Ted Williams
Mickey Mantle
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Ted Williams leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Ted Williams at #5 and Mickey Mantle at #11.
Head-to-head FAQ
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The case for Ted Williams
The purest hitter in history by nearly any rate measure. Williams's career .482 on-base percentage is the all-time record, his 1.116 OPS trails only Ruth, and his .344 average came with 521 home runs — power and discipline fused as no one has fused them since. He hit .406 in 1941, the last .400 season, famously refusing to sit on the final day and going 6-for-8 in a doubleheader to finish there. He won two Triple Crowns (1942, 1947) and somehow lost the MVP vote both times. The counterfactual defines him: he missed all of 1943-45 training as a naval aviator during World War II and most of 1952-53 flying combat missions as a Marine pilot in Korea, costing him roughly five prime years. Conservative projections put his career at 650-plus homers and near 3,300 hits. He hit .388 at age 38 and homered in his final at-bat in 1960.
The case for Mickey Mantle
The greatest peak of the 1950s and the best switch-hitter ever. Mantle won the 1956 Triple Crown (.353, 52 home runs, 130 RBI), took three MVPs and finished second three more times, and posted a career .977 OPS with 536 home runs despite playing his entire career on a right knee shredded in the 1951 World Series — famously, teams could hear the training-room tape being unwrapped. His speed before the injuries was mythic (3.1 seconds home to first bunting left-handed), and his power produced the term 'tape-measure shot' after a 1953 blast in Washington was measured at 565 feet. He played in 12 World Series in his first 14 seasons, winning seven, and his 18 World Series home runs remain the record. His 110.2 WAR in 18 seasons, on ruined legs, leaves the sport's greatest what-if: a healthy Mantle plausibly challenges Mays for the number two spot on this list.