25 Best Baseball Players of All Time
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2 min readSpringtime means opening day of the Major League Baseball season—just thinking about it, you can practically smell the hot dogs and hear the crack of a bat as the crowd erupts in cheers. Baseball has been called America's favorite pastime, but it's worth remembering that the greatest baseball players of yesteryear used to be America's favorite popular heroes, too. In this gallery, we take a fond look at 25 of the most beloved top baseball stars of all time who are no longer with us, from Mickey Mantle to Ernie Banks and more.
Joe DiMaggio (1914–1999)
Getty Images / Bettmann
The New York Yankees slugger known as "Joltin' Joe" is one of the greatest of all time. The record 56-game hitting streak he set in 1941 still stands today. Though some have come close (Pete Rose is second with 44 games), most baseball stat geeks feel DiMaggio's record is unbreakable. The center fielder was a 13-time all-star, nine-time World Series champion, three-time AL MVP, and two-time AL batting champ. Though DiMaggio was not flashy off the field, he made headlines when he married starlet Marilyn Monroe in 1954. They divorced nine months later but eventually rekindled their friendship. When Monroe died in 1962, DiMaggio paid for the funeral, barred celebrities including JFK from attending, and sent roses to her crypt three times a week for 20 years. He never remarried.
Gehrig was one of the best ever. The first baseman for the New York Yankees was an incredible hitter with a career batting average of .340 and 493 home runs. He won six World Series, made seven All-Star teams, and set the record for consecutive games played at 2,130 (Cal Ripken surpassed him 56 years later). After being diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, Gehrig was forced to retire early in the 1939 season. On July 4, 1939, he delivered a speech at Yankee Stadium for "Lou Gehrig Day," telling fans "he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth" for being able to play baseball. The crowd applauded as an emotional Gehrig stepped away from the microphone and his friend and ex-teammate Babe Ruth came out to give him a hug. Gehrig died from ALS in 1941 at age 37.
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