Why Babe Ruth is the Greatest Baseball Player in History
Not Only was He the Greatest Hitter, He was Also a Great Pitcher
Let's look at the numbers, and at the end we will look at one critical element that is often overlooked by those who make comparisons.
What are probably the four most important offensive statistical categories are listed below, with the players who are first and second in the all-time rankings for each category. (Run average and RBI average are calculated out by dividing a players total Runs scored or total RBI's by the number of official at-bats. Calculated out just like batting average, but for Runs and RBI's.)
The All Time Leaders
On Base Percentage:
1) Ted Williams - .482
2) Babe Ruth - .474
Ted Williams is ahead of the Babe here, but by less than 2%.
Slugging Percentage:
1) Babe Ruth - .690
2) Ted Williams - .634
Babe is ahead of Teddy Ballgame by over 8%.
Run Average:
1) Babe Ruth - .259
2) Lou Gehrig - .236
The Babe is ahead of longtime teammate Gehrig by almost 9%.
RBI Average:
1) Babe Ruth - .263
2) Lou Gehrig - .249
The Babe leads Gehrig by about 5%.
In the four most improtant offensive baseball categories, Babe Ruth is the all-time leader in three of the categories by an average of better than 7%, and is second in the other category by less than 2%. To be an average of 7% better than your next competitor in any important stat is a huge margin. And that's what the Babe is in three of the categories. He simply towers over the competition.
Babe Ruth is the greatest offensive player in Major League Baseball history.
One Other Important Element
Babe Ruth was a tremendous pitcher at the beginning of his career. Many people forget this when comparing Babe Ruth with other players. The Babe was not just a pitcher, he was a great pitcher. Let's look at his pitching record.
Babe Ruth the Pitcher
The Babe's record as a pitcher was 94-46. Good for a winning percentage of .671. That puts the Babe in 7th place on the All-Time retired list, and 8th place on the current list. Here is the greatest offensive player in history, and in well over 100 pitching starts (148 actually) the Babe has a better winning percentage than all but 7 other pitchers. Think about that for a second.
Over the bulk of his pitching career, from 1915-1919, the Babe's record was 87-45. A .659 winning percentage. The teams he pitched for had a combined record of 423-297 over that time frame. So the Babe's winning percentage was .071 better than the teams he played for. Very few pitchers have ever done better than that. The Babe also pitched to 82% of the League ERA over his pitching career. Another excellent number.
In the World Series, the Babe was as good as anybody as a pitcher. He started 3 games, won all three, completed two of the three, and threw one shutout. His team won both World Series he pitched in.
Babe Ruth and the World Series
In a 20 year career, the Babe appeared in 10 World Series. His team won 7 of those. So in half the years he played, his team made it to the World Series. In over one-third of the years he played, his team won the World Series.
The Babe batted .326, had an OBP of .467, and slugged .744 in 41 World Series games. His record above as a World Series pitcher is also stellar.
Any way you want to look at the statistics, Babe Ruth comes out as the greatest baseball player of all-time. He dominated the game as a hitter, and was also one of the best pitchers in the history of the game. He consistently led his teams into the World Series, as both a pitcher and a hitter, and his teams won the World Series far more often than not, in large part because of Babe Ruth's tremendous play in the Fall Classic.
Babe Ruth is the Greatest Baseball Player of All-Time. It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine anyone ever being a better player.
Published by Statsman
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15 Comments
Post a CommentI AGREE WITH THIS ARTICLE YOU ARE RIGHT ON THE BABE WAS THE VERY BEST SOME OF THE CMMENTS WERE WAY OFF TED WILLIAMS DID NOT PLAY DURING THE WORLD WAR 2 HE SERVED UN THE MARINES DURING THE WAR
@ken
Williams served in WWII and the Korean War instead of playing in the majors against "midgets" etc... Get your facts straight.
This Babe Ruth is the best ever conversation is ridiculous. He didn't compete against the best athletes of his day. The fact blacks were kept out of league, not to mention latin ballplayers, and even asians says it all. He never had to deal with jet lag. And hell, there were something like only 8 teams in his league. He batted against the same pitchers over and over. relief pitching wasn't a large strategy in Ruth's time. The only argument worse than Ruth is Ted Williams being the best hitter ever. give me a break. While other major leaguers were fighting in WWII Williams played against midgets, minor leaguers, any scrub they owners could drag onto a BB field. Lets permanently place an asterick next to Ruth's name. Stop this hopeless fantasy.
World Series 3 wins no defeats. His 0.87 ERA is the second lowest of all starting pitchers with 30 or more innings pitched in the WS.
Regular season his 9 shutouts in 1916 ties him with only one other AL lefthander, Ron Guidry with 9. His 1.75 ERA in 1916 is second to only Ron Guidry's 1.74 for a lefthander in the AL. Ruth pitched over 300 innings, Guidry did not.
In 1933 he pitched his last game for the Yanks. He had pitched only one game in the last 12 years but on that day he pitched a complete game and defeated his old team, the Boston Red Sox 6-5.
And guess who hit a home run to help his team win.............you got it, Babe hit his 34th home run of the season.
His arm was so sore he tipped his cap the the cheering crowd with his right arm.
When asked why he pitched the complete game, his answer, he knew many came to see him pitch.
The greatest, Babe Ruth, nobody like him. Is this guy for real?
There was no one like him. First season organized ball 1914 he was the best pitcher in the International League. First 3 seasons in MLB 1915-16-17,the best lefthander in the game and only two pitchers with more wins then him in thoise three seasons, Grover Alexander and Walter Johnson, two of the greatest ever.
Babe Ruth had only 49 career home runs in his first 6 seasons 1914-1919 yet he still hit 714. In their first 6 seasons Bonds had 142 and Aaron had 179.
Ruth had 11 seasons with 40 or more 11 times and never hit 40 until his 7th season. Closest to him, Killebrew and Bonds with 8 seasons with 40 or more.
He's the greatest, the most consitent home run hitter. Mcgwire's HR/AB is the best 10.96 and Ruth 11.78 but Ruth had 2000 more at bats and Mac admitted using PED's.
It's Ruth consistent hr hiting, hit them as far as anyone and still batted .342.
**statistics**
ruth also played seasons that only had 154 games. over the course of 15 seasons, that is 120 games fewer (15 seasons x 8 games per)than big leaguers today. imagine where his statics would be with an additional 75% of a season worth of at bats!
Babe Ruth by far is the greatest baseball player ever.
He was a superb hitter ba of 342 714 homeruns 2213 rbi's a life slg%of 690 a obp of 478.
He was also a very good defensive rf and pitcher.
He was the first real power hitter a legend now and forever.
Babe Ruth is the greatest hitter who ever Lived!
I agree completely that Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player in history. There really isn't any good argument that can be made for anyone else. I believe that he is the greatest homerun hitter of all time due to the era in which he played. Can you imagine with today's type of baseball, today's bats and technology how many homeruns the Babe would have hit? The fact that he was such a great pitcher only cements the fact. Thanks for your article. It has been a long time since I was in Yankee Stadium, but it will be missed. It will always be the House that Ruth Built.
The statistic that is so impressive to me and one that seems to get little attention is his dual athletic accomplishments. Has any one in the history of baseball even come close to matching his records in not just one position, but, both!!!!!!