[wallendar]

With all due respect to the poster and to Mays ability but Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player. I doubt Mays would have made the Hall as a pitcher which Ruth would have if he had stayed on the mound. AAMOF Ruth should have been the #1 on ESPN’s list with Thorpe #2.

+100   being able to pitch and hit at that level is amazing.  Ruth is#12 on the all time winningest percentage pitcher list.

Factor in night baseball, additional travel, the color barrier and an overall improvement in the quality of competition and I’ll still take Mays.  He was the benchmark by which all five tool players are measured. Note: this takes nothing away from Ruth - he saved baseball following the Black Sox scandal but, IMO, he was not the greatest ball player of all time.

[wallendar]

With all due respect to the poster and to Mays ability but Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player. I doubt Mays would have made the Hall as a pitcher which Ruth would have if he had stayed on the mound. AAMOF Ruth should have been the #1 on ESPN’s list with Thorpe #2.

+100   being able to pitch and hit at that level is amazing.  Ruth is#12 on the all time winningest percentage pitcher list.

Factor in night baseball, additional travel, the color barrier and an overall improvement in the quality of competition and I’ll still take Mays.  He was the benchmark by which all five tool players are measured. Note: this takes nothing away from Ruth - he saved baseball following the Black Sox scandal but, IMO, he was not the greatest ball player of all time.