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Gretzky, easily. Gretzky holds basically every relevant record in hockey and is almost unquestionably considered the best player in the sport's history. Gretzky is also the only athlete I can think of who had his number retired by every team in the league. No team in the NHL will ever suit up a #99. That's respect.
Ruth, while great, has seen his records fall and is not universally considered the best player ever (Mays, Williams, Aaron, and others are often argued).
Hockey is also a sport that is easier dominated by one player.
Babe Ruth did have one disadvantage there, though. He was a pitcher in the first five years in his career, finally playing a full season in the outfield in 1920, with his final season in baseball being 1935. If he would have played his entire career as an outfielder, able to hit every day, who knows what type of stats he could have put up.
I took a look at the four players with their career stats, here is what I come up with.
Babe Ruth-at bats 8399, hits-2873, home runs-714. Lifetime batting average .342 and played for 22 seasons
Ted Williams-at bats 7706, hits-2654, home runs-521. Lifetime batting average .344 and played for 19 seasons
Hank Aaron-at bats 12364, hits-3771, home runs-755. Lifetime batting average .305 and played for 23 seasons
Willie Mays-at bats 12493, hits-3283, home runs-660. Lifetime batting average .302 and played for 22 seasons.
Dominate? Can you really compare someone not in the modern era? I don't think Babe can break a minor league team in this era. Gretzsky, I think atleast if he were young, could still go in there and dominate the NHL. A young Jordan could go out there and dominate.
Soccer - Messi - He's almost guaranteed a goal a game right now
Basketball - Kobe ( It's very hard to not pick Jordan though)
Football - This one's tough, but Barry Sanders is my pick
F1 - Schumacher
Boxing - Sugar Ray Leonard
Hockey - Wayne Gretzkys only come along once in a lifetime.
Basketball - Bill Russell
Football - Jim Brown
Baseball - tie between Lou Gehrig and the Babe.
Ruth. He not only dominated the sport in his day, he fundamentally changed it. Before him, home runs were a novelty.
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