Originally Posted by
Matt3467
If we're talking HR hitters and ignoring those that cheated then you have to have McGwire in the discussion. McGwire average more homeruns per at-bat than any other player in history.
Bonds was a great player before the roids. He hit for average and would hit 30-40 homeruns a year. Steroids don't give you talent but they do amplify it and Bonds is a cheater that I don't believe deserves to be in the HOF and above those like Babe, Mays, Aaron, etc on the Home Run list. I'm not saying he wasn't good. He was great and on his way to being a surefire HOF player before the roids.
Some of my favorite players are roid users like Sosa, McGwire, Canseco, Bonds, Clemens, Boone, Gonzalez, Bagwell, Rodriguez (Alex and Ivan), but I would also say those players earned themselves an asterisk next to their stats forever.
I read something about Babes career a while back and something that others haven't mentioned here is that the baseballs were made different back then. I'd have to look it up to get specifics but prior to 1920 the balls were much harder to be hit for homeruns and after the 1920 change to baseballs a significant jump to homeruns occurred. By 1925 the homerun rate for the league doubled!
My vote for all time great is Ruth. Along with his stats his Legend is almost mythical in baseball.
My personal favorite player of all time would be Andres Galarraga. One of the most underrated players ever in my opinion. Great bat and glove. His numbers would've been plenty better had he not had to battle cancer in his prime.
Edit: Meant to add that Babe also averaged more homeruns per at-bat than Bonds.