[prewarsports]

I played both Hockey and baseball in College and still play both sports and follow them actively.

If anyone genuinely thinks there was a better hockey player than Gretzky, then they are just trying to stir the pot. Orr was basically a forward with a D next to his name in the scorecard and Howe was a great player for a LONG time that had probably half the skill Gretzky did in a much bigger body frame. Mario Lemieux had all the potential in the world but he is the Ted Williams of Baseball. He could have been the best but for injury, but the fact is he WAS injured a lot and he simply did not achieve the level of career success he could have otherwise. Gretzky was the best hockey player who ever lived, period. there is no debate.

Babe Ruth similarly was the greatest Baseball player who ever lived and anyone who thinks otherwise is usually biased towad fielding, or "leveling the field" toward early black players etc.

They are by far the two most dominant athlete of all time, and others like Jordan are not even close, he ushered in a new era of Basketball but hardly dominated the way Ruth and Gretzky did. Chamberlain would be a better comparison in that Sport.

It is hard to say who was more dominant, Socially and "Impact on the game" it was Ruth. Purely stat wise it was Gretzky. The early numbers for Ruths home runs dont translate to Hockey at all, you would need to talk about Runs and not Home Runs if doing that analysis and Ruth didn't outscore entire teams by himself. Home Runs are NOT the same as goals or assists in hockey.

Rhys