Claim: Mickey Mantle was the best baseball player.

Mickey Charles Mantle -LRB- October 20 , 1931 -- August 13 , 1995 -RRB- , nicknamed The Commerce Comet and The Mick , was an American professional baseball player . Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball -LRB- MLB -RRB- career with the New York Yankees as a center fielder and first baseman , from 1951 through 1968 . Mantle was one of the best players and sluggers , and is regarded by many as the greatest switch hitter in baseball history . Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999 .   Mantle was arguably the greatest offensive threat of any center fielder in baseball history . He has the highest career OPS + of any center fielder and he had the highest stolen base percentage in history at the time of his retirement . In addition , compared to the four other center fielders on the all-century team , he had the lowest career rate of grounding into double plays -LRB- by far -RRB- and he had the highest World Series on-base percentage and World Series slugging percentage . He also had an excellent 0.984 fielding percentage when playing center field . Mantle was noted for his ability to hit for both average and power , especially tape measure home runs . He hit 536 MLB career home runs , batted .300 or more ten times , and is the career leader -LRB- tied with Jim Thome -RRB- in walk-off home runs , with a combined thirteen , twelve in the regular season and one in the postseason .   Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956 , leading the major leagues in batting average , home runs , and runs batted in -LRB- RBI -RRB- ; he later wrote a book about his best year in baseball . He was an All-Star for 16 seasons , playing in 16 of the 20 All-Star Games that were played . He was an American League -LRB- AL -RRB- Most Valuable Player -LRB- MVP -RRB- three times and a Gold Glove winner once . Mantle appeared in 12 World Series including seven championships , and holds World Series records for the most home runs -LRB- 18 -RRB- , RBIs -LRB- 40 -RRB- , extra-base hits -LRB- 26 -RRB- , runs -LRB- 42 -RRB- , walks -LRB- 43 -RRB- , and total bases -LRB- 123 -RRB- .