Dozens of ESPN writers and editors submitted more than 20,000 votes (see the full methodology here) to determine the final order. Here is the list of the top 10 MLB players of all time.
Max
300 is what Musial did year after year. He topped the mark in each of his first 17 seasons in the big leagues, winning seven batting titles. His 1948 MVP season (his third MVP award) is one of the best ever.
Johnson contemporary Ping Bodie said of Johnson's stuff, "You can't hit what you can't see." It's hard to say there is a consensus about who should own the title of "best pitcher ever." However, it would be impossible to have that discussion without the "Big Train" at the center of it.
There might not be a more polarizing figure in baseball's modern era than Barry Lamar Bonds. He was a five-tool, Hall of Fame-caliber outfielder even before his neck widened and his numbers inflated, posting a .981 OPS while averaging 33 home runs and 34 stolen bases on the way to three MVPs from 1987 to 1998.
#7 Mickey Mantle
#6 Lou Gehrig
Society remembers Gehrig for the disease that took his life and bears his name, and for the courage, he displayed when facing it. From a strict baseball standpoint, the "Iron Horse" is remembered as a constant, a player who showed up every day and produced at a level few have.
#5 Ted Williams
Williams was probably the greatest hitter who ever lived, largely because of the astronomical numbers he put up but also because of how he revolutionized the approach to hitting.
#4 Ty Cobb
In an era when batting average reigned supreme, Cobb was the greatest of 'em all: He won a record 12 batting titles, hit .400 three times, and finished with the highest lifetime average in MLB history.
#3 Hank Aaron
7-5-5. Even today, if you ask a lifelong baseball fan how many homers Aaron hit, they'll probably be able to tell you. You ask how many Barry Bonds hit, and they might have to whip out their smartphone. When Aaron's pursuit of Babe Ruth's career homer's record culminated in No.
#2 Willie Mays
Mays knows playing a shallow center field at a cavernous Polo Grounds, sprinting toward the center-field fence, and making an improbable over-the-shoulder basket catch at the warning track with the score tied late in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.
#1 Babe Ruth
The baseball we watch today is Babe Ruth's game. Many players make an impact, a few become folk heroes, but nobody changed a sport like Ruth did when he joined the Yankees and transformed baseball into a game of power. No player dominated his era like Ruth.