MLB: Top Ten players of all-time – Part 1
The game of Baseball has produced some of the greatest athletes of all-time. These players were sublime on the field and were thorough gentlemen off the field. Following is an overview of the top ten players of all-time who played baseball.
Babe Ruth is undoubtedly the greatest player of all-time. This was confirmed by The Sporting News which ranked Ruth as Number one in the list of ‘Baseball’s 100 Greatest Players’ in 1998. Moreover, statistics in 1993 showed that Ruth was tied with Muhammad
Ali for the most recognized athlete across America.
Originally a left-handed starting pitcher, Ruth was used as a pitcher for a limited time by the Boston Red Sox who started using him as an everyday player more often after 1918. Babe became a regular feature in the outfield and impressed with his presence
on the plate. His role was never defined at Boston and his transition to an everyday player completed with his move to the New York Yankees in 1919.
Ruth unleashed the hitter within him in his first season with the Yankees when he smashed 54 home-runs and improved this to 59 in the next season. He continued to impress at the plate and was made the on-field captain for the 1922 season but he was soon
stripped of this responsibility due to rowdy behaviour on the field.
Ruth’s career statistics are a dream for every modern day player. Ruth was aggressive in his approach and his slugging percentage of .690, the best in baseball to date, shows exactly why. He was a home-run machine and produced 714 homers out of a total of
2174 career-runs. His career-runs are the fourth-best overall while his home-runs are the third-most by any player in Major League Baseball. His batting average of .342 is still in the list of the top-ten of all-time. Ruth rose to glory when he averaged .399
in a single season for the Yankees, which still remains a record.
Babe, regarded as one of the hottest hitters in MLB, had an elegant time as a pitcher as well. His win-loss record stood at 94-46 when his career ended. He won 89 of these games with the Red Sox while the remaining five wins came with the Yankees. His strike-outs
stood just 12 short of 500 and his winning percentage of .671 is still the 11th best in MLB.
Ruth set his eyes on managing the Yankees after the 1934 season but this did not come good with the Yankees and he moved to the Boston Braves after rejecting an offer to manage Yankees’ top Minor-League team. Ruth was named as vice-president and assistant
manager of the Braves while he continued to play as an everyday player. However, his stint with the Braves was short-lived and he retired in 1935 to be included in the Hall of Fame in 1936.
Ruth won two-consecutive All-Star selections towards the end of his career in 1933 and 1934. He has been a World Series champion seven-times which is an achievement in itself. The 1923 season saw him being voted American League’s Most Valuable Player.
The Yankees retired the Number three jersey which Babe wore. The greatest player of all-time lived his last on August 16, 1948 when he succumbed to pneumonia. He will always be regarded as the best American athlete.
Continued in Part 2
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