average. Williams once said, "All I want out of life is to walk down the street and have people say 'there goes the greatest hitter that ever lived'." Was he? We'll never know.
9. Mickey Mantle He was the Mick, the commerce commet, the great speedy slugger who was never bogged down by the incredible number of injuries to his feet and legs. His attitude was one of swing to the stars, and he often did. He smacked the longest ball ever hit in yankee stadium, and was there with Maris in the '61 home run chase. Best friends with the volatile Billy Martin and loveable Yogi Berra, he came up as a rookie known as 'the next DiMaggio'. He won the triple crown and led the league in batting many years, and was an above average fielder. The year he first won over the fans was '56, his sixth year in the bigs. That was his triple crown year, when he also got his first MVP. His numbers, (.353 BA, 52 HRs, 130 RBI, .705 slugging percentage, and 132 runs). He followed that up the next year 34 homers and a career high .365 batting average, for his second straight MVP. He won another the next year, but soon after his injuries began to drag him down, and his retirement marked the begining of the downslide of the yankees.
10. Joe Jackson The only player on my list who does not have a plaque at the hall of my fame, "Shoeless" Joe was probably one of the greatest players of all time. His often flawless fielding and pre-DiMaggio grace were the backing for incredible averages that were at the time second only to Ty Cobb. His lifetime batting average stands at .356, third behind Cobb and Hornsby. His first full-season year gave him a .408 average and 123 runs, but he was behind Ty Cobb (.420) and it seemed he always would be. Nevertheless, he hit .395 the next season (once more second to Cobb) and led the american league in hits and triple. He also led the team through the infamous 1919 worldseries, in which he had a .375 BA and fielded without an error. He was later accused of conspiring to throw the series by commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and banned for life from baseball.