He was more than a man with the prettiest numbers of all time. Ted Williams was a man with an aura.

Once the great DiMaggio died, Ted Williams seemed to inherit that aura -- America's Greatest Living Player. And he wore it like the golden crown it was.

There was something in the way he moved, something in the way he spoke about his sport, something in the way people reacted when he walked through the ballpark gates, that gave Ted Williams that Greatest Living Player glow, whether he truly was or not.

	Willie Mays makes his famous over-the-shoulder catch of a ball hit by Vic Wertz in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.

We once referred to Williams in print as America's Greatest Living Player. We found out fast that not everyone agreed.

We heard from the Willie Mays proponents. We heard from the Stan Musial fans. We heard from the Hank Aaron people. We heard from the Pete Rose Fan Club.

They all had their cases. Yet there was a certain -- what's the word? -- reverence that people seemed to have for Ted Williams that was somehow different from the way they reacted to those other men.

So now, sadly, that Ted is gone, who inherits that mantle? Who becomes our Greatest Living Player now?

Remember, when you think about that question, don't think only about the numbers. Think about that scene before the '99 All-Star Game in Fenway. Think about today's players crowding around Ted Williams, then talking about it with an astonishing awe.

Think about all of it. Now mull this over one more time: Who is our Greatest Living Player? These would be the prime candidates:

1. Willie Mays
What couldn't he do? He won a batting title, four home run titles and four stolen base titles. He was a league leader in runs, hits, triples, walks, slugging, on-base percentage, total bases and extra-base hits in various seasons of his glorious career. Sheez. What did we miss? Bunt singles? Pickoff throws drawn?

Then add to that the 12 Gold Gloves, the Gold Gloves Mays would have won had they even existed in the early 1950s, the record for most putouts and chances by any outfielder in history and the most famous catch ever made. Add in his annual show at the All-Star Game. For all-around greatness, almost nobody who ever lived tops Willie Mays.

2. Hank Aaron
When you've hit more home runs than anybody who ever played baseball, you've placed yourself in the Greatest Living Player argument whether you did anything else. But Aaron was more than just somebody who worked on his home run trots. Like Mays, Aaron also won batting titles (two of them). He led his league in hits, runs, games played, doubles, RBI, total bases, extra-base hits and slugging. He never won a stolen base title, but he did finish second once.

Aaron is still the all-time leader in homers, RBI, total bases and extra-base hits. He won three Gold Gloves. He has worked in the Braves' front office for more than a quarter-century. He made a hilarious commercial with Barry Bonds. And he deserves extra points in this debate just for all the abuse he took for having the nerve to challenge the Babe's home run record.

3. Stan Musial
Maybe he's not the greatest player of his generation, but Musial is certainly the most underappreciated. Only three hitters in history (Pete Rose, Ty Cobb and Aaron) got more hits than Musial. Just six men scored more runs than Musial. Only Aaron, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig drove in more runs. Only Cobb, Tony Gwynn and Honus Wagner won more batting titles than the seven Musial won.

He won back-to-back MVP awards. He was the only National Leaguer between the 1930s and the 1990s to have a .700 slugging percentage in a season. He leads all living players in harmonicas played. Hard to believe he needed a committee to step in and add him to the All-Century team.

4. Frank Robinson
It took Barry Bonds' 587th homer -- the one that nudged Robinson back to fifth on the all-time list -- to reawaken all of us to how great a player this man was. Won a triple crown (and barely missed winning it twice). Won MVPs in both leagues. Actually won the quadruple crown in 1966 (homers, RBI, batting and runs scored.)

Cracked the top five in stolen bases three times. Won a 1-0 World Series game with a home run off Don Drysdale. Even hit a home run in his first at-bat as a player-manager. Robinson exuded fire and greatness every time he walked onto a field -- and still does.

	Pete Rose remains baseball's all-time leader in hits with 4,256.

5. Pete Rose
OK, so the Hit King wasn't the power hitter those four guys above him was. And Rose played five positions -- but won a Gold Glove at only one (left field). And he had the worst stolen-base percentage of all time (only 57 percent) among players who stole as many bases as he did (198). But how do we not include the man with the most hits in history in this debate?

He had more 200-hit seasons (10) than Ty Cobb, or anyone else. Three batting titles. The longest hitting streak of the post-DiMaggio era (44 games). A Rookie of the Year and an MVP award. Four straight seasons without a missed game. Scored more runs than all but four players who ever played (Rickey Henderson, Ty Cobb and Ruth). Left an All-Star Game memory by steamrolling Ray Fosse. Left a World Series freeze frame by catching a pop-up that squirted out of his catcher's glove.

Rose's exile from baseball might keep him out of the Hall of Fame, but it has added to his larger-than-life profile -- and that might help him in this debate.

Other names for consideration (active)
Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson.

Other names for consideration (retired)
Joe Morgan, Mike Schmidt, Yogi Berra, George Brett, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.