The Five Greatest Hitters in Major League Baseball History

One of the great things about baseball is the endless arguments about which players are the greatest. I want to add to these endless arguments my own argument for the five greatest hitters in major league baseball history. When compiling any list of "the Greatest _____" it's important to be clear on your criteria.

Criteria

-My list is based on the peak 5 year stretch of any hitter. There's a big difference between asking which players had the longest stretch of great play and which players had the greatest single season. I am looking for something in between these two extremes. I want to compare the greatest hitters of all time at their absolute peak, not on their way up and not on their way down.

-I'm only considering players who began their career after 1900. 19th century baseball while very interesting historically I just don't think can be compared to today's game. It's hard enough comparing players of these different eras already but in the 19th century the game was still being formed and the rules were being changed too quickly for it to make any sense to compare their numbers with today's.

The List

5. Ty Cobb (1909-1913) - Cobb played most of his great seasons during the dead ball era and played a type of baseball that was pretty much obliterated by the long ball approach brought to the game by Babe Ruth in the 1920s. Because of this sometimes it seems that people forget just how great Cobb was at his peak and indeed throughout his career (He is the major leagues all time career batting average leader at .366. Hitting at least .316 for 23 consecutive seasons from 1906 to 1928.) During Cobb's peak five year period from 1909 to 1913 he led the league in batting average and slugging percentage 4 of those 5 seasons. A common misperception is that Cobb was just a singles hitter but he won the Triple Crown (Leading the league in Home Runs, RBI, and Batting Average) in 1909 and finished 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, and 8th in home runs during those five seasons respectively. His home run totals look so small looking back now because of him playing the majority of his career in the dead ball era and that he detested the "long ball strategy" that Babe Ruth popularized.

4. Rogers Hornsby (1921-1925) - During the stretch I chose as his absolute peak 1921 to 1925 Hornsby was unbelievable hitting over .400 three times and just missing the other two years at .397 and .384. He led the National League in batting average in all five of these seasons. He also won the Triple Crown in both 1922 and 1925. He also led the National League in both on base percentage and slugging percentage in all five of these seasons. He finished in the top 5 in home runs every year, leading the league in both 1922 and 1925. He lead the league in OPS all five years (obviously being that he lead the league in batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage every year.) and it wasn't even close. Obviously Rogers Hornsby absolutely dominated his National League competition during this time period, his only competition comes from players throughout history. His peak OPS came in 1925 at 1.245 and is 13th best of all time. Only the players ranked ahead of him have ever bettered that mark. Rogers Hornsby is not as well known as he should be considering the numbers he put up in his career and especially during this scorching period. He was being overshadowed at the time by Babe Ruth over in the American League playing in New York. Hornsby played in a much smaller market in St. Louis certainly part of the reason he is less well known than lesser players such as Joe DiMaggio.

3. Ted Williams (1941-1948) - Ted Williams 5 season peak period stretches out over 8 years because he did not play in 1943, 1944, or 1945 because of World War II duty. These three seasons likely would have been three peak years for Williams that are always leaves baseball historians with the great "What If?" Certainly Williams would have been over 600 home runs for his career. But setting this aside and the fascinating aspect of one of the greatest (the greatest in my opinion) baseball player of his era leaving his sport to fight in war. Imagine LeBron James leaving the Cavs to fight in Iraq? Well I'm getting quite off subject here but Iraq is no World War II is it? Back on subject: Ted Williams was simply an unbelievable hitter his entire career and especially during this period. In 1941 of course he was the last player to hit over .400 for an entire season. It's now 2006 and there have been 65 seasons since then without a player hitting .400 so this is quite a feat. He had a .551 OBP in 1941 which was the all time single season record until Barry Bonds broke it in 2002. Williams finished in the top 3 for AL MVP voting in all three of these seasons. He led the league in batting average 4 of the 5 years, finishing second the other season. He led the league in on base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS all five seasons. He led the league in home runs 3 of these seasons. Quite simply Williams dominated this era. I believe the only two players to dominate an era more thoroughly are the two players ranked above him.

2. Babe Ruth (1920-1924) - Obviously Ruth had many other great seasons, the greatest of which may be 1927 when he hit 60 home runs. But his numbers are most overwhelming in 1920 and 1921 (due in no small part to Polo Grounds.) So I felt this must be the period to represent Ruth. Ruth is well known for his amazing home run hitting ability but often overlooked are the tremendous batting averages he put up. During this period he hit .376, .378, .315, .393, and .378 which was good for four top 4 rankings and one time leading the league. This was an era of very high batting averages and this must be taken into account when comparing numbers. His .393 was only 3rd that season. He led the league in slugging percentage all 5 seasons. His slugging percentage of .849 in 1920 was the all time single season record until Barry Bonds broke it in 2001. He led the league in OPS all five seasons with 3 of those ranking in the top 6 single season OPS of all time. Until Barry Bonds record shattering performances Ruth's top three OPS seasons from this period were the top three of all time. Even considering his inflated numbers from Polo Grounds this was an incredibly dominant performance only to be out done by one player in the history of baseball.

1. Barry Bonds (2000-2004) - Bonds domination over his competition during this period still doesn't seem to be fully grasped by some in baseball. He wasn't simply better than everyone else, he was so much better that it seemed he was only toying with everyone else. Bonds finished 2nd in the MVP voting in 2000 (although he clearly should have won the award over his very overrated ex teammate Jeff Kent.) and then won it every year from 2001 to 2004. This is the most dominating performance in MVP voting in baseball history by far. Bonds led the league in batting average two of these seasons (.370 and .362), finishing in the top 7 four of the seasons. Bonds led the league in OBP in four of these seasons including a record setting .582 in 2002 and a shattering of his own record with an astounding .609 in 2004 (there has been no other player over even a .500 other than Bonds since Mickey Mantle in 1957.) Bonds also set records for walks with 198 in 2002 only to break the record again in 2004 with 232. Bonds also holds the all time record for intentional walks with 120 in 2004 showing the immense fear other managers had of Bonds during this period. Bonds also of course set the record for home runs with 73 in 2001. Bonds lead the league in slugging percentage for four of those seasons setting an all time record of .863 in 2001. Most astounding is he had 3 of the top 5 slugging percentage seasons of all time during this period. He lead the league in OPS in 4 of those 5 seasons with those 4 seasons ranking as 4 of the top 8 OPS seasons of all time including the highest ever 1.422 in 2004. Bonds also lead the league in Home Runs per At Bat all five of these seasons. The record books are just stuffed to the brim with Bonds' seasons from this period, his 2001 and 2004 seasons in particular hold many of the single season records ever and 2002 and to a somewhat lesser extent 2003 are right there behind in most of them. Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter in major league history