If Gehrig had played till he was 41 years old....

[W_Marone]

If Lou Gehrig had been able to play until the age of 41, do you believe he would be the number two or even number one player of all time? I beleive he played until he was the age of 37, however, his final season was drastically cut short. Thoughts?

[Sultan_1895-1948]

I think he'd rightly belong in the conversation with Ruth and Williams as best hitter ever and would move even further above Williams as overall players. I would probably have him fourth after Mays, knocking Hans down to 5th. Couldn't see him passing Mays or Cobb, let alone Ruth.

[pfairban]

I don't see him being anywhere other than top 3 at that point.

[mwiggins]

He'd probably move from 12th to 10th in my rankings, but I already give him some subjective credit for his early career exit. He's already a top 5 hitter, so I don't see how playing a few more years would really help him much in that regard, other than to rack up more counting stats. His peak seasons won't change, and his career rates may very well have gone down more from playing a full decline than they did from his 1938 season.

[mwiggins]

If Lou Gehrig had been able to play until the age of 41, do you believe he would be the number two or even number one player of all time? I beleive he played until he was the age of 37, however, his final season was drastically cut short. Thoughts?

And he had a poor 1938 season, his last full season, which most people believe was a result of the illness setting in. A poor year for him at least.