Why Babe Ruth is the Best Athlete Ever

When it comes to choosing the best athletes there is always much debate. Should it be a team player over an individual athlete? Are golfers really athletes? Is a baseball player more of an athlete than a basketball player? The debate can go on forever. Who is to say who is the really the best athlete. Well being partial to baseball myself I have to go with Babe Ruth - the Bambino, the Sultan of Swat. I know what you are thinking after all Babe Ruth was big over weight man who liked to eat drink and party - but no one has played the game they way he did.

When people think of Babe Ruth they automatically think of the Home Run, as they should. After all he single handily changed the face of the game often hitting more home runs than most teams. He finished his career with 714 career home runs, unlike the modern athlete with no help from performance enhancing drugs or steroids. He also hit for average finishing his career with a career batting average of .342.

He completely obliterated the single season home run record hitting 54 in 1920 the previous high was 29. He was such a powerful home run hitter, that the Yankees were forced to build a new stadium. The Yankees shared the Polo Grounds with the Giants, but when the Yankees started to outdraw the Giants, the Giants kicked them out. This led to the Yankees building Yankee Stadium or the 'House that Ruth Built"

But what people often forget is that Babe Ruth was one hell of a pitcher. Babe Ruth started his career with the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher and had a career record of 94 and 46 - a .641 winning percentage. He also had a career ERA of 2.28. He was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career as a pitcher before switching to the outfield to take advantage of his incredible hitting prowess. So here was a man who could both pitch and hit - he was the complete ballplayer. There has not been a player before or since who has come close to accomplishing what he has.

With no disrespect to some of the great players who have played since the Babe, none of them could compare to the complete player Babe Ruth was. Hank Aaron is the All-Time Home Run King, but I bet he couldn't pitch a game in the majors, same for Willie Mays and Ted Williams. Could Cy Young or Sandy Koufax hit 50 home runs in a season. Sure Babe Ruth did play during a time when the league was segregated, but I am sure he would have dominated anyway

And as much as this pains me to say he did transform the Yankees into the wining machine they would become. He transformed the fortunes of two franchises. I don't believe in the Curse of the Bambino, but it did take the Red Sox 86 years to win a World Championship after he left while the Yankees went on to win 26 titles.

Babe Ruth may not have looked like an athlete, but he was the last complete player to play the game.