Posted by dahsdebater on 7/22/2016 11:19:00 PM (view original):
I don't give bonus points to DiMaggio or Mantle for being hurt a lot. I give a little bonus to DiMaggio for giving up prime years for military service; same with Ted Williams and a few other guys, and also to Lou Gehrig for losing a few years not far past his prime through no fault of his own. But standard injuries are part of the game. Mantle does still make my top 10. DiMaggio doesn't threaten it.

I've also never bought into Mays at #2, but a lot of people who watched him play do, so that probably means something. I just don't see how you can put Mays ahead of Williams and Ty Cobb, or Walter Johnson and Lefty Grove (who ESPN ranked ridiculously low).

In my mind, Williams and Gehrig are the two greatest hitters of all time. With their current numbers, they're in the discussion for greatest ever, so if you give Williams back 4 years in his prime lost to military service, he'd likely have hit 700 homers. And Gehrig - as you pointed out, it's not like he broke down or got injured, so he's not the same as other "what if" cases. If he'd been able to finish his career, his numbers would be ridiculous.