When you hear the words "Baseball history," which player comes to your mind first?

Without hesitation...Babe Ruth !!!! If you were asked to pick only one player and one player only to represent Baseball as a whole...The first name that comes to mind is Babe Ruth !!!!

Think about this !!! baseball as a whole back in the late 20's and early 30"s Baseball as a whole had very small attendance records and alot of teams were on the verge of Bankruptcy. Along comes a player who can play every position and very well (The Babe has 2 No hitters as a pitcher!!!) and within 2 years baseball as a whole attendance records soared !!! across the United States. Babe Ruth single handily brought baseball back from dismal attendance to making baseball what it is today. I read a book years back on Sandy Koufax. One of the questions asked of him, If there was one hitter in baseball history that he would be afraid to pitch too, and Koufax said, I really was not afraid of anybody he pitched to but if he were to pick one player in baseball history it would have been Babe Ruth.... This is coming from one of the greates Pitchers of all time. that says alot right there...

Also keep this in mind as well. Babe Ruth reached his final total home run count in a shorter amount of time than any body else. Almost in half the time than that of Hank Aaron !!!

I am going totally off the board on this one. The standard answers you already have Babe Ruth the greatest no doubt about it. Jackie Robinson the man chosen to break the color barrier. Ty Cobb greatest average one meanest players sharpened his spikes. Or you could go to the creator Cartwright. When you open any history book of the players first name you see and truly one of the greats Hank Aaron he still co-holds RBI record he is second in HR passed Babe Ruth he grew up in the south faced many of the same obstacles as Jackie Robinson. he been an awesome ambassador of baseball for over 60 years. He knows the history and tells awesome stories.

Babe Ruth (played 1914-1935, considered to be the greatest baseball player in American history)

Hall of Fame--Cooperstown New York

Abner Doubleday (*Alexander Joy Cartright)--the founder of baseball

*Big names in baseball history include--Jackie Robinson (Broke the color barrier), Hank Greenberg (first Jewish American player in MLB), -- Ty Cobb and Joe Dimaggio are also among the most famous names in baseball history. Yogi Berra and his sayings or Yogiisms.

Mark McGwire and the Home Run Steroid Era

Historical teams -- Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees

In 1869 the first openly professional baseball team formed. Earlier players were nominally amateurs. The Cincinnati Red Stockings recruited nationally and effectively toured nationally, and no one beat them until June 1870.

Pete Browning. The guy was a big deal in the late 19th century, but was such a serious alchoholic that he use to hide a whiskey bottle behind one of the outfield billboards so he could drink while he was playing outfield. He was a great hitter, until untreated syphillis took it's toll on his co-ordination. He was the uncle of Todd Browning, the Guy who directed Dracula and many of Lon Chaney Sr's horror films.

Shoeless Joe, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays...all these players made baseball history

Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays. Much of it depends on the context to which the history is being referred.

Jackie Robinson. He was no doubt the biggest influence in all of baseball. He made the biggest impact. Of course, a lot of people helped, but Jackie himself truly changed the game.

The sultan of swat

The king of crash

The colossus of clout!

The Great Bambino

Babe Ruth

Ted Williams

Mike Schmidt, I don't really know why but anytime i think of baseball history i always think of the Phillies & Mike Schmidt is usually the 1st player to pop in my head