Babe Ruth

I agree that Babe may be the top player of all time. But there is one person I would have loved to see play in the Majors - Josh Gibson. Man that guy had some guns and could kill a ball.

"In various publications, the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder has been credited with as many as 84 homers in one season. His Hall of Fame plaque says he hit "almost 800" homers in his 17-year career. His lifetime batting average was higher than .350, with one book putting it at .384, best in Negro League history."

 

Sounds like he would have made a great American president.

 

Why would he want to be president when he made more money?

 

17 shutouts in 163 pitching appearances
2.28 career ERA
1,221 career innings pitched
974 career hits allowed

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_stats/Pitching/ruth_babe.htm

That along with 714 career homers and his lifetime batting average of .342 makes it no contest on who was the greatest baseball player to ever play the game.

 

Yes, Josh Gibson probably would have been a monster in MLB. People like to downplay his stats though because he played in the Negro Leagues but was that really his fault?

 

"I saw 9 balls, I just had to hit one"

-Babe Ruth

©Tmac640

 

And to those people I like to point out that he had to go up against Sachel Paige during Sachel's prime - who most said lost most of his major heat shortly after 30. Which Sachel latter went on to log 3 shutout innings in a MLB game at age 57 - The man was almost 60!

I would have loved seeing Josh play just as much as I would have loved seeing Babe play.

 

exactly.

 

Ruth had the benefit of aiming at a right-field fence just 257 feet from home plate at the Polo Grounds, where the Yankees played their home games his first three years with the club. Even after the move to Yankee Stadium in 1923, the right-field foul pole was only 296 feet away.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/sfl-mikeb10may10,0,1553614.column?coll=sfla-sports-col

 

If by HGH, you mean Hamburgers, Girls, and Hot dogs, then you'd be correct.

 

were there any roids back in Baba's era?

 

Ruth: 8,398 ABs

Bonds: 9,140 ABs through the 2005 season.

It will take Bonds about 1,000 extra ABs to match Ruth's record.

 

Also, if I remember correctly, the ground-rule double was not in effect. Thus, any ball that bounced over the fence was a homer. That would negatively impact Ruth's numbers somewhat as well. Not to take anything away from him at all: he's an absolute legend of the game. I think the lesson is that you can't go adjusting stats based on current conditions. How many would Barry have hit without 'roids? How many would Babe have hit with a full-sized stadium and ground-rule doubles? It's impossible to determine.