favorite historical figure?

[Nonsensei]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

You are alive because of him. Be grateful.

[Cavebear]

It is too hard to specify one.  But I'll choose Erastosthenes, around 200 BC greek.  He was called "Beta" by critics because he was "2nd best at everything".  Being 2nd best at everything seems pretty impressive to me.  He accurately measured the circumference of the Earth, the tilt of the Earth's axis, and the distance to the Sun.

But there are a few others...

Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson because they were about the last people who actually knew almost everything there was to know at the time.

Alexander Hamilton, and not because of the popular play. He constructed the entirely modern banking system.

Carvaca, Asian Indian of uncertain date but 1 or 2 centuries BC; one of the earliest explicitly atheists....

[Mike Cl]

Ah, you guys are way too serious.  Babe Ruth because he changed forever (and in a grand and glorious way) the game of baseball.......................and ate a ton of ice cream and loved hot dogs!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The Cubs.

Thanks, Obama!

[Cavebear]

Ah, you guys are way too serious.  Babe Ruth because he changed forever (and in a grand and glorious way) the game of baseball.......................and ate a ton of ice cream and loved hot dogs!

Few sports figures matter to history.  And Ruth was not one of them.  I would give you more credence had you said Jim Thorpe or Jackie Robinson.

[Mike Cl]

Few sports figures matter to history.  And Ruth was not one of them.  I would give you more credence had you said Jim Thorpe or Jackie Robinson.

True--few sports figures matter to history.  But to the history of the sport in which he participated, Ruth was truly transformational, and I'd even say, game saving.  Why?  He was following hot on the heels of the Black Sox scandal.  That could have been sport killing.  He changed the nature of the game.  Prior to Ruth, the game was eek out the runs with stolen bases and bunts.  He brought the homerun to the world. (He hit more homers in 1920, as any team did in his division.) He demonstrated that power could be and should be the name of the game.  He put butts in the seats when the sport needed it.  And his style of baseball, played even today, make the game very popular.  Thrope was a gifted athlete, one of the best of all time.  But Ruth was as well.  He was a hall of fame pitcher before he became a full time hitter--and a hall of famer as that as well.  Robinson was a hero of the true sense of the word; but the game was as popular as it was because of Ruth.  So, you can say that without Ruth, Robinson's statement would not have been as loud or impactful.  He was not exactly a role model for people to follow---but he did take some of his fellow Yankees and barnstorm around the country playing in small towns across the country, bring the sport to all; and he did love people and people loved him.  He was the best ambassador the game has ever had. 

In the large scheme of things on the world stage he was for sure, not Otto Von Bismark; Ruth never had control of any policy making of any kind.  But the people of Japan still remember his visits. 
While Ruth did say, "Every strike brings me closer to my next home run.", Bismark said, "People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. "  So, Ruth was not a world mover or shaker, he was and is still the most remarkable player in sports history.  In my book, anyway.

[Baruch]

Marcus Tullius Cicero ... the greatest Roman politician and martyr.  Gaius Julius Caesar was a great general, but a martyr only to his own ego.

[Unbeliever]

a martyr only to his own ego.

But aren't we all?

[Baruch]

But aren't we all?

Cicero was the best lawyer in Rome.  We actually have the text of his most famous law case (the one that made him famous).  He made sure to record it for posterity ... for our own sakes of course!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUcDdUG22JU

Behold, the Roman Perry Mason!

[Cavebear]

True--few sports figures matter to history.  But to the history of the sport in which he participated, Ruth was truly transformational, and I'd even say, game saving.  Why?  He was following hot on the heels of the Black Sox scandal.  That could have been sport killing.  He changed the nature of the game.  Prior to Ruth, the game was eek out the runs with stolen bases and bunts.  He brought the homerun to the world. (He hit more homers in 1920, as any team did in his division.) He demonstrated that power could be and should be the name of the game.  He put butts in the seats when the sport needed it.  And his style of baseball, played even today, make the game very popular.  Thrope was a gifted athlete, one of the best of all time.  But Ruth was as well.  He was a hall of fame pitcher before he became a full time hitter--and a hall of famer as that as well.  Robinson was a hero of the true sense of the word; but the game was as popular as it was because of Ruth.  So, you can say that without Ruth, Robinson's statement would not have been as loud or impactful.  He was not exactly a role model for people to follow---but he did take some of his fellow Yankees and barnstorm around the country playing in small towns across the country, bring the sport to all; and he did love people and people loved him.  He was the best ambassador the game has ever had. 

In the large scheme of things on the world stage he was for sure, not Otto Von Bismark; Ruth never had control of any policy making of any kind.  But the people of Japan still remember his visits. 
While Ruth did say, "Every strike brings me closer to my next home run.", Bismark said, "People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. "  So, Ruth was not a world mover or shaker, he was and is still the most remarkable player in sports history.  In my book, anyway.

I grant that Ruth was a great hitter and pitcher.  But Ty Cobb was the best player.

[Mike Cl]

I grant that Ruth was a great hitter and pitcher.  But Ty Cobb was the best player.

No, no, no!!! People hated Cobb--Loved Ruth!!  The only thing Cobb could do better was steal bases--and that, with the RBI, are the two most over-rated hitter stats.

[Mr.Obvious]

My favorite historical figure?

Father Damien of Molokaï.

As wrong as I think he was in his convictions. For as far as I can see, he held true to them and held true to what he thought was best. He didn't just talk the talk. He walked the walk.
His life was one of devotion and improvement for his fellow man, in the way he saw best fit. It destroyed him. But he kept at it, the best he could.
He did not save millions. He did not perform miracles. He did not advance the world.
But he saw what he could do for those less fortunate than him. And he did it.

[Cavebear]

No, no, no!!! People hated Cobb--Loved Ruth!!  The only thing Cobb could do better was steal bases--and that, with the RBI, are the two most over-rated hitter stats.

You didn't ask "most loved" baseball player, you asked "best".  Cobb was best.  He could steal bases, knew where a fly ball was coming down as it left the player's bat, and routinely threw out players at 1st base from right field.

He went 6 for 6 in one game.  Asked about Ruth's home runs, In Charles C. Alexander's biography of Cobb, he told a sportswriter, "I'll show you something today. I'm going for home runs for the first time in my career."  He hit 3.  He hated home runs as being against the idea of the game.

He was an evil racist bastard.  He was also the best ballplayer ever.

[Mike Cl]

You didn't ask "most loved" baseball player, you asked "best".  Cobb was best.  He could steal bases, knew where a fly ball was coming down as it left the player's bat, and routinely threw out players at 1st base from right field.

He went 6 for 6 in one game.  Asked about Ruth's home runs, In Charles C. Alexander's biography of Cobb, he told a sportswriter, "I'll show you something today. I'm going for home runs for the first time in my career."  He hit 3.  He hated home runs as being against the idea of the game.

He was an evil racist bastard.  He was also the best ballplayer ever.

Willie Mays was a better player than Cobb.  He could do everything that Cobb did and he was a better hitter; better in that he produced more meaningful offense than Cobb did.  I love baseball stats; but I will not start trotting out the stats that prove my point; it would bore you and everybody else to tears.  Anyway, not to say that Cobb was not great--he was; best hitter of his era.  It is too bad that stolen bases are just not anywhere as valuable as a homer.  Or a double.  Power crushes stolen bases all the time.  In his younger days, Ruth was as good a fielder as Cobb; and remember Ruth had had a career as a pitcher prior to becoming the best hitter ever.  For several decades he held the record for the most scoreless innings pitched in WS games.  He was a hall of fame level pitcher.  Then, even as a pitcher, he hit 29 homers; was bought by the Yankees and the rest is history.  All players are still measured by Ruth.  When dealing with stats (not just the typical ones, but the more complicated and accurate ones) whether or not a player was loved or not matters not.  Statistically Ruth is the best hitter of all time, was a better than average fielder and a hall of fame level pitcher and there you have it--the best baseball player of all time.  I would say that Bonds is close to Ruth as a hitter and was a better fielder in his prime.  Mays was also close to Ruth as a total player--but did not pitch. 

Not only was he the best of all time, but he transformed the game from  a single, and SB, a bunt to third and a squeeze play at the plate.--getting 1 run was the object of that type of game.  Ruth demonstrated the value and power of a walk and then a homer.  In 1919, baseball, because of the Black Sox scandal, the game was close to being down and out.  The excitement of watching Ruth hit homer after homer changed the game--and people started coming the game in numbers not seen before.  Look at the year-to-years stats for each league and it is easy to see how the offense changed; Ruth was the spearhead for that change; that change saved the game.  Hence, in my world, he is one of the most influential people of all time. :)) 

[Cavebear]

My apologies for the old reply...

Statistics aren't everything.  Mays was great.  Ruth was great.  But with Cobb, it's not what he did, but what he could have done and didn't.  He had an idea of what the game should be and played it that way.  I detest his views, but admire what he could do.  When he chose to, he could do do any part of the game as well as anyone.

I suppose I look back to older play in sports.  For example, I do not understand modern basketball at all.  Players foul on every play, travel routinely, palm the ball and get away with violations that (to my mind) ruin the game.

Just a thought...