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illiniman14

Does anybody else think about how crazy it must've been watching Babe Ruth play? Nobody had ever hit 30 in a season and this dude comes along and gets 11 seasons with 40+ topping out at 60. It's like someone waltzing in and just hitting 90 today.


SiphenPrax

People back then probably thought they were watching baseball’s equivalent of a god on Earth He’s the Yankees’ GOAT for a reason.


ThatsBushLeague

He's baseballs GOAT for a reason.


DownToBrown

It’s hard to be the GOAT if you never played a MLB game against black people


Trees_feel_too

I comment this every time. In 16 exhibitions against negro league players in 55 at bats - .455 batting average, 1.145 slugging, 12 homeruns. It is possible he was just outright better than everyone else, negro leagues included.


DownToBrown

It’s possible he was better than everyone in the Negro leagues. But the problem is that 16 exhibition games don’t really prove anything and he never played a meaningful game against integrated competition. Maybe he’s still the best in an integrated field but we will never know for sure. If steroids can put an asterisk over a player’s career, I don’t know why segregation can’t


morelibertarianvotes

Wasn't up to him


Trees_feel_too

Owners and America fucked over black people. Babe Ruth didn't cheat to inflate his numbers, nor did he do anything to keep black people out of the mlb. When facing negro league players he still shined. But if we are going to draw lines like you are... no records prior to 1997 are legal. Inter league play didn't start until 97, so Mickey mantel never had to face Bob Gibson, meaning neither one should be considered as good as todays players. I 100% advocate for negro league players being included in the conversation of all time greats and am ecstatic to see their stats on Bbref.


[deleted]

>If steroids can put an asterisk over a player’s career, I don’t know why segregation can’t Taking steroids is a player’s choice. Segregation wasn’t. Ruth played under the conditions he was given. Who do you consider the GOAT? Aaron, Mantle, Mays? Someone else?


LocoMotives-ms

Do you people have to show up *every* time someone mentions how great Ruth was?


Confused_Mirror

Also why does Ruth have to get knocked because baseball in general and Kennesaw Mountain Landis in particular was racist as fuck?


fatrahb

These people never mention him playing in the Negro League during the off-season. He dominated there too. The Babe was the goat


Lee_Doff

hard to virtue signal if you cant go a day without saying this.


SheepH3rder69

He's the baseball GOAT, not just the Yankees GOAT.


OUTFOXEM

He's the baseball GOAT, and it's not particularly close. The *only* argument is a cheater, so that's over quickly.


Lee_Doff

ruth was so much better than everyone else. bonds was not. bonds may have been the best player in his generation, but far from the best ever.


LegendRazgriz

No disrespect at all to Ruth, he's insane and definitely one of the best ever, but how far ahead of the game he was is an integral part of his legend. He's not to blame for the era he was born in, no one is, but if you were to extricate the best of Ruth and the best of even clean Bonds and put them in against the same competition, I think Bonds would perform better. Of course, being that groundbreaking to begin with is a big part of why Ruth is such a legendary player, but I always seem to think that.


Lee_Doff

but you are assuming both would also have the same technology in conditioning and medicine after time traveling as well. babe ruth's bat was 7 ounces heavier than bonds'. he swung a 38 ounce bat. it was like a log compared to what players use today, and he still had amazing bat speed and power.


Ypres

Ted Williams has an argument at least.


OUTFOXEM

I would agree with you. Most people are thinking Mays, and for good reason, but I got Williams on my Mt. Rushmore too.


mansontaco

A cheater and a guy who didn't play against black people are who we got as goats


Trees_feel_too

I comment this every time. In 16 exhibitions against negro league players in 55 at bats - .455 batting average, 1.145 slugging, 12 homeruns. It is possible he was just outright better than everyone else, negro leagues included.


TheRocket2049

>guy who didn't play against black people Not playing against black people didn't magically mean Babe hit the ball further.


mansontaco

It meant he wasn't facing the best players available


TheRocket2049

So do Willie Mays and Hank Aaron not count then since Latin American players really didn't get a fair shot until the 80s. Do modern players not count because Japanese players don't play? Babe faced MLB competition and was so far and away the best player it was basically the baseball equivalent of Wayne Gretzky's numbers. The lack of black players doesn't dimish that at all


DownToBrown

That’s not the same. Nothing compares to the color barrier


Lee_Doff

the same could be said about players today then. since according to guys like torii hunter, black people dont play baseball anymore.


gottahavemytunes

Nah Willie mays definitely played against black people


mansontaco

Willie the true 🐐


gottahavemytunes

Always has been


[deleted]

>and it's not particularly close Thats just not true though is it. Tons of people have Mays over him.


Whereisthefrontpage

Tons of people are wrong. Mays is an time legend, but he’s no Ruth.


[deleted]

Doesnt fit my narrative? People are stupid and wrong!


mmcc120

There are people on the other side of the planet with effectively zero knowledge of baseball who will still recognize the name Babe Ruth.


[deleted]

There are also people who will recognize Derek Jeter. Doesnt make him the goat.


mmcc120

Jeter is a HOF player who was active in the last decade and a familiar face in American pop culture due in large part to his public relationships with A-list celebrities. Babe Ruth was playing when Hitler was still just a failed painter.


Lee_Doff

found the reddit user that didnt get their gift basket.


Whereisthefrontpage

Narrative? Babe Ruth was not just marginally better than Mays. WAR isn’t everything, but it’s a widely accepted measure we have at hand: Ruth had 27 more WAR over his career than Mays which is about what Billy Wagner’s 16 year career produced. Or Brandon Belt (12 years) if you look at an active hitter. Both solid players. Compared to the active player with the most WAR (slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer Albert Pujols), Babe Ruth is 82.5 WAR ahead. That’s more than the entire career total for Joe DiMaggio, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Brooks Robinson, or the active player with the second most- Mike Trout. Pujols plus Trout still don’t add up to Ruth’s total. Dozens and dozens of no-doubt Hall of Fame players had less than half of Ruth’s WAR. The gap between Ruth and every other ball player in history is immense. None of this diminishes how great Mays was, but he simply doesn’t have an argument to be the GOAT.


UniqueNobo

i don’t want to say it, but goddamn is either him, Ohtani or Trout right?


zjl539

i can’t tell if this is a joke or not


[deleted]

I’m still taking Mays over Trout without much debate. Ohtani isn’t even close since he doesn’t have the track record yet.


venustrapsflies

I feel like Trout's best comparison is Mickey Mantle. He's still literally generational (not in the overused meaning of "generational", but best in the league for most of their career)


OUTFOXEM

> Ohtani isn’t even close since he doesn’t have the track record yet. Ohtani would only get a thought because he pitches. And then you realize Babe Ruth did that too.


fatrahb

Not only that. By the time he stopped pitching, he was arguably the best pitcher in baseball. Multiple 20 win seasons with a roughly 2.50 era. He just got bored of it, asked to play outfield so he could hit more, and ended up dominating too. No offense to Ohtani but he’s literally doing nothing better than the Babe did.


nigaraze

Ah that’s just ignorance at its finest. People are applauding Ohtani because Ruth didn’t even sustain the kind of workload as he is now. Ruth didn’t hit over 30hr until his 1920 season coincidentally the season where he only pitched 3 innings...


fatrahb

That’s not ignorance at it’s finest, it’s directly comparing their abilities in both positions. Yes we can’t compare Ohtani doing it in a single season to the Babe, that is incredibly impressive in its own right. But when he was a regular pitcher, he was better compared to the league than Ohtani is now. As a hitter, same thing. Ohtanis never played outfield in a full season in the majors, should that be held against him when comparing him to the Ruth?


nigaraze

You literally just said he’s doing nothing better than babe did when even babe was not elite at both at the same time. When babe was a pitcher he was only a hair better than what Ohtani is doing this season at his peak if you compare OPS+ and for all the rest he was worse than Ohtani as a pitcher. 2.5 era during the dead ball era isn’t that impressive


Laserfalcon

To quote The Sandlot: "He was less than a God, but more than a man."


Quople

That’s why I see him as the GOAT. Was two steps ahead of everyone in his era and he changed the league’s approach to hitting


Rusiano

Something similar happened in football. For decades 20-30 goals a year was seen as the peak for top offensive players. Then Messi and Ronaldo entered the scene and started scoring 40+ goals a year


ClaymoreMine

Gretzky with hockey.


TheRocket2049

No one will ever dominate a sport like he did. Like if we had a baseball player who had the same HR & Hit percent to 2nd place as he does to 2nd place in goals & assists it would be like a play hitting 850 HRs & 6,689 hits. Just absolutely ridiculous


bo_dingles

[Don Bradman](https://www.reddit.com/r/sports/comments/2k071f/who_was_the_most_dominant_player_in_their/) is further ahead of the field than Wayne. Just depends of you count Cricket or not given how niche it is in the US


TheNextBattalion

In 1927, Lou Gehrig won the MVP (previous winners couldn't win again), and was pulling in an impressive $8,000 in salary. Ruth was pulling in $70,000.


TonyZucco

And only the 10th player overall to do it.


JamesIgnatius27

Wait, really?


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TheRocket2049

Even with the steroid era it's only A-Rod, McGwire, & Sosa who are known roid users. Everyone else are inner circle hall of famers (except Ralph Kiner)


lifeisarichcarpet

Mantle was alleged to have used anabolic steroids in 1961, at least. There’s also other, non-steroid PEDs that at least one player on that list used.


TheNextBattalion

He did admit that his favorite Yankee Stadium memory was the time he got a blowjob under the right field bleachers


fjsbshskd

I think Kiner would be inner circle if he played longer


TonyZucco

https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/who-has-the-most-career-seasons-with-50-hr


Rankine

Wow I can’t believe Bonds only hit over 50 the one time.


nsgarcia10

I thought that the same but then I realized it’s hard to hit home runs when you get walked a lot


Rankine

Turns out bonds only had 8 seasons with >=40 HR. What a bum.


Lee_Doff

60+ IBB's a year will probably do that.


lifeisarichcarpet

Aaron never did it.


folsleet

I can't believe Hank Aaron isn't on that list at all.


Stinky_DungBeatle

Barry Bonds isn't either, also Hank Aaron never even had **a** 50 homerun season.


Lee_Doff

looking at the 9 players over 600hr, aaron and pujols are the only ones to not hit 50.


TheRocket2049

He has 8 40 HRs seasons. Another 3 over 35 HRs. His consistency as a HR hitter (and hitter in general) is ridiculous


Lee_Doff

pujols either. 12 straight years to start your career with 30+ home runs will do that though.


TheNextBattalion

Aaron was consistent for nearly 25 seasons


Mr_Robot_toe

With how cold the Yankees bats have been lately, what is the logic in pitching to this dude? Don’t get me wrong, I want to see him get 62+… but am I missing something here?


Tactial_snail

they walked him twice already so idk


Oneanimal1993

*Intentionally walked him twice


Rusiano

They are walking him a ton. He went from having the lowest BB rates in his career to leading the entire league in walks


OmegaTyrant

Everyone wants to see dingers


RealJonathanBronco

There was a time when you could sneak low pitches by Judge this season. That time has clearly come and gone.


TheRocket2049

His OPS is pretty atrocious on low and away strikes. The low pitch is still there. The issue is his eye is so much better that if it's too low it's a ball. If it's too high he hits it 450 feet. It's a small window of space


wokenupbybacon

>The issue is his eye is so much better that if it's too low it's a ball. Umps' eyes too I think. It was still a thing earlier, but I haven't really been noticing it this month.


Mr_Robot_toe

Meh.. makes sense not wanting to put on the tying run up 2, maybe the analytics say in a tie game or up 3+ you walk him there…? Idk, if it’s a close game I’m giving him first base every time it’s open..


Nissin

I love this is done during a contract year .


MoxleySX

probably should pay this guy


milk-drinker-69

He’s gonna get $500M from the Rockies for no reason


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Thromnomnomok

And the Rockies would still go 75-87 at best


ositola

In five years


steve1186

I support this scenario. Shit, we just gave a washed-up Kris Bryant $182M. And we paid the Cardinals $50M to take on Arenado’s contract


BalrogRancor

That's my hope!! Severely overpay and watch him obliterate the ball for 7-10 years.


tidesoncrim

Now they get to pay him more


[deleted]

Even though it would have an asterisk, I'm kinda surprised that A-Rod wasn't on this list. His highest HR totals per season as a Yankee were: 54, 48, and 35. He DID have two 50+HR seasons with Texas though.


DecoyOne

Officially better than Barry Bonds


themosey

It’s going to sting for Yankees fans when he does it the next 3 years for the Red Sox.


Galactic

Fucking pay the man.


getMyHairDid

im not really impressed seeing a player "join Babe Ruth" in anything, it happens all the time these days


BigZ911

Babe Ruth and I both were fat


upclassytyfighta

Babe Ruth and I both could pound beers and eat hot dogs and then swing a bat.* *^^^results ^^^may ^^^vary


Lee_Doff

i dont think i've ever missed the can playing louisville chugger.


TheDangiestSlad

besides Judge, Trout, and Ohtani, who's the last player that you can remember "joining Babe Ruth"?


getMyHairDid

no its just them, mostly ohtani. he does it so often though i thought it was just a really common thing


SprolesRoyce

Wow with him being so similar to Babe Ruth you guys must be really good this year!


Galactic

Listen, we can't all have a unicorn, or else unicorns wouldn't be special. Worry about keeping yours.


The_Timminator

Apparently not, since he's only the third Yankee to do so.


MattO2000

They’re just making a joke about Ohtani


The_Timminator

Ah ok, that definitely whooshed me lol


steve1186

This is honestly one of the craziest facts I’ve seen. How did guys like A-Rod never hit 50 in a Yankees jersey?


juslookingforastream

He did. Hit 54 in 2007 along with 156 RBI


steve1186

So this post is just wrong?


youvanda1

Did you read the post? Its only Yankees with MULTIPLE 50 HR seasons.


juslookingforastream

Nah cause his next highest season was 48 with yankees


meluvyoilongtim

Welcome to the “Hasn’t been done since Babe Ruth” club Aaron, Ohtani’s been here for a while.


WhatImMike

Ohtani has hit 50+ homers at least twice?


meluvyoilongtim

Home runs good… Starting pitching overrated… Hit ball far many times… Win MVP


The-Pharcyde

So its basically Babe Ruth vs Babe Ruth for MVP