Who was the greatest baseball player before Babe Ruth?

Answer 1

I will give you a couple of players whose MLB careers ended before 1914, which is when the Babe's started.

A position player would be Cap Anson and a pitcher would be Addie Joss.

Anson played 27 seasons (1871-1897) for the Rockford Forest Citys, Philadelphia Athletics, and the teams known then as the White Stockings and Colts which is now the Chicago Cubs. He had a career batting average of .334 (24th best in MLB history), 3435 base hits (6th best in MLB history), and 2075 RBIs (3rd best in MLB history). It was his MLB career RBI record that Babe Ruth broke in 1933. Ty Cobb broke his career MLB base hits record in 1923.

Joss pitched for the Cleveland Naps (now Indians) from 1902-1910. He won 20+ games in a season 4 times, had a career ERA of 1.89 which is 2nd best in MLB history, and threw 45 shutouts in 260 career starts. He pitched a perfect game in 1908 throwing only 74 pitches. Walter Johnson called Joss the best pitcher he had ever seen. Tragically, Joss contracted tubercular meningitis in April, 1911 and shortly thereafter passed away at the age of 31.

Answer 2

Satchel Paige