wagner has been considered one of the very best all-around players to ever play baseball since the day he retired in 1917. baseball historian and statistician bill james named honus wagner as the second best player of all time after babe ruth, rating him as the best major league player in 1900 and each year from 1902 to 1908. statisticians john thorn and pete palmer rate wagner as ninth all-time in their "total player ranking". many of the greats who played or managed against wagner, including babe ruth, ty cobb, rogers hornsby, and walter johnson, list him at shortstop on their all-time teams.