I was watching ESPN today when they kept switching to Barry's at bats, and I started thinking about the time Babe Ruth was playing in. I looked up some of his early stats and realized that he played 6 years in the dead ball era. I did a little number crunching and calculated his average home runs in the live ball era and if he would have hit the same 44 home run pace in his first 5 full seasons he would have had about 172 more home runs. IMHO the Babe is simply the best baseball player of all time. Of course, the Babe played in the segregated era, so he did not have to face any black pitchers, but to balance that he played with the higher pitcher's mound.
For me it's hard to say who was the best, but he is one of the top five of all time. He hit so many more homeruns then the other players of his time, Bonds would have to hit 85 per year to match what Ruth did. Oh yeah, lets see Bonds be a twenty game winner as a pitcher.
I think the lack of all the latin pitchers is probably a bigger deal than the lack of black pitchers. Frankly there aren't that many good black pitchers in the game today. There's a few, but not many.
Babe was an incredible hitter and one of the best pitchers of all time too.He represents BASEBALL to many..an icon.Even so,I've always thought Willie Mays was the greatest player of all time.That said,it really bothers me to see Bonds passing Ruth...definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth.This is our National pastime.
About four and a half years: http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ruthba01.shtml 94 and 46, about a 2.30 ERA. Though they may have been eclipsed, I do know that Ruth had some pitching records (set in the World Series) that existed as late as the early 90s (or, the last time I paid a lot of attention to baseball). It's the pitching that's the kicker. You can call Bonds, Williams, Mays or Ruth the best hitter of all time and get no argument from me, but because of his pitching dominance, it's clear that Ruth is easily the best baseball player of all time.
That's the thing, many if not everybody associates Ruth with baseball and as being the greatest player to ever play the game. If/When Bonds passes him it's not like the whole sports world will forget about Ruth, in fact it may bring even more favor in Ruth's corner. But, that is how everybody is acting, "oh no he's passing Ruth" "oh no it's so wrong" "oh no__________" I mean come on, I knew who Babe Ruth was before I even knew what baseball was. Ruth is the embodiment of not only Major League Baseball but baseball itself. He is probably the 2nd most popular play in any sport in the world behind Michael Jordan and if Ruth lived and played in a commercial appeal era the way Jordan did I'm sure he would be even more popular. So if Bonds passes Ruth, who cares. Ruth will never be forgotten and Ruth is always going to be remembered as being a better ball player, and probably person too, than Bonds. Get over it. If/When Bonds passes Ruth, Ruth will still hold his place in sports history probably even stronger than before.
the Babe got the best of both worlds, pitched in the dead ball era and hit in the livest ball era there was until the 90s and today came along. and got the short porch in yankee stadium to help him out. not that he wasn't still the best hitter ever and not that the extra hitting years in the live ball era wouldn't have added to his totals, but he probably would have his totals decreased if he wasn't hitting in yankee stadium, in a very live ball time, with lou gehrig hitting behind him to protect him along with all the other talent on the yankees. i'm not sure what sort of lineup aaron and mays had around them or what the difference in hitting in the eras was or how their parks affected them (candlestick not being a great hitters park apparently), but they probably didn't have it as good as the Babe. and yeah once you add in being a great pitcher (even for the dead ball era) it's hard not to call him the best ever. though, just like he wouldn't hit more home runs than entire teams today, he would presumably never be given a shot to pitch today either.
Ruth did play during Prohibition. So you could say he used illegal substances (liquor) to enhance his performance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition
Amazing how Babe Ruth has been dead nearly 50 years and his legend is still the same. Even as a grown man I still get goose bumps when I see old footage of the guy on TV. It's tough to say he's the best ever. It is impossible to compare guys of today to era's before. I mean Babe Ruth hit more homeruns than some whole teams and Wilt scored 50 PPG per game! Those will never be done again but I don’t think means they’re the greatest they were just so far ahead of their time. It comes down to personal prefence. I never got to see Willie Mays but to me hes the greatest since there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. But I'm fine when people say the Babe, Ted Williams, Hank, or even Barry Bonds are the best ever its just preference. My Grandpa who was lucky enough to see many great players including Ruth Williams and others. Always told me that Ted Williams is the greatest he ever saw.
I think alcohol is a performance hindering substance. If anything, his incessant drinking only makes his stats look that much better.
If I played with the All Houston Team and hit 900 homeruns would I be the best of all time I mean I hit 900 Homeruns When you play with only some people and excluded all the others well. . .you can do these things babe played in a era that was in such a limited field of players Also No weight training . .. and no Juiced up Pitchers. . . .Etc he was the best of his Era barry is the best of his Era they both have all kinds of issues and side things going on that is a taint on the game and them by proxi. Rocket River
