If you could pick one baseball player the best of all time, who would it be?

Babe Ruth. The man rewrote the record book as a hitter - not only did he break records he shattered them (Keep in mind that when Ruth retired with his 14 homers the closest player to him in terms of lifetime homers was Gehrig, who finished 1935 with 378. Some will claim that Ruth's stats are inflated because he didn't play against black players, or because the game was different and he didn't have to deal with bullpen specialists, west coast road trips or night games, etc. That argument is silly - if the game was that much easier there would have been at least a handful of players who would have at least come close to Ruth's stats. To put his 714 into perspective - that means he hit 89% more homers than Gehrig. To dominate that category in that manner a player today would have to hit roughly 1450 homers. Even of you do it more simply and say a player would have to have the same lead in plain numbers (714-378=336) said player would need to hit 1104 homers.
THAT is dominance.

Then you get to him as a pitcher and realize he was one of the best left handed pitchers of his era, having one more than 90 games in his short tenure as a pitcher with the Red Sox and you have a career that has not come close to being matched. (Also note that, since he was a pitxher, he did not get as many plate appearances early in his career - who know what sort of number she would have put up had he benn an everyday player his entire career)

No doubt about it - it's Ruth hands down.
The more interesting argument would be "who is the second best player of all time?".

That is a tough one as there are so many legends of the game.

If I had to pick one, it would be Jackie Robinson. He didn't have the best stats or the most talent, but he maximized his potential and impact. Even with all the scrutiny and harassment, Jackie still played with ferocity, focus and a high level to win. His heart and determination is what made him the best of all time.

Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth. But of those I've seen, Alex Rodriguez.

Barry Bonds.

If you eliminate him because of cheating, Babe Ruth gets the edge over Ty Cobb because he was also a great pitcher.

Too hard to pick, but I'll go with Mantle today.

I love Babe Ruth. Everyone knows him and how he changed the game but I have often said it could very easily be my pick, Ted Williams. I often wonder what his final numbers could have been if he never lost those years fighting in WWII. The last .400 hitter, 521 home runs, a lifetime .482 OBP. Almost half the time he ended up on base. I would never fault someone for taking Ruth but I pick Williams.