Who is the greatest baseball player of all time?

Love him or hate him, 'roids or no 'roids, Barry Bonds now shares the No. 2 spot on the career home run list with Babe Ruth. With all due respect to the No. 1 man on the most hallowed list in sports, Hank Aaron, this Ruth-Bonds longball lock means it's a good time to answer the question of who is the best player of all time: Ruth or Bonds?

Here's a statistical look at how the players compare in the three major categories: hitting, defense and postseason.

HITTING

In terms of raw stats, here's how they match up in the batter's box:

Not only does Babe lead Barry in every category except for doubles, steals and walks, but he does so with 838 fewer at-bats. His supremacy in the three percentage marks (avg., OBP and slg.) is stunning. It should be noted, though, that Bonds holds the single-season high marks between the two players in HRs (73), SBs (40), BBs (232), OBP (.690) and SLG (.863).

Advantage: Babe

DEFENSE

Ruth was nothing special with the glove, but he excelled on the mound for a brief period at the beginning of his career. Basically, this comes down to Babe's pitching vs. Bonds' fielding.

The Bambino was only a pitcher during his early days with the Red Sox. The numbers aren't plentiful, but they're still impressive -- especially the ERA and WHIP. Although he has significantly tailed off recently, Bonds, in his heyday, was a premier defensive left fielder. Bonds made up for a wet-noodle arm with his great instincts and notable closing speed.

Advantage: Even

POSTSEASON

How do Ruth and Bonds compare when the stakes are the highest?

Although Ruth participated in three more postseasons, he actually played in seven fewer games than Bonds due to playoff expansion. And Ruth's production is still markedly better. While Ruth was consistently spectacular in the postseason throughout his career, Bonds initially struggled to produce in October. Prior to 2002, when Bonds carried the Giants to the World Series, he was known as someone who disappeared in the postseason.

For good measure, Ruth also went 3-0 on the hill with an 0.87 ERA in postseason play.

Advantage: Babe