Most Dangerous Hitter of all time?

[Seabiscuit]

Poll question: Most Dangerous Hitter of all time?

OK, Mantle and Mays were great players for their teams, but that raises a question: who was the most dangerous hitter of all time?

[Melynn]

1. It has to be Bonds

I don't like Bonds but it has to be Bonds. Didn't Bonds get over one hundred intentional walks last year? That stat right there shows that opposition is scared stiff to pitch to Bonds.

[Seabiscuit]

2. Sorry - I adjusted the poll after you voted for Bonds

I'll cast your vote for Bonds in your place.

[Melynn]

5. You adjusted the poll after I voted?

I'm a Democratic voter in Ohio so I'm used to having my vote "adjusted" after I cast my ballot.

[Seabiscuit]

11. LOL! At least this poll won't "(s)elect" Dubya.

[Thor_MN]

29. Was going to vote for * this once, I thought it said most dangerous Hitler

[Seabiscuit]

3. And you're right - pitchers are afraid of Bonds like no other in history

[CalebHayes]

34. steroids

[maveric]

38. Bonds after he discovered the "juice".

Before that he just slightly above average.

[Seabiscuit]

4. N.B. - feel free to add "other". There are so many others... like

Hammerin' Hank Aaron, Rogers Hornsby, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, Yogi Berra, Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey, Jr. (in his prime) etc., etc. ad nauseum.

I just ran out of space in the poll as names popped into my head.

[jbane]

6. Can't stand B.Bonds but I can't deny his mad skills.

Although Pete Rose was mostly a singles hitter, in his prime with the Reds and the Phillies he was a hell of a clutch hitter. Why are so many of baseballs best such
A-holes?

[farmbo]

7. Remember guys...Ted Williams took time off to serve in WWII and Korea.

Otherwise his stats would have been astronomical.

[kodi]

27. no other player forced the defense to shift like williams did

.

[Nightwing]

8. Teddy "Baseball" tops the list

No doubt about it and great point that he lost many prime years due to WWII. He's the last hitter to bat over .400 and although Bonds has the power numbers, he doesn't compare to the clutch Ted Williams.

Perhaps a better poll would be "The most dangerous NATURAL hitter of all time". Bonds has been juiced, Williams, Gehrig, Ruth et AL were not.

[peekaloo]

9. George Foster

with the Reds was fearsome.

[underpants]

10. Ahem

Pete Rose

[sir_captain]

12. It's Ruth in a landslide

and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves

[Seabiscuit]

35. I have a hard time disagreeing with you, but 10 have voted Ted Williams.

As I probably would have done myself.

[sir_captain]

42. It's just an objective truth

one look at the stats tells you. It's no slight to Teddy Ballgame, who is certainly one of the five best hitters ever, and may have been the best without those lost years. But the fact of the matter is that he did lose those years, and Ruth simply outperformed him. Higher career OPS, significantly higher career OPS+, more than 400 more runs created. It's certainly close, but there simply isn't any actual argument that can be made in Williams' favor.

[CubsFan1982]

13. Williams.

He could kill you in so many ways, offensively. His mastery of the strike zone made him damn near impossible to pitch to. Just knowing his obsessiveness in that regard makes him the most dangerous, to me. If I were pitching to him, I wouldn't know where to go; all the other guys had more obvious weaknesses - you can strike out Ruth or Bonds or McGwire, you had to be REALLY good to strike out Teddy Ballgame.

[Seabiscuit]

14. Where are all the baseball fans? Only 14 votes???

Time for a ::kick::

[dolo amber]

15. Ok, I think I've had too much wine

I *SO* thought your poll said "Most dangerous HITLER of all time"...

:wtf:



:D

[Seabiscuit]

16. There's a cheap copy-cat poll out there (second one with same title).

[BlackVelvetElvis]

17. Where's Josh Gibson?

http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016050.html

"In various publications, the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder has been credited with as many as 84 homers in one season. His Hall of Fame plaque says he hit "almost 800" homers in his 17-year career. His lifetime batting average was higher than .350, with one book putting it at .384, best in Negro League history."

Granted, Negro league records aren't immaculate.

To stick to your list, I'd say Ruth. I wonder if he'd been better if he took care of himself.

[Seabiscuit]

18. To answer your question: "Here". You don't have to stick to my list

as I ran out of space and didn't provide for "other". See my post above about it.

Good choice with Gibson, BTW.

[Seabiscuit]

21. That is, see post #4.

[Seabiscuit]

19. Looks like the "Wonk" copy-cat is competing with this thread.

So I'll give him what he deserves: :kick:

[Seabiscuit]

20. That STILL didn't do it.

This should.

[Seabiscuit]

22. Results so far:

1. Ted Williams
2. Babe Ruth
3. Barry Bonds
4. Ty Cobb & Lou Gehrig
5. Mickey Mantle

no other votes cast.

Tough choices.

[CubsFan1982]

23. I'd pitch to Bonds.

It's no in between with him, really. He either crushes one into McCovey Cove or hits a groundball to second. Ted Williams would take a pitch a foot out of the strike zone and hit it in play somewhere. Bonds really can't do that.

[Seabiscuit]

26. What you say about Williams is true - that's what made him so dangerous.

OTOH, Bonds isn't merely some guy who swings for the fences. Throughout his career he's been a line drive hitter. Over the past 5 years he merely raised the angle of his swing so these drives clear the wall more often. He doesn't hit monster shots like McGuire and Sosa. During this time he's also raised his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage tremendously. He still gets plenty of doubles.

The difference between him and Williams is that Bonds is more patient at the plate, and very rarely swings at a bad pitch - and with so many bad pitches, he's set records with his walks (many of them intentional). Williams had those long arms and didn't have to be patient - you're right, he could swing at an outside fastball and knock it into the opposite field for a single. Bonds doesn't do that.
The closest we've seen to Williams recently is Tony Gwynn (although Williams had more power).

[Radical Activist]

24. Mike Tyson? OJ?

I dunno.

[Seabiscuit]

25. A little sports confusion there, eh?

LOL!

[porkrind]

28. "Most Dangerous Hitter of all time?" : Adolph Hitter

[ChairOne]

30. Lawrence Taylor - duh! lol /eom

[Seabiscuit]

33. Uh.... wrong sport, sport.

[ChairOne]

47. *really*? [drip, drip] /eom

[11 Bravo]

64. Just ask Joe Theismann!

n/t

[Seabiscuit]

31. Now that the moderators have mercifully locked most "rap" threads

(which always degenerate into flamefests) it's time for some more of America's "favorite past-time": baseball!

[Seabiscuit]

32. So far Ted Williams is beating Ruth and Bonds 2-1.

And if I hadn't given my vote to the first poster who voted for Bonds, before I changed the poll, I would have voted for Ted Williams as well. He did it all - and the pitchers were definitely afraid of him - they'd pitch out of the strike zone and he'd knock a single or double - and who knows what he might have accomplished if he hadn't served in WWII during his prime.

OTOH, who knows what Mickey Mantle would have been capable of if he hadn't ruined his ankle during his rookie year, and hadn't become such a lush (who else could belt home runs like he did on head-splitting hangovers???) that he had to retire in his early 30's. I personally recall Mantle setting an all-time speed record for running from home plate to first base before he stepped in that center field sprinkler chasing a fly ball that DiMaggio was too slow to reach and destroyed his ankle.

A healthy and sober Mantle throughout a long career (into his early 40's) might have been the greatest and most dangerous hitter and base-runner ever. He certainly had the talent, including a shotgun arm from center field.

[Seabiscuit]

36. 'Scuse me. Ruth got another vote.

[Seabiscuit]

37. Hmmm... any baseball fans up tonight?

[maveric]

39. Where's Hank Aaron? I cant believe that he's not mentioned.

And BTW, Bonds is a chating little punk who should have an * after his name from now on.

[Seabiscuit]

41. See post #4 - I ran out of room. Sorry.

I did mention "Hammerin' Hank" in that post.

[maveric]

40. From 1976-84 it would have been Jim Rice.

Big numbers through and through.

[sir_captain]

44. I think Mike Schmidt would probably disagree with you

though in those years, it would have been hard to argue with either...

[maveric]

70. OK, in the AL then.

You are right about Schmidt.

[hickman1937]

43. So, why not Lou Gerhig?

I don't know shit about Baseball, but my brothers all played, and follow religiously. They love Lou Gerig. I just wonder why. Thank you ahead.

[Seabiscuit]

45. Good choice - now please cast your vote for him. He needs it. :)

Gehrig was known as the "Iron Man" - he played on the Yanks with Babe Ruth and not only hit tons of homers, he hit for average. He died prematurely of an unusual disease which became known as "Gherig's Disease".

[hickman1937]

46. My mom died from that same disease.

2 years ago. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Slow death. For Billy, Paul, and Mark, I vote Lou.

[xmas74]

52. I went to school with someone who also died from it.

Her dream was to walk the line at graduation and receive her diploma. She missed it by two days.

[Seabiscuit]

48. Tuesday bump

:kick:

[Blue_Tires]

49. No Aaron, Foxx, Wagner, DiMaggio, Gwynn, etc etc?

and please do all real baseball fans a favor, and chop off the bottom three names on the list...

compared to the era in which they played, if i absolutely HAD to pick somone on this list, give me Ruth.

[Seabiscuit]

50. As I said in post #4, feel free to add your own - the list is too short.

I mean, how do you limit a list of most dangerous hitters of all time to only 10? You write what happens to pop into your head at first - then spend the next four days regretting several of your choices. :)

[Seabiscuit]

51. Final kick

:kick:

[xmas74]

53. And another

:kick:

[Seabiscuit]

54. Aw... why not?....

:kick:

[GumboYaYa]

55. friend of mine's aunt was Ted Williams long time lady friend.

I had the pleasure of talking to him in his later years. He swears that he could see the rotation on the ball by looking at the seems. That is some amazing eyesight. Apparently that, not size, is the most important aspect of being a great hitter.

[WI_DEM]

56. What about Joe DiMaggio?

[NeoTraitors]

57. I voted for Babe Ruth.

Ruth was so good that when he first started leading the American league in HRs in the early '20's, he would hit over twice as many as the next guy on the list.

Before Ruth, a guy named 'Home Run' Baker used to lead the league. 'Home Run' never hit more than 12 or 14 in a year.

A lot of guys have been dangerous hitters and put up incredible numbers, but noone dominated their era like the Babe.

The only hitter that even has an arguement is Josh Gibson.

[Steve Nash is god 13]

58. forgot Hank Aaron n/t

[Spirochete]

59. Dale Murphy

I don't know how many bats he launched into the left field bleachers...

[fishwax]

62. heh heh Dale Murphy was my baseball hero as a kid

he was a pretty dangerous catcher too, before they moved him to the outfield. Once with a runner stealing second, the pitcher (knowing Murphy's wildness) hit the mound flat and Murph still bounced the ball off the pitcher's ass. He had a great arm from the outfield, though :shrug:

[Spirochete]

67. Murphy's father used to say

"Dale will throw out anyone who tries to steal center field"
I hear he was terrible as a catcher, all right. Like Mickey mantle, who started as a shortstop, but threw more balls to the fans in the right field seats than he did to the first baseman.

[Huckebein the Raven]

60. Ted Williams

[progmom]

61. Adolph

Oh...I thought you said Hitler!!

[Susang]

63. LOL, so did I!!!

I was going to answer Ted.

[VOX]

65. Muhammud Ali? :)) Seriously, Ted Williams -- a pure hitter.

"He (Ted Williams) was the best pure hitter I ever saw. He was feared." - Joe DiMaggio

[Penndems]

66. One for The Mick . . .

He made me a Yankees fan. ;)

[Seabiscuit]

69. Thank you. He made me a baseball fan. #7's been my luck number since.

[Seabiscuit]

68. Finally Tally before allowing this thread to retire:

27 VOTES: Ted ("Mister Baseball") Williams
9 VOTES: Barry ("I just thought it was fruit juice") Bonds
8 VOTES: George Hermann ("The Babe") Ruth
5 VOTES: Ty ("watch out for my spikes") Cobb
3 VOTES: Lou ("Iron Man") Gehrig
2 VOTES: Mickey ("The Mick") Mantle
1 VOTE: Stan ("The Man") Musial
1 VOTE: Willie ("The Say Hey Kid") Mays

Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa failed to impress. "Hammerin'" Hank Aaron and "Joltin'" Joe DiMaggio, OTOH, got several write-in votes.

Looks like Williams in a landslide.

[Blue_Tires]

71. the 9 ppl that voted for the Balco Boy, for shame!

[Seabiscuit]

72. Ressurected from page 9

Somehow I don't think it's worth it, though... :)