There's Only Ever Been One "Babe"

Don't get me wrong, based solely on the number that matters, Hank Aaron has been the undisputed Home Run King for the last 33 years. He also seems to be one of the classier people in sports I'm aware of, this isn't about Race. But there are numbers that matter beneath the numbers:

Aaron had 12,364 official times at bat. Bonds was up to 9,771 through Monday. Ruth went to bat only 8,399 official times, nearly 4,000 less than Aaron and losing ground to Bonds every week. Along the way his batting average gets lost in all the home-run babble. Babe Ruth was a lifetime .342 hitter, some of that in “deadball” times.

In the end, it's history, or perhaps Era's that matters more to me than Baseball today - that's especially true since free agency and the players strike, I'm not even sure which strike it was, now. LOL I wore Ruth's number as a kid, came from a die hard baseball family and had a Dad who talked about Willie Mays playing in the Minors near what later became a traffic circle and a supermarket in Ewing, NJ.

Though I did get to see a World Series - Mets / Red Sox, due to business relationships, I stopped watching and caring about baseball a long time ago. And that's a good thing today. Because I don't have to give the whole Barry Bonds fiasco another thought. Even without the steroids nonsense, frankly I just don't care. I'd rather read about History and the Babe. Evidently this guy felt more like writing about him, too.

Babe Ruth had a unique career. He pitched for five seasons with the Red Sox before taking to the field full time. Not just some donkey of a pitcher who filled in now and then. He was a full-time starter and won 94 games. In 1918 he set a World Series record for consecutive shutout innings that stood for years. I’ve read that he always spoke of that as his most treasured record, not all the slugging feats. Even one season as a pitcher, he led the American League in home runs. Hitting ‘em, not throwing ‘em.

He was 24 years old before he switched from pitching to the outfield full time. Those days the major leagues played a 154-game schedule, not increased to 162 games until 1961, in the American League, long after the Babe was gone. The comparisons between Ruth and the other mighty home-run bombers gets more interesting the deeper you get into them.

It needs also be said that in the era discussed above, some of the best ball players may have been Black players who never even got a shot. That's a genuine shame. But all eras have their problems, I guess. And while Rose, Clemente, Stargell, Munson, hell, half of his fellow Yankees, along with DiMaggio and Gehrig and other names come to mind, Ruth is ultimately my favorite baseball hero. And that's all that matters when it comes to Baseball and me today. What I remember is all I have, because, frankly, I just don't care very much about the rest.

Comments

[JD]

I think anyone with any kinda clue knows ol' number 3 is and always will be the king.

Ain't even a close second....

[Mr. Bingley]

Babe was also involved in one of the more "creative" no-hitters ever pitched: (from "baseballlibrary.com")

"The same Ruth who would happily spend hours of free time with needy children was ejected for swinging at an umpire who called ball four on the first batter the young pitcher faced in a June 23, 1917 game. Red Sox teammate Ernie Shore relieved Ruth, the runner Ruth had walked was caught attempting to steal, and Shore retired the next 26 batters to earn credit for a perfect game."

[DANEgerus]

When the Babe hit 60, it was in an era of giant parks and a dead ball and he hit 1/6th of the total home runs hit by the league that year.

And there are no steroids in beer.

[Fred Beloit]

I'm afraid you folks are doing something morally questionable. As winkie has explained under another post concerning the soldier who seems to have made up vile stories about his comrades, training does not dehumanize the trainee exactly, but does desensitize the trainee to have no compassion for a competitor. Your admiration for the trained athlete, Mr Ruth, is misplaced, just as admiration for a soldier, desensitized by training, would be misplaced. A trained soldier should, therefore, be viewed as spoiled goods. This makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It does in winkieland.

[Dentists]

Bonds should get the asterisk next to his name for cheating.

[daveinboca]

Bonds isn't worthy of tying Ruth's and Aaron's shoes.

Frank Thomas and Junior and a couple of other straights are better than this bobblehead bulging all over with juiced-up muscles. Barry Bonds is disliked even by baseball fans, who think he is a puffed-up egomaniac. Just another asshole like Canseco.

Hank Aaron had more class in the cuticle on his pinkie than this sport of nature will ever have. Bonds is a CREEPY CRAWLY piece of CRAP!

[TheSpartan]

Let's not forget Ted Williams. While he only hit 521hr's he lost almost 5 season's during his prime due to his military service in WWII and Korea. Williams had a higher lifetime avg. than Ruth and along with Ruth is one of only a small handful of players to finish their careers with a lifetime OPS (OBP+SLG, the best measure of pure hitting plus power) of over 1.100.