There are hundreds of all time great baseball players in MLB history, but only 10 made this list. Find out who are the 10 greatest MLB players of all time.
10 Greatest MLB Players of All Time
10. Honus Wagner, SS
1897-1917, Pirates
Eight-time batting champion
The Flying Dutchman — who is one of the greatest MLB players ever. The greatest shortstop was an eight-time batting champion who hit .328 for his career. Wagner was so good that he actually took the Pirates to the World Series.
9. Mickey Mantle, CF
1951-68, Yankees
World Series-record 18 homers
Mantle is one of the greatest MLB players of all time. There’s no doubt he was born to play the ball. All he had was natural ability. He won three MVP Awards and could have won more. He drank too much and his knees went bad, but there’s still only one Mick.
8. Stan Musial, 1B/OF
1941-63, Cardinals
1,815 hits both home and road
Stan Musial, agurably one of the greatest MLB players of all time. He led the league in batting seven times, hit 475 home runs, scored nearly as many runs (1,949) as he drove in (1,951), won three MVP awards, and made 20 All-Star Games.
7. Roger Clemens, RHP
1984-2007, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees, Astros
Record seven Cy Youngs
The images flash through your mind: the 20 strikeouts against Seattle, the TV shot of him nervously watching the end of Game 6 in the ’86 World Series, the meltdown in the 1990 playoffs, another 20-strikeout game, the dominance in Toronto, finally getting a ring, Game 7 in 2001.
Seven Cy Youngs and 354 wins – then the end – hold the seventh place among greatest MLB players of all time.
6. Ty Cobb, CF
1905-28, Tigers, Athletics
Highest career average (.366)
While he won’t win any “Good Guy” awards, Cobb was one of greatest MLB players of all time, winning 11 batting titles, stealing 897 bases and finishing with a record .366 average. He was so respected as a player that Cobb received more Hall of Fame votes than Babe Ruth.
5. Hank Aaron, RF
1954-76, Braves, Brewers
Most career RBIs (2,297)
Fifth place amongst the greatest MLB players of all time, occupied by Hank Aaron. He dealt with hate mail, oppressive media scrutiny and the ghost of Babe Ruth en route to setting baseball’s career home run record of 755. Along the way, Aaron expressed no more agitation than a man brushing aside a housefly. Amazingly, Aaron never surpassed 47 homers in a season.
4. Ted Williams, LF
Red Sox, 1939-60
.344 hitter; zero 200-hit seasons
The Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams comes 4th in the list of greatest MLB players of all time. Regarded as the greatest hitter who ever lived, Tid won six batting titles, led his league 12 times in OBP and nine times in slugging percentage. At 41, he hit .316 and slugged .645.
3. Barry Bonds, LF
1986-2007, Pirates, Giants
Single-season (73) and career (762) home run leader
It’s hard to place him amongst the greatest MLB players because of his cheating, but on performance alone, Bonds being a top-five guy at least.
Bonds finished his career with a .298/.444/.607 line that includes 601 doubles and his record 762 home runs. He is also the all-time leader in walks with 2,558, is the only member of the 500/500 club with 514 steals and won eight Gold Glove awards in left field.
2. Willie Mays, CF
1951-73, Giants, Mets
Played in 24 All-Star Games
Mays, after Babe Ruth, is the greatest MLB players of all time. He is a retired MLB center fielder who spent almost all of his 22 season career playing for the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. He made 660 home runs, 3,283 hits, 1,903 RBIs, 338 stolen bases, 12 Gold Gloves and he made every All-Star team from 1954-73. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility.
1. Babe Ruth, RF/LHP
1914-35, Red Sox, Yankees, Braves
714 homers, two 20-win seasons
There is no doubt that the Babe was one of the greatest MLB players who ever lived. The greatest the game ever has and likely ever will see, Babe Ruth revolutionized the sport and made the home run what it is today. He finished his career with 714 long balls. He added to that a .342/.474/.690 line that included 2,220 RBI and 2,174 runs scored, and he won 12 home run titles.
