Who is/was the greatest Baseball player you ever saw play?

Barry Bonds, even before steroids he was amazing. A power hitter with speed, those guys are hard to come by. In my opinion, he always had the best plate vision out of any other player I saw.

Due to Bonds being the unpopular player he is, I expect many thumbs-down for this answer. Go ahead people, not like it changes anything.

Unfortunately, I didn't grow-up in the 1930's...I would have love to have seen Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio and the many greats that followed such as Williams, Mantle, Clemente, Robinson, Banks, Aaron, Mays and Musial. The list goes on and on!

I caught a number of great players toward the ends of their carerrs...Schmidt, Yaz, etc. I would've loved to have seen them in their hay days!

I am a product of the 1980's, so I'd have to say a young Ken Griffey Jr. I saw him in Boston and I'll never forget how he glided around the outfield and made everything look so effortless...I'll also never forget the BOMB he hit to right over the bull pen...He was amazing during his stay in Seattle during the early 1990's before he was plagued with injuries. He could hit, throw, run and played the best outfield that I've ever seen.

As far as pitching goes, I'd have to say that the best I've ever seen was Pedro Martinez. I saw him in 1999 and saw him just mow down the competition. It was almost like watching an artist paint!

I met Stan Musial about 15 years ago. He was great! He was humble, gracious and everything that you'd hope a first ballet HOFer would be.

I'm going to split this up into two categories: position player and pitcher (since it's hard for me to pick between the two).

Position player: I'd go with Roberto Alomar. The guy was a complete jerk, but he was a vacuum cleaner at second base, had a great arm, and more importantly could come up with the exact hit required to win or tie a ballgame when he was at bat.

As far as a pitcher is concerned, I'd have to go with Nolan Ryan. I don't think I need to explain any further on this one.

And no, I haven't met any baseball players, never mind greats of the game.

I'm jealous of a few posts here but for me the greatest player(to me at least) that I ever had the chance to see live was Kirby Puckett. Being from Minnesota and growing up in the 80's there was no one greater. Kirby was, and for the most part still is, the face of baseball in Minnesota.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8EmWOb3ucc&feature...

Tossup: Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio, Ernie Banks, Bob Feller

Sarge

I'm still young, so I haven't been able to see any of the all-time greats.

But I know I will be proud and grateful in the future to have been able to watch Albert Pujols numerous times. I've also seen him hit a grand slam (not that that is a super rare occurrence).

Derek Jeter. Its the little things he does that makes up for his mediocre numbers. Like all his clutch hits, the dive into the stands, the flip play, and how he plays where he never gives up.

As an Oakland A's fan this is an easy answer. Rickey Henderson.

yep im only 13 so juan gonzalez or pudge

that i ever saw in person? roberto clemente, hands down.