Ted Williams was the greatest hitter ever, but he was never, at any point while alive, the greatest ballplayer alive. Nor was Joe DiMaggio. The arrogance of Joe D. insisting on being introduced as the greatest living ballplayer is astonishing. And amazingly, people bought it. There is almost no way to come to the conclusion that Joe D. is better than Willie Mays. Mays is the better center fielder and he played almost a decade longer. You talked about the aura of Williams, but Joe D. has one too, the only difference is, his is mostly made up. He played for the Yankees and married Marilyn Monroe. I don't know who the greatest living ballplayer is, but I do know that with the passing of Williams, it didn't change.

Mark Steinmann

You have outlined the obvious candidates rather well, but I strongly disagree with your 1-5. Where these 5 guys rank makes for great arguments, my opinion is that we are watching the greatest living player in action right now. Barry Bonds.

I have taken your top five (Mays, Arron, Musial, Robinson, Rose) and my choice Bonds and looked at 9 statistical categories. (Runs, Hits, doubles, HR, RBI, SB, Avg., OBP%. and SLG%)

The easiest way to compare these guys was to look at their average numbers over 162 games, rank them 1-6 in each category and assign a 6 to the statistical leader in each category. (5 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd and so on .. ) Bonds ranks #1 (6 points) in 5 of the 9 categories and #2 in two more. Adding up total points, Bonds wins by a landslide.

Bonds: 41.5
Musial: 35.5
Aaron: 35.5
Mays: 29
Robinson: 25.5
Rose: 22

Bonds has: 8 Gold Gloves (only Mays has more 12) and 4 MVPs (Musial is next with 3). I realize that we are in an era of smaller ballparks, watered-down pitching, juiced balls, etc., but when it is all said and done, we will be comparing this guy to not only the living legends, but the biggest legend of them all: "The Babe."

Chuck Omphalius
New York

I take great exception to your ranking Willie Mays ahead of Hank Aaron on the list of greatest living players with Ted Williams' passing. I am only 28 so I was not around to see him play but I have ALWAYS thought Hank Aaron has been the most underappreciated player in MLB history and your ranking him as number 2 only serves to perpetuate it. Give it to him.

Craig MacCormack
North Attleboro, Mass.

I was wondering why there was not a single pitcher mentioned as possible candidates for this honor. Is it due to tradition that the Greatest Living Player cannot be a pitcher because he normally only plays every fifth day or is it an oversight on your part? I think pitcher candidates for this honor are many and include: Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver (what a starting rotation!), and others. Thanks for your time.

Ryan Schulz
Birmingham, Ala.

Any discussion of our greatest living baseball players has to include pitchers. My two choices:
1. Sandy Koufax
2. Warren Spahn. The Stan Musial of pitchers, not appreciated enough for how great he was!

David Melesco

I think you missed the mark. Willie Mays was the greatest living player even when Ted Williams was alive. All due respect to Mr. Williams, but how can you be the best all-around player, but not the greatest living player? Mr. Mays was a five-tool player. Outside of hitting, what else blew any of us away about Ted Williams? Asserting that Ted Williams was greater than Willie Mays is like saying Larry Bird was a greater player than Michael Jordan. Sure, Bird was a better pure shooter, but when you add it all up, you and I would pick Jordan every time.

David
Decatur, Georgia

When my wife informed me that Ted Williams had died, my first reaction to her was "I guess that means that Willie Mays is now the greatest living player". I didn't think of it as "THE GREATEST LIVING PLAYER" as an "aura" or "golden crown" as you mentioned, although there may be something to that -- similar to how a politician makes it to a position of power based more on "presence" and charisma than on absolute skills.

I am old enough to have watched (and did so) all of your candidates play in person, and to a limited degree on television. My dad had season tickets to the A's from the time they moved to Kansas City from Philadelphia, and we used them most of the time, and made it to St. Louis and saw the Cardinals. I learned a great deal more listening to the radio broadcasts as they were readily available in that era, and voraciously reading newspaper reports. I grew up in the Midwest during the '50s and could actually pick up various radio stations when the weather conditions were just right.

When Joe DiMaggio laid claim to the "golden crown," my father and I would argue about that because I was enamored with Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays -- and DiMaggio WAS just ahead of my time. He convinced me that DiMaggio was the fitting king because of his fluid gracefulness. He had been able to watch them all and I just had to take his word for it. When Mantle died, there was no more debate. When DiMaggio died it was a natural for Williams to inherit the honor. Stan Musial was arguably just about (maybe not quite) in there with Ted Williams as a hitter, and used more of the field. Defensively he was superior, and actually even played quite a good first base after leaving the outfield. But he wasn't exactly Enos Slaughter (or Lou Brock) on the basepaths.

Hank Aaron was like Stan Musial with even more home runs, and a bit more durable. He certainly has always had a strong personality, which seemed to contribute to the drive that made him what he has always been. He would be an admirable choice. Your points made about him are true, commendable, and compelling.

Frank Robinson was maybe the most amazing of this group. Although he was always well respected, the world always seemed surprised for some reason that year after year he was as good as he was. Possibly that is the residue of having the Reds claim he was past his prime, the media picking up on that line, and therefore the public buying it. Perception is a hard reality to overcome. Plus, he is still actively contributing greatly to baseball.

Willie Mays is where I keep returning. He is the only one that had all five tools, and used them all effectively, right up to very near the end of his career. He is the only one I recall having the feeling I couldn't hardly wait for someone to hit a ball to him (a bit like Ichiro today). He would take a base if it was needed. I enjoyed watching all these people, but not from the total game perspective that I enjoyed watching Mays. In my opinion, the greatest living player is the one who is/was so good at all facets of the game that he was watched and admired whether wearing a glove, holding a bat, or just running. It was hard for me to take my eyes off Mays, even in the on-deck circle. I cannot say that about the others.

None of the rest you mentioned even come close. Pete Rose wasn't much more than an extremely intense Wade Boggs, and not even as good defensively. Barry Bonds had the chance to get into that elite class years ago when he played for Pittsburgh. He seemed to have all the tools (well, maybe not the terrific throwing arm) and a very driven individual. Maybe it was too much adrenaline that made him so mediocre in the Pirates' postseasons. Since he bulked up to chase the home-run crowns he is not much more than a liability to his team in any position other than the batter's box. Rickey Henderson can proudly and justifiably wear the crown as the greatest leadoff hitter to ever play the game, and the stolen-base record may well last indefinitely (until the very nature of the game changes). I have never seen any player elicit such a level of pure fear from the opposition in the batter's box virtually every time up as I see with Henderson, with the exception of Barry Bonds the past year and a half. But one or two dimensions are not the stuff of "greatest player."

This is my opinion. My vote goes to Mays. He may not even want it, but if anointed his "aura" may achieve a glow commensurate with the position.

Greg Prelogar
Phoenix