Who would your four (4) choices be for a Baseball Mount Rushmore?

1. Cy Young

2. Babe Ruth

3. Ty Cobb

4. Ted Williams

That's a really good question. I think I want to answer two ways: players who changed the game and the best manager, exec, hitter and pitcher.

For the ones who changed the game, I think these are 4 strong names:

Jackie Robinson

Babe Ruth

Walter Johnson

Mariano Rivera

Robinson broke the color barrier, Ruth was the first megastar in the game who went mainstream (and is still the subject of books and movies), Johnson was the first pitcher who year-in and year-out had an amazing ERA relative to the league ERA while spending 20 years with one time. Finally, Rivera is the consummate reliever. He'll likely catch Trevor for the all time lead in 2 years (even with recent surgery). He's an ERA machine though, and his 31 innings pitched in the World Series netted a 1.16 ERA and 29 strikeouts.

For the other Mount Rushmore, how about

Connie Mack - because you try managing for 50+ years ;-)

Bill Veeck - for bringing marketing to baseball (over Rickey, alas)

Babe Ruth - not the best hitter. The best known one.

Walter Johnson - year in and year out consistency as the best.

If ARod ever breaks the HR record and gets his 3000 hits, he deserves to be in there somewhere. Griffey had a shot too, but injuries changed his career.

[why would I get two negative votes on an opinion?]

Julius Erving Magic Johnson Larry Bird Michael Jordan

Wow what a great question tough to answer but I would have to go with Ty Cobb Babe Ruth Jackie Robinson Ted Williams

Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron and Cy Young

Babe Ruth. The greatest player has to be on there. And before you say anything else, he did play against black players, and in those exhibition games he torched the black leagues' pitchers as much as he did the white ones, and you know they wanted to get him out at least as much as the white ones did. And if you still think Willie Mays was better, tell me how good a pitcher Willie was.

Jackie Robinson. He changed how the game was played, not just by whom.

Cy Young. We'll never know if he would've been a great pitcher under today's conditions, mainly because the only film footage we have of him is as an old man in old-timers' games or tossing a ball on his farm, but there's a reason the award for most valuable pitcher is named for him.

The fourth spot is a tough one. A 19th Century figure is out, because the rules and other conditions have just changed too much, far more than they did with the Babe's explosion in 1920, Jackie's arrival in 1947, or even with expansion and the DH. Ty Cobb has too much baggage. If you put on Joe DiMagigo, Ted Williams or Stan Musial, the question becomes why him and not one of the other two? Same with Mays, Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron.

My choice is Casey Stengel, not just arguably the greatest manager, but a great ambassador for the game. Robert Creamer said Stengel is the most interesting person in baseball history except for Ruth, and he wrote biographies of both, so he knows them as well as anyone now living can.

(Actually, Ruth wasn't all that interesting beyond his playing. Cobb, Williams, Robinson and many others were more "interesting.")

Should be a combination of recognizable faces and major pioneers of the game, as opposed to just the best players...

Jackie Robinson - duh

Babe Ruth - duh

Bill Veeck - one of the most influential and progressive owners in history

Curt Flood - see the link below... he set in motion the biggest change in professional sports history

Babe Ruth

Jackie Robinson

Cy Young - even though I think Walter Johnson was a better pitcher, Young does have an award named for him.

Fourth one is tough. I guess I'd take Lou Gehrig over Aaron, Mays, Williams, and Clemente.

edit: I decided to change my mind. Put Clemente on their as the 4th instead of Gehrig. That way will have a representative of hitters, pitchers, African-Americans, and Latinos.

Ted Williams, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson

Oh... that's a hard one. There's definetly a lot of good candidates out there. I'd have to say (in no particular order)- Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays. Ty Cobb, Lou Gerigh (sorry- I spelled that wrong), and Greg Maddux are my runners up.

EDIT: I was thinking more about this question later and Cy Young or Jackie Robinson would also be deserving of the honor.

Hope I helped! :)