A little late, but my votes:
Ruth
Williams
Oscar Charleston
KennerTheGreat, I think there is some merit in what you’re saying in general. However, among the folks that frequent the baseball threads here on the Dope I think you’ll find a deeper appreciation for the overall skills of the great players.
Well, if you said top 5, I’d have Wagner on there.
Hornsby, no.
What’s the knock on Hornsby? He beats Wagner in:
OBP: .434 to .391
OPS: 1.010 to .857
OPS+: 175 to 150
SLUG: .577 to .466
BA: .358 to .327
HR: 301 to 101
BB: 1038 to 963
Wagner has the edge in:
Hits: 3415 to 2930
3B: 252 to 169
RBI: 1732 to 1584
Were they that much different defensively?
Small tangent. I went to a Minor League All Star event on Saturday. There were a bunch of old timers with ties to Portland. One was a player who started out in the negro Leagues. Wish I could remember his full name, but it was Art something. In any case, he told the following story.
This from a player who had a lifetime batting average of over 300 and played in the Negro League, the Pacific Coast League (which back then had a very good reputation), and the Major Leagues.
I’d still take Hornsby, but yeah, they were. Word is that Wagner’s on the very very short list of greatest defensive shortstops in history, while Hornsby was… not on the short list at second. Plus, adjusting for era, Wagner was closer to Raja than it seems at first glance.
But like I said, I’d still prefer the over-the-top offense.