Last year I mentioned my list of the greatest pitchers of all-time and whether Nolan Ryan is deserving to be on that list. Since I liked a few old-timey baseball stat posts on Facebook, the algorithm now feeds me a steady diet of crazy baseball stats. As you read the comments on these posts, you see a ton of debate about the greatest hitters of all-time. So here is my attempt at a top ten list of the greatest hitters of all-time.
Before we begin, I need to figure out my criteria. Obviously this cannot just be the guys with the most hits, or the highest career average. Not just home run leaders because that excludes some fantastic non-power hitters. So this list is extremely subjective. But I will give my reasons as I go.
Honorable Mentions:
Honus Wagner–It is hard to know how good these guys were from the Dead-ball Era. But Wagner had 3420 hits, and a career .328 AVG.
Derek Jeter–Funny how throughout his career people would say how he was overrated, but when you look at his numbers, he was probably underrated.
Pete Rose–The all-time hit leader with 4256 hits. He played forever, which helped get him there. But you cannot discount longevity. He is the Nolan Ryan of hitters.
Ken Griffey Jr.–Ask anyone around my age who had the sweetest swing, and they will all say The Kid. But come on, look at those numbers: 630 HRs, 2781 hits, .284 AVG.
Rickey Henderson–I believe people discount Rickey’s skills. It is easy to think of him as just a base stealing machine. That he got on base and then just stole. And he did that. But he could hit. Look at his 1990 numbers when he won the MVP: 65 SB, .325 AVG, 28 HRs, 33 2Bs, a .577 SLG.
TEN
Ichiro Suzuki–One of the purest hitters. Ichiro could do it all. He was fast and could be a slap hitter, or he could hit line drives for extra bases. There are always the jokes that if he wanted to be a power hitter, he could have done that too. He has over 3000 hits, but he also played nine seasons in Japan. Had he started his career in MLB, he may be the all-time hit leader.
NINE
Albert Pujols–Probably my favorite hitter to watch. I think he hit at least 200 HRs against the Pirates. His time with the Cardinals may have been one of the most dominant stretches in baseball. For a power hitter to also compete for the batting title most years….impressive. Unfortunately his time with the Angels, which involved a few injuries, keeps him from being higher in my list.
EIGHT
Barry Bonds–Controversial, I know. I cannot mention Bonds without saying he cheated and used banned substances. However, he still had to have the patience and skills to hit the ball the way he did. I cannot discount that talent. He came close to 3000 hits, but something tells me being walked 2558 times probably hurt his opportunities for more hits.
SEVEN
Willie Mays–It is crazy how similar Bonds and Mays are as players (and yes, Willie Mays is Barry Bonds godfather). 660 HRs, .301 AVG, 3293 Hits…Mays also missed a season due to military service. Imagine if he started his career not playing in the Polo Grounds.
SIX
Stan Musial–I wonder if the idea of the East Coast media bias in sports originated with Stan Musial. There were Yankees and Red Sox who probably are better known from that time period, but Musial put up some impressive numbers. 475 HRs (without figuring it out, he had to be close to the top when he retired), .331 AVG, 3630 Hits, and only 696 Ks! In 1948 he hit 39 HRs, 18 3Bs, 46 2Bs, hit .376, with a .450 OBP. Ohhhh, and he only struck out 34 times. Watch some video highlights, I think he could be a hitter in today’s league as well.
FIVE
Tony Gwynn–The best modern hitter. A career .338 hitter, flirted with .400 during the strike-shortened 1994 season. Do you want to know how good his eye was? He only struck out 188 times during the 1990s. Yeah, you read that right. Kyle Schwarber has struck out 174 times this season and he still has like 27 games left. All of the great strikeout pitchers have said how they hated facing Tony Gwynn. Greg Maddux once said “if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision. Except for that (expletive) Tony Gwynn.” I think that sums it up perfectly.
FOUR
Hank Aaron–The all-time total bases leader. The former home run king. Did it while also hitting .305 for his career. He did it without ever hitting more than 47 HRs in a season. Crazy fact: if you remove his home runs, Hank Aaron still has 3000 hits. Ready for some more craziness. In 1959, he led the NL with a .355 average. He hit 39 HRs, knocked in 123, while scoring 116 times. He finished 3rd in the MVP that year. If you ever want to watch just a pure hitter, check out Aaron’s highlight videos. He just had such a minimalist swing. No big leg kick, could hit to all fields, knew how to work a count. Just fun to watch.
THREE
Ty Cobb–Like I said about Honus Wagner, it is so hard to know how good these hitters from the Deadball Era were, but I am 99.99% sure that Ty Cobb would hit in any era. A career .366 hitter. The highest career average. Also, 4189 hits. He hit over .400 in 1911 and 1912. I remember reading a story about how he was unimpressed with Babe Ruth’s home run hitting. He said anyone could do it, and went out that night and hit three home runs, a double, and two singles. Giving him a record-breaking 16 total bases in a game.
TWO
Babe Ruth–I think most people know the stats: 714 HRs, 60 HRs in one season, career .342 AVG, all-time career leader in slugging and OPS. We know he was a two-way player (I mean, everyone has to compare Shohei Ohtani to him), but I do not think people realize how little the Red Sox used him as a hitter. From 1914-1918 he only had 789 plate appearances. Imagine if he was a full-time hitter and averaged just 15 home runs…that puts him close to 800, and he goes over 3000 hits.
ONE
Ted Williams–The last batter to hit .400 in a season. A career average .344, the all-time leader in OBP at .482. Think about that for a second, he was getting on-base at almost 50% of the time. He hit 521 HRs, while winning multiple batting titles. He started dominating in the Majors from the moment he hit the scene. Williams missed three seasons due to his military service in WWII, then almost two seasons because of his service in the Korean War. He easily goes over 3000 hits and 600 HRs. He semi-retired after the Korean War, then came back (from 1952-55 he only played in 258 games). He continued to hit at a high level at the end of the career (his final year, at age 41, he his 29 HRs, had a .316 AVG, .451 OBP). Want to talk about his eye and patience? He walked 2021 times and struck out 709 times. His rookie year he struck out 64 times, after that season he only struck out more than 50 times twice. Just an amazing hitter.
Well there you have it. My top ten hitters of all-time. What do you think? Agree or disagree…
