Reply #34: George Herman Ruth. [View All]

[Whitacre D_WI]

Ain't no business even talking about it.

There can be great arguments over the SECOND greatest player in baseball history (short list to include in roughly chronological order Wagner, Cobb, Johnson, Williams, Mays, Schmidt, Bonds), but there is no doubt to the thinking sports fan that the Babe is king.

Why?
1) Greatest. Hitter. Ever.
It's true that Bonds plays in an era of tougher competition (after all, blacks and dark-skinned latinos were barred from baseball during Ruth's time -- of course, there is also the theory that Babe Ruth was himself African-American, but there's no real evidence to back that up). One can make a compelling argument for either Bonds or Williams as Ruth's equal as a batsman, though I will contend it's Babe.

2) Hall of Fame-quality pitcher.
Have you ever looked at Ruth's pitching numbers? Check out http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ruthba01.shtml and tell me that ain't something special.

Put those together and you get one of the best (if not the very best best) hitters ever AND an ace pitcher. If that ain't the paragon of greatness, than I don't know what is.

BTW, I would rank the others as follows:
2) Honus Wagner. Compared to his peers (other shortstops of the same era), he outpaces the competition by a huge margin. As great as A-Rod is, he would have to elevate his game even further AND keep up the pace for 10 years to match the Flying Dutchman. As it stands, A-Rod is playing for second place among shorstops.

3) Barry Bonds. Great glove (although tempered by a rag-arm) when he was young, great speed in his youth as well. Not the defensive equal of his godfather, but surpasses Willie by any offensive measure.

4) Willie Mays. At his prime, Mantle was better. But Mickey got hurt (and drunk) a LOT. Mays' peak was not as high, but it was longer. And after all, what is greatness other than exceptional value over a long period of time?

5) Mike Schmidt. I'll probably take some flak for this one, but I stand by it. Brilliant defensive third baseman (if not quite Brooks Robinson's equal, but who is?) who was the dominant offensive threat of his era. And no, I'm not a Phillies fan. I just believe Mike Schmidt was the fifth-greatest baseball player ever.

6) Ty Cobb. It's all been said before, but what's rarely mentioned in that Cobb was NOT a singles hitter. He was a power hitter who simply had the (mis?)fortune to spend most of his career in the Dead Ball Era. Change a few of those doubles and triples to homers (which they would have been in smaller parks and with livelier balls), and you'll see what I mean.

7) Ted Williams. The only real competition to Ruth and Bonds as best hitter ever. He didn't do anything else (like field or run), but he didn't care to. When you hit like he did, it really didn't matter.

8) Walter Johnson. Every bit as good as Lefty Grove, Tom Seaver, Roger Clemens... but pitched MANY more innings. As durable as Cy Young, but a better pitcher. The highest-ranking hurler on my list.

I'd like to fill out my top 10 with players that don't usually make such lists, but I've no way to accurately place them. Sadahuru Oh? Perhaps, but I'm still not sure how to translate Japanese stats into American Major League equivalencies. Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleson probably BELONG on this list, but 1) I wasn't alive to see them play, and 2) we don't have Negro League statistics around which to formulate a rational judgment of their careers.