The 50 Most Badass Baseball Players of All Time

Celebrating the wildest, baddest, and most amazing athletes to hit the diamond.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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What exactly does "badass" mean? Well our friend Jen S. Seigh Kwa likes to say "I don't know, but the Pirates are playing so shut up and sit down so I can see the TV!", so she's no help. But the truth is, we're not really sure what "badass" is either, except that we know it when we see it.

Badass in baseball can take many forms: pitchers who don't take kindly to lolligagging batters, runners who don't take kindly to catchers blocking the plate (and vice versa), or players who don't take kindly to people telling them they can't play because they're missing something as trivial as a hand. Whatever it is, we'd like to think we have it pretty well covered in our countdown of the 50 Most Badass Baseball Players of All Time...

Special thanks to the SSSL for research assistance.

50. Kyle Farnsworth

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Active: 1999-2011
Teams: Cubs/Yankees/Royals/Tigers/Braves

CANNON
WTF? Seriously, WTF? OK, we know what you're thinking: "That Kyle Farnsworth?" Yes, that Kyle Farnsworth, the reliever with a high 90s fastball and a low 60s IQ. But watch the clip above and tell us he doesn't belong on the list. Plus he's the rare player who could make Red Sox and Yankee fans smile together.

49. Rickey Henderson

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Active: 1979-2003
Teams: Athletics/Yankees/Padres/Mets/Mariners

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPSPEEDY
Complex.com's Sports Dept. has always had a thing for really fast baseball players. There's something really brazen and cool and—yes—badass, about stealing bases that just really floats Complex.com's Sports Dept.'s boat. What can Complex.com's Sports Dept. say, Complex.com's Sports Dept. just gets a major kick out of hardball thievery. So it's no surprise that MLB's once and future (face it, that's a record that ain't getting broken) stolen base king should make our Complex.com's Badass Baseball Players list.

48. Randy Johnson

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Active: 1988-2009
Teams: Expos/Mariners/Astros/Diamondbacks/Yankees/Giants

WORLD CHAMPCANNON
The Big Unit finished with over 300 wins and nearly 5000 strikeouts. He's going to the Hall of Fame, first ballot. Of course, dude had his share of fails, but killing a bird with his fastball was not one of them. That poof and the audible gasp from the crowd? That's badass.

47. Mark Fidrych

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Active: 1976-1980
Teams: Tigers

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Speaking of birds, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych gets the nod for being one of the most entertaining ballplayers in history. Picking up 19 wins and leading the majors in ERA your rookie year is nice and all, but talking to the ball and giving the grounds crew a night off from manicuring the mound? That's badass.

46. Sal "The Barber" Maglie

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Active: 1945-1958
Teams: Giants/Dodgers/Yankees/Indians/Cardinals

MEAN
Now we get to the headhunters. Maglie had a decent career, with a couple All-Star appearances and an ERA and league wins title under his belt. But it's his nickname, or rather, the origin of his nickname that gets him on this list. Put it this way, it wasn't because he was shaving himself (as you can tell from this picture). No, it was the close shaves he gave opposing hitters that garnered him "The Barber" moniker. Close shaves with baseballs thrown extremely fast that is.

45. Jason Romano

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Active: 2002-2005
Teams: Reds/Dodgers/Rangers/Rockies/DevilRays

MEAN
"Who?" you ask. "What, Tim Pecorino didn't make the cut?" No lie, we didn't actually remember this dude either. Then we saw the clip above and thought, "Well, that's pretty f#$kin' badass."

44. Enos Slaughter

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Active: 1938-1959
Teams: Cardinals/Athletics/Yankees/Braves

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPSPEEDY
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Enos Slaughter wasn't exactly known for his progressive views about race or much else for that matter, but to be fair, the general consensus is that he didn't really like anybody. Which, in a game where players crack jokes with opponents at first base, is pretty badass. As is scoring from first on a single.

43. Aroldis Chapman

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Active: 2010-2011
Teams: Reds

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Plenty of badass points for the 105 mph, MLB-record-setting fastball. Significant demerits for hanging with dreadlocked strippers though.

42. Barry Bonds

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Active: 1986-2007
Teams: Giants/Pirates

MEAN
Barry Bonds badass? Are you mortally offended? Tough (and please, don't die on us!). The big-headed jerk makes the list, not because he hit a bunch of home runs while pepped up on flaxseed oil, and not because he would've made the Hall even before he started juicing as his defenders like to point out (to which we say nice throw, by the way). Nope, Barry makes it for this, and this. There's no juicing in Strat-O-Matic!

41. Oscar Gamble

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Active: 1969-1985
Teams: Yankees/Indians/Phillies/White Sox/Padres/Cubs/Rangers

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Oscar Gamble was a beloved New York Yankee who played for six other clubs in a solid but unspectacular career. Excuse us, what we meant to say was Oscar Gamble was a beloved New York Yankee who played for six other clubs in a solid but unspectacular career, who also happened to have the most badass afro in the history of baseball.

40. Brooks Robinson

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Active: 1955-1977
Teams: Orioles

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMP
Chicks might dig the long ball, but great defense is badass, and with 16 Gold Gloves, they don't get much better than Robinson. Or as Sparky Anderson said, "If I dropped a paper plate, he'd pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first."

39. Luis Tiant

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Active: 1964-1982
Teams: RedSox/Indians/Yankees/Twins/Pirates

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Badass delivery, badass 'stache, and badass post-baseball career: running a cigar company. Yeah, Cal Ripken was a better ballplayer, but Loo-ee's on the list and Cal ain't, mostly because we'd rather smoke stoogies than teach our kids the fundamentals.

38. Mickey Mantle

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Active: 1951-1968
Teams: Yankees

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMP
Hey kids: Alcoholism ain't funny. However...when you have multiple yarns about hitting home runs while magnificently hungover, that's kinda badass.

37. Dick Allen

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Active: 1963-1977
Teams: Phillies/WhiteSox/Dodgers/Cardinals/Athletics

SPEEDY
Hated by his hometown fans (hey, it's Phillly, what do you expect) despite being one of the best players in the game during his first few years with the Phillies, Allen conducted his own personal home run derby for much of the '60s and early '70s. Considered one of the top 5 long distance sluggers in baseball history, he hit 18 homers entirely out of Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. There's a reason Allen's not in the baseball Hall of Fame, and that's because a good proportion of the Baseball Writer's Association of America have their heads up their asses.

36. Kevin Mitchell

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Active: 1984-1998
Teams: Giants/Reds/Mets/Mariners/Padres

MEAN
Kevin Mitchell claims that he did not in fact decapitate his girlfriend's cat (as teammate Dwight Gooden claimed in his autobiography), and we can't confirm that he once landed on the DL after puking. But he did make a pretty damn cool barehanded catch of a long fly ball, and if you're the kind of person that people could even make up stories about you decapitating cats and other folks would find it plausible—well, you're badass.

35. Tim Lincecum

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Active: 2007-present
Teams: Giants

WORLD CHAMPCANNON
Expect this guy to move way up on this list in the coming years (provided we don't get fired for publishing a list with "badass" repeated 513 times). For the hair, for the take-your-conventional-views-on-pitching-mechanics-and-toss-'em-in-the-Bay delivery, for his off-season hobbies, and for his proclivity for dropping F bombs on live TV.

34. Satchel Paige

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Active: 1927-53, 1965
Teams: Black Barons/Crawfords/Monarchs/Browns/Indians/Athletics

HALL OF FAMERCANNON
Forty-two year old rookies are pretty badass; 59-year-olds who pitch three innings of one-hit ball are really badass. A Negro League star before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in '47, Paige debuted in '48 for the Indians, and 17 years later pitched three innings for the Kansas City Athletics in a (perfectly reasonable) publicity stunt organized by owner Charlie Finley. Nearly 40 years playing organized is thoroughly badass (and great fodder for some badass aphorisms).

33. Carlton Fisk

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Active: 1969-1993
Teams: WhiteSox/RedSox

HALL OF FAMER
Fisk is most famous for the body English he put on his iconic '75 World Series home run, but he's on this list for hitting 37 home runs, driving in 107 runs, and stealing 17 bases (as a catcher) in 1983 when he was 37. Old folks kicking ass, FTW!

32. Frank Robinson

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Active: 1956-1976
Teams: Reds/Orioles/Indians/Angels/Dodgers

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMP
A hardnosed give-no-quarter ballplayer like another Robinson who appears later on this list (spoiler alert!), Frank Robinson gets the revenge-is-best-served-piping-hot Badass Award. Traded from the Reds to the Orioles before the '66 season (for being, at 30, too old), Robinson won the Triple Crown and led the O's to a world championship his first season in Baltimore. Needless to say, Reds owner Bill DeWitt will not be included in our forthcoming (not!) Most Badass Baseball Owners of All Time list.

31. Curt Flood

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Active: 1956-1971
Teams: Cardinals/Senators/Redlegs

WORLD CHAMP
A three-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove winner, Flood was a total badass on the field whose play in center was compared to Willie Mays' (hey, what can we say, we like defense). Of course he's best known for challenging baseball's reserve clause , the century-old rule that put players under the control of their original clubs for their entire careers. At the prime of his career he sat out a full season, and ultimately saw his career cut dramatically short because of his stance. Standing up for your principles? Badass.

30. Willie McCovey

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Active: 1959-1980
Teams: Giants/Padres/Athletics

HALL OF FAMER
Your nickname is "Stretch." There's a cove next to a ballpark named after you (presumably because current ballplayers have to be able to hit as well as you to reach it with their home runs). And none other than fellow badasses Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson call you the scariest hitter of all time. Yup, you're badass.

29. Ichiro

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Active: 2001-2011
Teams: Mariners

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Before Ichiro, people wondered whether Asian players could do more than pitch. Then Ichiro started tossing 200 foot peas across the diamond and rattling off 200 hit seasons like it was nothing, and now there are Asian position players across the majors. Still only one Ichiro though. In the argument for greatest player of all time.

28. Dave Winfield

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Active: 1973-1995
Teams: Yankees/Padres/Angels/Twins/BlueJays

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMP
Drafted by MLB, the NFL, and the NBA, Winfield is probably the best athlete on this list, and gets a badass nod for that alone. That he indirectly got George Steinbrenner suspended from baseball (when he got the Boss so mad at him that Steinbrenner hired a mobster to dig up dirt on him), and that that suspension indirectly won the Yankees a bunch of World Series (because the Boss wasn't around to sign the Danny Tartabulls of the world)—well that's even more badass.

27. Josh Gibson

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Active: 1930-1946
Teams: Grays/Crawfords

HALL OF FAMERCANNON

One of the saddest consequences of baseball’s 70 years of segregation is that we don’t have a full account of the badassery of players like Josh Gibson. But even if the reality is only half the legend, Gibson fits the bill. He hit something close to 800 home runs (against all levels of competition), and is said to have hit the only fair ball to completely leave Yankee Stadium. And he did it all young, dying in 1947 at the age of 35 from cancer.

26. Ozzie Smith

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Active: 1978-1996
Teams: Cardinals/Padres

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPSPEEDYMEAN
We love defense, and Ozzie Smith was the Wizard at the most important defensive position on the diamond. Oh, and he used to do backflips on the field. We're just gonna go out on a limb here and guess that whoever you think should be here instead of Ozzie didn't do any friggin' backflips on the field.

25. Lenny Dykstra

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Active: 1985-1996
Teams: Mets/Phillies

MEANJAILBIRDSPEEDY
Your nickname is Nails? You're a badass. Born with a plug of chewing tobacco attached to your inner cheek? The surgeon general hopes it's not hereditary, but you're a badass. Busted with drugs and broke? Not so badass, but the first two put you in the club already. Free Lenny!

24. Reggie Jackson

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Active: 1967-87
Teams: Athletics/Angels/Yankees/Orioles

HALL OF FAMERMEAN
Winning is badass, even if Charlie Sheen (who, lets face it, isn't really badass) has given it a bad name recently. So take a look at Mr. October's mid-'70s tally: 1973: ring; 1974: ring; 1977: ring; 1978: ring. That's a foursome, and without the crack!

23. George Brett

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Active: 1973-1993
Teams: Royals

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMP
Is anger badass? In most cases, not. But a case of full-on apoplexy in front of thousands in the stands and many more thousands at home badass? You bet. Just us, or does dude's hair actually spike like he's stuck his finger in an electrical socket?

22. Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown

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Active: 1903-1916
Teams: Cubs/Reds/Whales/Terriers/Cardinals

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMP
Mangle your hand in a feed chopper and lose most of your index finger? Rub some dirt on that nub and get back in the game! Mordecai Brown lopped off his pointer finger in a farm accident as a kid (and then broke his middle finger and didn't have it set properly) but went on to have a Hall of Fame career, including a year in which he went 27-9 with 32 complete games in 342 innings—and also led the league in saves. And today pitchers go on the DL with blisters!

21. Hank Aaron

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Active: 1954-1976
Teams: Braves/Brewers

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPPIONEER
You know what's more than a little badass? Going out and doing your job when you're getting death threats for doing your job (especially when you do your job in front of tens of thousands of people in the days before metal detectors at stadiums). Hank Aaron had a badass baseball career (he retired with the most home runs and second-most hits in history), but it's his bravery in the face of the threats he faced as he secured the home run throne that lands him in the badass hall of fame.

20. Roberto Clemente

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Active: 1955-1972
Teams: Pirates

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Here's a case of "bad" meaning "bad" and "bad" meaning "good" (word to Run-DMC). Clemente was bad in the sense of being one of the best players of his (or any other generation), a 12-time All-Star and 12-time Gold Glove winner with a rifle for an arm and 3000 career hits. Of course the "good" refers to his charity work and death at the age of 38 in an overloaded plane making a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua.

19. Ted Williams

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Active: 1939-1960
Teams: Red Sox

HALL OF FAMER
Williams' career counting stats are excellent: 521 home runs, 2654 hits—that's a Hall of Fame material right there. But Williams lost nearly 5 years of his career serving as a Marine fighter pilot in WWII and Korea (he flew 39 combat missions in Korea). And after he retired, he used his Hall of Fame induction speech to lobby for the inclusion of Negro League players at Cooperstown. Defending your country and calling its national pastime to task for its racist history? Badass.

18. Cool Papa Bell

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Active: 1922-1950
Teams: Stars/Wolves/Monarchs/Grays/Crawfords

HALL OF FAMERSPEEDY
Bell was 43 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and unlike his contemporary Satchel Paige, did not get an opportunity to play in the majors, so most of the information about Cool Papa (badass nickname!) is second-hand and possibly apocryphal. But the legend is too badass to discount: Did he really score from first on a sac bunt? From second on a sacrifice fly? Did he steal two bases on one pitch? Could he really flip the switch off a light and be in bed under the covers before the light went out, as Paige claimed? Who cares! You get folks even making up stories as good as these, you can be on the list, too!

17. Kirk Gibson

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Active: 1979-1995
Teams: Tigers/Dodgers/Royals/Pirates

WORLD CHAMPMEAN
A two-time world champ, Gibson's known for one supremely clutch, badass, limping-onto-the-field-to-hit-the-game-winning-homer moment for the L.A. Dodgers in 1988 (see above), as well as one hardass, don't-put-shoe-black-in-my-cap-losers moment when he confronted his new teammates after they pulled the aforementioned prank on him at the beginning of that same season. Is it any coincidence that Gibson's got the formerly lackluster Diamondbacks 9 games above .500 in his first full season as Arizona's manager? Yo Kirk, Dodger fans wanna know: You wouldn't want to get into ownership by any chance?

16. Willie Mays

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Active: 1950-1951, 1953-1973
Teams: Giants/Mets

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPSPEEDY

You can't publish a list of greatest baseball players and not include Willie Mays. Maybe the “Say Hey Kid” doesn’t have the badass bona fides of some of these other “characters;” what he does have is a great nickname, an all-everything catch, and the title “Best Living Ballplayer.” Not a bad resume after all.

15. Thurman Munson

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Active: 1969-1979
Teams: Yankees

WORLD CHAMPCANNON
Catchers are kinda badass by nature, but this one was particularly so. A teammate's teammate and a player's player, the 7-time All-Star was the first Yankee captain since Lou Gehrig, and the leader of the team's late '70s mini-dynasty. Unafraid to give (and take) hits behind the plate, Munson is one of the most beloved players in baseball history.

14. Don Drysdale

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Active: 1956-1969
Teams: Dodgers

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPCANNONMEAN
We're not gonna say hitting batters on purpose is badass, but...OK, in the case of "Big D," we'll call it badass. Just look at the makeshift earflap the batter employs in the clip above! Along with his 2400 strikeouts and sub 3.00 ERA, Drysdale hit 154 batters and clubbed 29 home runs as a batter. Forget .OPS, how about HBPHR (Hit Batters Plus Home Runs) as a measure of a pitcher's badassness?

13. Billy Martin

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Active: 1950-1961
Teams: Yankees/Tigers/Twins/Reds/Indians

WORLD CHAMPMEANJAILBIRD
Yes, this is the Most Badass Baseball Players, and yes, Martin certainly qualifies. During his playing days he fought both on the field (he broke Jim Brewer's cheekbone, and brawled with Tommy Lasorda) and off (brawling alongside teammates Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle at the Copacabana), but he's high on this list for also being a badass manager, including fighting his players and flipping off the camera on one of his baseball cards.

12. Bo Jackson

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Active: 1986-1991, 1993-1994
Teams: Royals/White Sox/Angels

PIONEERSPEEDY
Look up "badass" in the dictionary and...you'll be looking a long time because there is no such word recognized by the word police. But if there was, there'd probably be a picture of Bo Jackson next to it. The man behind one of the '80s greatest memes (before that word was accepted, too), Jackson played baseball like a running back (duh), tracking balls in the outfield and crushing them in the batter's box—and breaking his bat over his knee when he didn't. Juiced? Bo knows, but we know this—dude was definitely badass.

11. Babe Ruth

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Active: 1914-1935
Teams: Yankees/RedSox/Braves

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMP
Probably the greatest baseball player of all time (hard to argue against 714 homers, a .342 average and a 94-46 record and 2.28 ERA as a pitcher), Ruth makes this list for being the baseball player with the greatest appetite—for food, for liquor, for sex—of all time. How about these stats? Twelve hot dogs between games of a doubleheader, one pint of bourbon and ginger ale for breakfast every morning, and multiple mistresses.

10. Dock Ellis

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Active: 1968-1979
Teams: Pirates/Rangers/Yankees/Mets/Athletics

PIONEER
It's not quite as badass as pitching a no-hitter with one arm (spoiler alert!), but pitching a no-hitter high on LSD is pretty fricking badass. Throw in a game in which Ellis intentionally hit three of the first five batters he faced (the fourth ducked and after two attempts at the head of the fifth, Ellis was removed from the game) and the illest corn rows in baseball history, and you've got an all-time badass.

9. Pete Rose

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Active: 1963-1986
Teams: Reds/Phillies/Expos

HALL OF FAMERMEANWORLD CHAMPJAILBIRD
"Charlie Hustle" is one of the most badass nicknames in a sport full of them, and Pete Rose more than lived up to it. Blessed with one a chip on his shoulder, fashioning a 23-year career based on headfirst dives, brawls, and a hunchback batting stance. His post-playing days? Not so badass though.

8. Greg Maddux

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Active: 1986-2008
Teams: Braves/Cubs/Padres/Dodgers

WORLD CHAMP
What's so badass about a frumpy-looking four-eyed pitcher with an average (at best) fastball? Exactly that. In an era when everybody from chicks to the commissioner were digging the long ball (until they didn't), Maddux won 355 games with precision control and a set of cojones as big as beach balls. While baseball's hitters were putting up cartoon numbers after injecting themselves in the ass with steroids, Maddux was getting those same hitters out taking nothing stronger than lemonade. And the guy one game behind him on the all-time wins list? Some dude named Clemens.

7. Ken Griffey, Jr.

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Active: 1989-2010
Teams: Mariners/Reds/WhiteSox

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A lot of mean dudes on this list, and rightfully so, playing baseball well with a little chip on your shoulder is pretty badass. But you know what else is definitely badass: having this much damn fun playing baseball. "The Kid" could've been the clean home run champ if injuries hadn't robbed him of multiple seasons in his prime, but we'd prefer to remember his heyday as one of the smoothest, most infectiously joyful players in history.

6. Ty Cobb

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Active: 1905-1928
Teams: Tigers/Athletics

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPSPEEDYMEAN
Can virulent racists be badass? This one's gonna 'cause some controversy, but you can't list the most badass baseball players of all time and not include Ty Cobb. His playing style was called "daring to the point of dementia" and the undersized Cobb tried every trick (legal and not) in the book to win. He spiked opponents, fought spectators, and, in his own words, "tried plays that looked recklessly daring." Reckless daring? That's badass no matter how you cut it.

5. Bob Gibson

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Active: 1959-1975
Teams: Cardinals

HALL OF FAMERMEANCANNONWORLD CHAMP
Famed as one of the meanest players ever, Gibson had one of the most badass deliveries in baseball history, and was never afraid to send a message pitch. He hit his friends who got traded to other teams (Bill White), he threw brushback pitches at Old Timers' games. And he changed the game—literally. After his epic 1968 season in which he held batters to a .184 batting average and struck out 268, the pitching mound was lowered by 5 inches to help batters. No matter, in 1969, he struck out 269.

4. Bob Feller

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Active: 1936-1956
Teams: Indians

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPCANNON
You've got to be a badass to finish your career more than 100 games above .500, with a 3.25 ERA to boot, and a 100 mph fastball that required a machine from the Army Ordnance Department to measure. But those aren't even Feller's most badass statistics. Try the five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars he picked up in active combat duty during his four-year stint in the Army during World War II.

3. Nolan Ryan

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Active: 1966-1993
Teams: Angels/Astros/Rangers/Mets

HALL OF FAMERMEANCANNONWORLD CHAMP
Ryan spotted Robin Ventura 20 years and a full head of steam in the fight above, and still meted out one of the classic ass-whoopings in sports history. Of course Ryan was a badass well before he played whack-a-mole on Ventura's noggin—he pitched 7 no-hitters (in three different decades, including four in just over a two-year span in the '70s)—and after, throwing a 98 mile an hour fastball immediately after tearing the ligament in his elbow that would end his career after 27 seasons.

2. Jim Abbott

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Active: 1989-1999
Teams: Angels/Red Sox/Yankees/Brewers

PIONEER
"Badass" comes in all shapes and sizes, one of which pretty clearly is the ability to play major league baseball when you have only one hand. Born without a right hand, Abbott played ten years in the majors, and won a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics. He'd be on this list if he played one year in the majors; the that fact that he once won 18 games in a season (with a sub-3.00 ERA), pitched a no-hitter, and rapped out two hits swinging one-handed, puts him in the top 5.

1. Jackie Robinson

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Active: 1947-1956
Teams: Dodgers

HALL OF FAMERWORLD CHAMPPIONEER
You wanna talk about swag? OK, let's talk about swag. Let's talk about changing-American-history swag. Let's talk about Presidential Medal of Freedom swag. Let's talk about every-team-in-the-majors-retiring-your-number swag. Then let's talk about a badass baseball player. Everybody knows that Robinson was the first black baseball player in the modern major leagues because the Dodgers thought he had the "guts enough not to fight back" when challenged by white racists. What you might not know is that Robinson's orders to turn the other cheek were rescinded after his first year, and he became one of the most intimidating players in the game's history. Step in his basepath? Get knocked the f%$k over (see 2:18 of the clip above). Hit a pennant-winning homer against his team? Expect Robinson to bird-dog the bases to make sure you touch every single one. And of course, pitch from the wind-up when he's on third? Watch as your catcher argues to no avail after Robinson steals home. An icon and a badass.

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