Best Pure Hitter

[PantherPaul]

Who in baseball history is your choice for best pure hitter. Homeruns and RBI's are nice but if the bases are loaded and you need to send up a batter in the bottom of the ninth down 1 who is it?

[chuckrichey]

gotta be tony gwynn,sweetest swing i have ever seen

[The Brain]

Gwynn and Williams are SO close its hard to call, but I have to say Williams... in my opinion while Gywnn was playing he consistently faced better pitchers than Williams did... and I know Williams faced som of the greats, but I think Gwynn had a tougher pitching lineup over his years.

[KLSnow]

I think Williams is better than Gwynn, just because he had more power....but they're all great hitters, so I'm going to go with Cobb, because you know he has one factor the rest of them don't...he's utterly ruthless.

[mattarific]

ty cobb, loved the way he played....balls to the wall every single play. read a story about him being attacked in chicago by three guys and getting stabbed......later that day he went 2-4.

[wossa]

I'm sure there were better but not many looked better swinging the bat than Don Mattingly.

[Puttingood]

William Robert Hamilton--you can call him Bill or Bob. He was more noted for his base stealing (7 in one game) but if you figured his ability to get on base then he actually reached base in more games than he played in. He is in the Hall of Fame.

[WilliamJ]

There are just too many to list.

Ted Williams and Roger Maris pop to the front of my mind....That was when baseball was still pretty pure.

Mattingly was fun to watch, Tino Martinez from 96 til 2000 was always fun to watch swing. It goes on and on and on.

[mattarific]

Originally posted by WilliamJ
There are just too many to list.

Ted Williams and Roger Maris pop to the front of my mind....

I hope you are saying Maris had a sweet swing, because he is definatly no where near the best pure hitter in any league. Lifetime batting average of .260, doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Ted Williams or Ty Cobb.

[DaveW]

roger maris?

[PantherPaul]

Ted Williams was my choice. Was damn good and would tell you as much

[WilliamJ]

Originally posted by mattarific


I hope you are saying Maris had a sweet swing, because he is definatly no where near the best pure hitter in any league. Lifetime batting average of .260, doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Ted Williams or Ty Cobb. a home run record that stood for almost 40 years does. i never said he was the greatest by anymeans .

[Braves]

Two of the sweetest swings I have ever seen...Billy Williams with the Cubs and Raphael Palmiero...one of the most underrated players ever

Why is it the prettiest swings are usually lefthanders...Dave Justice, when he first came up had a nice one also.

[Puttingood]

if the bases are loaded and you need to send up a batter in the bottom of the ninth down 1 who is it?

Here-in lies the confusion---In this situation you would want to tie the game at least so you would have to go with a man that percentage wise reaches base more than any other. He would not have to be a pure hitter.

[Chisox17]

roger maris was like brady anderson, he had one great year and never really did much else

its between gwynn and williams

[PantherPaul]

Originally posted by Puttingood
if the bases are loaded and you need to send up a batter in the bottom of the ninth down 1 who is it?

Here-in lies the confusion---In this situation you would want to tie the game at least so you would have to go with a man that percentage wise reaches base more than any other. He would not have to be a pure hitter.

a pure hitter can put any pitch where he wants like down the line for extra base hits. Funny how in baseball if you are successful 1/3 of the time you are a HOFer

[DaveW]

Originally posted by PantherPaul


a pure hitter can put any pitch where he wants like down the line for extra base hits.


If that were the case, hitters would do this all the time. A good hitter is someone who can go with the pitch and make pitchers pay when they make a mistake.

[HeadCase]

>> In this situation you would want to tie the game at least so you would have to go with a man that percentage wise reaches base more than any other.

so why doesn't a team go out the world's shortest midget for this situation? he'd never have to take the bat off his shoulders.

[Braves]

Originally posted by DaveW
A good hitter is someone who can go with the pitch and make pitchers pay when they make a mistake.

I misread this thread...I'll go with Dave's description...but I still admire a pretty swing

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by wossa
I'm sure there were better but not many looked better swinging the bat than Don Mattingly.

[vpkozel]

Ted Williams. He was so good that he refused to take the ball teh opposite way and he STILL ended up with a .344 lifetime average. Tony Gwynn used to ask him for hitting advice. Williams also wrote the definitive book on hitting.

Williams batting average by zone