Barry Bonds
Shohei Ohtani
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Barry Bonds leads 3 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Barry Bonds at #3 and Shohei Ohtani at #12.
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The case for Barry Bonds
The record book says Bonds is the greatest hitter who ever lived: 762 home runs, 73 in a single season (2001), seven MVP awards when no one else has more than three, 2,558 walks, and the only 500-homer, 500-steal career in history. His 2001-2004 peak is statistically unmatched by anyone including Ruth — in 2004 he reached base at a .609 clip, walked 232 times (120 intentionally), and posted a 1.422 OPS. The BALCO scandal is why he sits third rather than first, and why he never reached the Hall of Fame despite ten years on the ballot. The honest accounting: Bonds had accumulated three MVPs, eight Gold Gloves, and roughly 100 WAR — an inner-circle career — before the period his trainers' indictments cover began around 1999. He was an all-time great who then chemically extended and elevated his peak; both clauses are true, and any ranking must hold them together.
The case for Shohei Ohtani
The only player on this list still adding to his case, and the only one doing something Ruth abandoned in 1919: genuine two-way play at an MVP level. Through 2025 Ohtani has four MVP awards — every one unanimous — in five seasons, a feat matched by no one; 280 career home runs alongside 38-plus wins and 650-plus strikeouts as a pitcher; and the first 50-50 season in history in 2024, finishing 54 homers and 59 steals and clinching the milestone with a 6-for-6, three-homer game. His 2023 WBC ending — striking out Mike Trout, his Angels teammate, to seal Japan's title — and his 2025 postseason game against Milwaukee, ten strikeouts as the starting pitcher and three home runs as the leadoff hitter in the same night, are already mythology. His 700-million-dollar Dodgers contract reset sports economics. Ranked twelfth on accumulated value; no active player is more likely to climb.