The Babe or Ted Williams?

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

So WrestleCrap, better ball player that defined their team?

Splendid Splinter



v

The Great Bambi



Um. the Great Bambi? You mean that wussy deer?

It's the GREAT BAMBINO!

[rawthentic]

Easily Ruth.

[Insomniac]

Ruth is going to be the clear winner of this poll because he was not only the greatest slugger of all-time, but he wasn't too shabby of a pitcher in his Boston days. Williams was the clear #2, IMO. Second best OPS+ all-time (191 to Ruth's 207) and highest career OBP (.482). If not for WWII and the Korean War, which caused him to miss nearly 5 full seasons of his career (including three years in his prime), he easily tops 650 HR.

[KingPopper]

Other: Ty Cobb

[FrankGotch]

Ruth, because he was a great pitcher, and he was hitting his home runs during the dead ball era. Ruth was constantly hitting more home runs in a season then entire teams. Too bad he played for the Yankees.

Ted Williams was the best pure all around batter ever, and one hell of a model American. Too bad he played for the Red Sox.

[Bob Schlapowitz]

Teddy.

[ani]

Babe Ruth easily. 700+ homers, 2,000+ RBI's, close to 3,000 hits and a great eye at the plate (he walked often.) Nothing against Ted though.

If it's the best overall player though, I like Honus Wagner.

[Sajoa Moe]

I'd take Ruth over Williams, but if we're talking greatest of all time, I'd have to go with Willie Mays.

[erisi236]

It's funny looking at those pics of Ted and Babe, in this age of jacked Supermen playing ball those guys look like double A flunk out's.

[Deleted]

Everybody knows who George Herman "Babe" Ruth is. Not everybody knows Ted Williams.

Babe was a public relations dream. He could hit, he could pitch, he could kinda field well. Babe had a knack for giving the quotes the papers ate up. He was "everyman" and people lived through him. Babe went out and had a great time, no matter what the situation. Sure, he could drink and eat like a horse, but he also gave back to charities. A lot of old films I'd see of Babe, he'd be with a crowd of kids trying to ride a horse or play cowboy. Babe was out to be seen. He was America in the 1920s.
Ted was quiet but boastful. He wasn't a fan of the press and showed no love to them. Ted worked on his game 24/7, always looking to improve his hitting. If you look at the years Ted lost the MVP voting by a small margin, it was because he wasn't a press guy (or in some cases, a Yankee). He played in 1941, hit .406 and still lost to Joe DiMaggio. (In Joe's defense, his team did win the Series and Joe had that little 56-game hitting streak going for him.) In 1942, he lost the MVP to Joe Gordon, even though Ted outclassed him everywhere. (Who the hell gets an MVP for being great at defense?)

Many point to Ted's lost time in the service, but Babe lost quite a few games in his own right for suspensions. Umpire baiting and "barnstorming" (playing unofficial games on and against other teams, mainly in the South against Negro Leaguers) would get him suspended from MLB for a month. I bet Babe could have easily passed 750 HR if he had those games back.

I picked Ted Williams. Honestly, once Lou Gehrig started playing for the Yankees, Babe wasn't even the best player on his own team.

[Paul Servo]

Ted Williams, I smurfing hate talking pigs

[fuzzywarble, squat cobbler]

As a die-hard baseball fan/historian, The Babe wins this one. He single-handedly not only saved the Yankees after the Black Sox scandal, but baseball as well. Williams is the better pure hitter, as he is the best pure hitter in Sox history (Ruth is not the best pure hitter in Yanks history). But overall, The Babe had a larger impact on his team than Williams did. Just look at their World Series victory totals.

[Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action]

Williams is great, no doubt about it.

But if you ask a non baseball fan who Babe Ruth played for they'll tell you the Yankees. If you ask them the same for Ted Williams they might not know.

And the point of this poll was who defined their team, not who was better.

[RedSmile]

Jun 17, 2009 8:46:14 GMT -5 Sajoa Moe said:

I'd take Ruth over Williams, but if we're talking greatest of all time, I'd have to go with Willie Mays.

I consider Hank Aaron to be the best ever.

[fuzzywarble, squat cobbler]

The best ever, to me, is Ty Cobb, hands down.

[Sajoa Moe]

Jun 17, 2009 10:29:59 GMT -5 RedSmile said:

Jun 17, 2009 8:46:14 GMT -5 Sajoa Moe said:

I'd take Ruth over Williams, but if we're talking greatest of all time, I'd have to go with Willie Mays.

I consider Hank Aaron to be the best ever.

Aaron may have been the best run producer of all time, but I give the edge to Mays because of his defensive prowess. Not that Aaron was a slouch in the field, though.

[fuzzywarble, squat cobbler]

Mays was better but he also may have had the worst decline in history

[Drillbit Taylor]

Teddy Ballgame.


He was a solid hitter for the Sox for years, and took time out of the prime of his playing years to serve in not one, but two wars.
Babe just came arround at the right time. He had the numbers, but he was not as much as a defining pillar as Williams was.


And comparing the missed time. Ruth did not miss nearly as much as Williams did.

[Insomniac]

Jun 17, 2009 1:54:56 GMT -5 KingPopper said:

Other: Ty Cobb

Jun 17, 2009 11:07:50 GMT -5 fuzzywarble, squat cobbler said:

The best ever, to me, is Ty Cobb, hands down.

Whenever there's a discussion for "Best ballplayer ever", that's a name that I don't hear mentioned as much as others. Maybe it's because he played in the deadball era. Maybe it's because so many people remember him more for being such a terrible human being. Either way, he's definitely up there on the list.

Jun 17, 2009 9:31:37 GMT -5 @sandman said:

Ted was quiet but boastful. He wasn't a fan of the press and showed no love to them. Ted worked on his game 24/7, always looking to improve his hitting. If you look at the years Ted lost the MVP voting by a small margin, it was because he wasn't a press guy (or in some cases, a Yankee). He played in 1941, hit .406 and still lost to Joe DiMaggio. (In Joe's defense, his team did win the Series and Joe had that little 56-game hitting streak going for him.) In 1942, he lost the MVP to Joe Gordon, even though Ted outclassed him everywhere. (Who the hell gets an MVP for being great at defense?)

Well put. Ted hated the way reporters would seem to focus more on what he did off the field than on. Williams felt it was the negativity from the press that helped ruin the atmosphere at the ballpark. Even when he was putting up Triple Crown numbers, he'd get booed by fans for bobbling a ball or grounding out in a clutch situation. That would piss him off, and the press ate that up. The whole relationship between Williams and Boston was very tumultuous at times, but it eventually improved after retirement.

[Drillbit Taylor]

Jun 17, 2009 12:43:37 GMT -5 Insomniac said:

Jun 17, 2009 1:54:56 GMT -5 KingPopper said:

Other: Ty Cobb

Whenever there's a discussion for "Best ballplayer ever", that's a name that I don't hear mentioned as much as others. Maybe it's because he played in the deadball era. Maybe it's because so many people remember him more for being such a terrible human being. Either way, he's definitely up there on the list.

Jun 17, 2009 9:31:37 GMT -5 @sandman said:

Ted was quiet but boastful. He wasn't a fan of the press and showed no love to them. Ted worked on his game 24/7, always looking to improve his hitting. If you look at the years Ted lost the MVP voting by a small margin, it was because he wasn't a press guy (or in some cases, a Yankee). He played in 1941, hit .406 and still lost to Joe DiMaggio. (In Joe's defense, his team did win the Series and Joe had that little 56-game hitting streak going for him.) In 1942, he lost the MVP to Joe Gordon, even though Ted outclassed him everywhere. (Who the hell gets an MVP for being great at defense?)

Well put. Ted hated the way reporters would seem to focus more on what he did off the field than on. Williams felt it was the negativity from the press that helped ruin the atmosphere at the ballpark. Even when he was putting up Triple Crown numbers, he'd get booed by fans for bobbling a ball or grounding out in a clutch situation. That would piss him off, and the press ate that up. The whole relationship between Williams and Boston was very tumultuous at times, but it eventually improved after retirement.

Really though, Left field for Boston until the 1990's never really was warm with the press. Yaz was lukewarm, and Rice was just as cold as Williams.