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71 Comments
- bluelightnin90, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11"Since the topic is relevant because of the late Barry Bonds" I know some people hate Bonds, but I didn't know they took it so far as to think of him as dead.
- ostracize, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12This post contains an element of truth. There were better black pitchers out there who were not allowed to play in the Major Leagues.
Consider also that Yankee Stadium was practically built just for him. The field is smaller towards right field (Ruth batted left). - krahzee, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11No Ted Williams!!!!!!!
I call ***** on this list. Williams had 521 Career Hrs and that is WITH missing 3 years to serve in WW2. Those years came when he was already hitting them out at a clip of over 30 a year. The first year of his military service was when he was 24 so he was hardly giving away years when he was past his prime. Imagine how many he would have had. 600 would have been very possible. Mike Schmitt was a hall of famer, but as a hitter, couldn't carry William's jock strap - wjackson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7That list could use a few break tags, IMO.
- AtHomeBoy2000, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Griffey Jr > Sosa
- ramong, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Let's add Mr. Joshua Gibson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Gibson - Vodka2389, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7The people who think Ruth would be a star today are delusional! The guy was a fat ass who gobbled beer and hot dogs. I'd like to see a professional who can do that today and stay at the top of his game. Never mind the fact that the talent pool back then was extremely low- He only faced white guys, the population was much lower, and people back then didn't aspire to be athletes since they weren't paid a lot like today and were generally looked down upon.
Babe Ruth would not be good enough to be in any level of professional baseball today. - amnesiac096, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5WALL OF TEXT
- UglieJosh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"That said the outfields were deeper"
Not in the stadiums that Ruth played in, they weren't. - cactus476, on 10/10/2007, -5/+9My crap > Barry Bonds
- lordwow, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Best Formatting Ever*
- JasonQG, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Some of them, but some are death for home runs. One of particular interest is AT&T Park in San Francisco where balls hit by left-handed hitters go to die. For all other left-handed hitters not named Bonds, statistics show that guys hit half as many home runs there as they do on average in the other 29 parks. Steroids or not, it makes what Bonds has done even more amazing.
- DrunkenSavior, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5You make a lot of good points. It's too bad Digg's commenters are so anti Bonds that they'll digg your comment down.
- jmgoody311, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Wall of Text crits you for 7288. You die.
- rupprupp29, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2While it's true that Babe Ruth only faced a limited pool of pitchers (only the white ones), it's most likely true that he wasn't all 'roided up. Baseball in Babe Ruth's day was a lot different than it is now, which is what makes it nearly impossible to quantify and compare what these 2 players have accomplished.
- satanatnmtedu, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Yep. Has to inaccurate if there is no Josh Gibson.
- bsankr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2...uhhh, what? He hit .342 for his career. His SLUGGING % was .690.
- mixmastabeef, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3dugg for mathematical correctness ruth>bonds
- Shiftyeyedgoat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Woah, this guy needs to learn how to format. Paragraphs of material in blocktext is just ugly an unappealing.
Also, of course Babe Ruth is the best slugger to ever live. Bonds is solely in the top 5 of all time, while he is most likely the best of the era. - ElJefeGrande, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2p {
margin-bottom: 12px;
} - cashewhead, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Jimmie Foxx? Hellooooo?
- expiredmeatbag, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2and Ted Williams, the last player to get over .400 in a season., with 521 homeruns with 3 years of serving in WWII in the prime of his career.
- phyllidae, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3what a ***** article
- skyshock1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3No, not all the fields were 270 feet. Most were around 290, and a few were 300+. And the Babe had a comparatively short distance to right field (he's a lefty) at the polo grounds (where he hit most of his HRs). Your point?
"While stadiums generally are smaller today in the overall dimensions, they are not significantly smaller down the line in the power alleys. In fact, I would argue that Ruth was given a free pass for almost half of his homeruns because the RF line at Yankee Stadium was the shortest fence in all of MLB at 258 feet as well as the LF line which was also 258 feet. It wasn’t until 1928 that it was lengthened to 296 feet. Not only was it one of the shortest, but it was modeled after the Polo Grounds were RF was only 256 feet. Yankee Stadium’s RF was actually shortened to accommodate Ruth so he could hit more HR which would attract more fans. Talk about perks! " -- http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/socalsportsfan/2007/07/17/The_X_Files_Babe_Ruth_Had_Help - znachtman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2dugg down for nonsense.
- znachtman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Look at his statistics. At the age of 21, he had 136 at bats and only 3 homeruns. Babe Ruth didn't lose any statistics to youth, only drinking.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ruthba01.shtml - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Out of all the sluggers in this day and age in baseball, I have the most respect for Ken Griffey Jr. Even with all of the injuries he's had, he still puts up good numbers and is up there on the all time home run list.
- schwit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Bonds and Sosa should be on there about as much as adding some guy who used an aluminum bat. Not having Jimmy Foxx, Ted Williams and Josh Gibson makes this list a joke. Foxx and Williams were out during WWII, in their primes. Josh Gibson not being on the list staggers the mind.
- onewingedangel9, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How many times did he say a variation of "the numbers don't lie"?
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1midget baseball doesn't count
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -13/+14Babe Ruth never faced Black or Asian Pitchers / Players. Babe Ruth is the Best White Hitter in White Baseball Ever.
- in2deep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Its got to be Barry Bonds....he owns all the records and he is innocent until proven guilty!
- kahlessreborn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Isn't it true that new parks were designed so that there would be more home runs in them because they felt homeruns were entertaining where are the 400+ ft outfields of old ball barks like Ebbets field.
- MrLazySmurf, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I agree with you that Ruth is # 1. I think he started his career as a pitcher for about 4 or 5 years before they actually found out what kind of slugger he was, imagine if he had those years. Even with 20 home runs each of those seasons would put him close to 800 home runs.
Another point i should make is that back when Babe played, ground-rule doubles were considered Home-runs. But who knows how many of those he hit. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1slugging percentage and average are different...generally players have a higher slugging pct than average ; ) slugging pct takes into count the type of hit he had (eg HR, single, double, triple)
- CannedMango, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'd rather be a jerk than an idiot.
- bsankr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1McGriff doesn't fit at all.
- bsankr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Don't forget Tuffy Rhodes!
- humpy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I agree with the first two, but Willie mays should be ahead of Aaron. Willie missed two years in his prime because he served in the military, he easily would have had 700+ homeruns. Aaron is definitely the most consistent homerun hitter though.
- erniecamacho, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Another pretty good list: http://www.thetoolsofignorance.com/lists/list.php?list=42
- nipterink, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1and jerks
- JasonQG, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1They changed the rule in 1926, so it affected him for part of his career (Ruth played 1914-1935).
- ryry0666, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Generally players have a higher SLG than AVG? When can they not? The slugging percentage bases per at bat.
- cansailor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0His score is okay for athlete's under the drug enhancement category versus au natural. Now if I can just figure out how to change my positive to say -3.....
- skynardrules, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I created a bet to settle this question on Blubet. Check it.
http://www.blubet.com/bet/MLB_Who_s_your_favorite_home_run_hitter_of_all_time - RonnyIsRondo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0That list blows
- ryry0666, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0If I'm not mistaken, Gibson is the only one to hit the ball completly out of Yankee Stadium. One of the worst parts about the Negro leagues, is that no records were kept. Had they been, many of the players would have posted numbers far superior to many in the majors. Not to mention, those who played in the negro leagues were simply more talented, including the pitchers. Had Josh Gibson had the chance to play in the major leagues, against their pitching, it'd be impossible for bonds to catch up. Especially with Greg Anderson in jail.
- RonnyIsRondo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0If it wasnt for 3 and a half injury filled season Griffey would be ahead of Bonds. Not steroids .
- Buddhist, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2What about Ralph Kiner? He hit 369 home runs in just 10 years.
In 1947, he hit 51 homers, drove in 127 runs, and hit .313.
In 1949, he hit 54 homers, drove in 127 runs, and hit .310.
Those were the 1940s! Fifty or more home runs isn't done that much nowadays (post-Steroid Era), let alone in the 40s.
Granted, he, like many other great sluggers (Babe Ruth, Hank Greenberg, et al) got help from their stadiums that had wall distances built for their power, but still...
Had Ralph Kiner not been forced to retire due to injuries after just 10 seasons, he may have been the one to break Ruth's all-time record first, as he was on pace for over 700 home runs in his career. - yopper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0That's a cool bet!
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