YanksBlog.com » Happy Birthday to The Babe!

02/06: Happy Birthday to The Babe!

Posted by: James

Even if I wasn't a Yankees fan, I would still be astounded by George Herman Ruth's accomplishments, so I thought that it'd be nice to wish the man a Happy Birthday! I look at his stats, both regular and sabermetric and I am in awe. A career line of .342 /.474/.690 with an average of 46 HRs, 143 RBIs and 375 TB does that to me. Oh, and once you're done gawking at the hitting accomplishments, take gander at the pitching stats - a 2.28 ERA in 1221.3 innings (a 122 ERA+ and 15th best all-time). You can add on the 7 World Series rings as icing if you'd like.

He still holds the career records for (from Wikipedia)
* Extra base hits, season, 119, 1921
* Home runs, left handed batter, career, 714
* On base plus slugging (OPS), career, 1.164
* Runs batted in, left handed batter, career, 2210
* Runs created, career, 2910
* Runs created, season, 243, 1921
* Slugging percentage, career, .690
* Times reached base, season, 379, 1923
* Total bases, season, 457, 1921
* Most seasons leading league in slugging, 13
* Most seasons leading league in runs, 8
* Most seasons scoring 150 runs, 6

Comments

Jason O. wrote:

The stat that always blows me away is that in 1927 he hit 13% of all the home runs in the AL.

02/06 10:02:46

Mike A. wrote:

And yet, some people wonder if Barry Bonds will trump Ruth as the greatest player ever. They need to open a history book...

02/06 11:15:09

Michael wrote:

ah, to mention Barry Bonds makes me think of this comment from him:

"Willie's number is always the one that I've strived for," Bonds said before the All-Star Game on Tuesday. "And if it does happen, the only number I care about is Babe Ruth's. Because as a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it. And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth's everything, right? I got his slugging percentage and I'll take his home runs and that's it. Don't talk about him no more."
from http://www.baberuth.com/fla...

And to mention Barry Bonds, makes me think of even a bigger boneheaded comment from his ex-teammate Jeff Kent:

"Babe Ruth didn't do steroids? ... How do you know? How do you (expletive) know? People are saying Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. How do you know those guys didn't do steroids? So all of a sudden, you've got guys doing steroids now in the 20th century, 21st century? Come on."
From: http://www.baseballprospect...

Happy Birthday Babe! We love ya big guy!

02/06 13:37:12

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