Willie Mays
Honus Wagner
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Dead even across the measured categories. Our all-time ranking places Willie Mays at #2 and Honus Wagner at #9.
Head-to-head FAQ
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The case for Willie Mays
The most complete player the sport has produced. Mays hit 660 home runs with a .301 average, stole 338 bases, scored more than 2,000 runs, and won 12 consecutive Gold Gloves in center field — the sport's most demanding everyday position — while playing in 24 All-Star Games. His 156.2 WAR is the highest of any player who debuted after integration, and it survives every adjustment: park effects (Candlestick's winds suppressed his power for years), era, and the nearly two full seasons he lost to Army service in 1952-53, which plausibly cost him the home run record. The Catch off Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series — a sprinting, over-the-shoulder grab 420-plus feet from home, followed by an impossible spin throw — is the sport's defining defensive image. If the GOAT question asks who could do everything on a baseball field at the highest level, the answer is Mays.
The case for Honus Wagner
The Flying Dutchman was the best all-around player of the dead-ball era and, by wide agreement, the greatest shortstop who ever lived. Wagner won eight National League batting titles — a record for the position — hit .328 for his career with 3,420 hits, and stole 723 bases while playing the most demanding defensive spot at an elite level for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His 130.9 WAR trails only a handful of position players despite a game built for singles and steals rather than the home runs that inflate modern totals. He led Pittsburgh to the 1909 World Series title, outdueling Ty Cobb head to head. Bowlegged, barrel-chested, and improbably fast, he fused power, average, speed, and defense in a way the term 'five-tool player' would later be coined to describe. His scarce 1909 tobacco card, one example selling for millions, made his the most valuable name in the entire hobby of baseball collecting.