Babe Ruth

George Herman (The Babe) Ruth, what a guy. The Sultan of Swat; in my mind the greatest baseball player who ever lived. Why?

Well, first the only performance enhancing drugs he ever used were beer, whiskey, cigars and cigarettes. So screw all those with over 714 home runs except for my hero Hank Aaron.      

And of course no one with The Babe's healthy regimen ever got 60 home runs in a season. So he trumps my hero Hank Aaron.

Over a period of 22 years, The Babe appeared in over 2500 games, stood at the plate almost 8400 times; had a total of almost 2900 hits, and of course hit 714 home runs. 

Hank Aaron batted 305 over his  lifetime. The Babe had him by almost 40 points.  There are other strange changes in calculating statistic for baseball such as the fact that in The Babe's day, when you walked, it hurt your average. It was put down as a walk and as an at bat.

But I am absolutely sure that the Babe was in fact the greatest ball player of all time. And that is because of what people choose not to recall.

What people forget is that the Babe started out as a pitcher.  And what a pitcher he was. Take a look at some of the stats.

He really only pitched five full seasons for the Red Sox. The Yanks would put him on the mound once a year or so for publicity.

In those five full seasons the Babe pitched in 163 games, winning 94 of them with an Earned Run Average of 2.28. Amazing statistics. 

You see what the Babe had over my hero Hank Aaron and the performance enhanced batters like Barry Bonds, is that he was also, a great pitcher.  As a matter of fact his batting interfered with what could have been the greatest pitching career of all time.  http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=ruthba01

94 wins as a pitcher. And you will notice, assuming you understand the code, that in those days of yore pitchers pitched a full game. Not five innings.  60% of the times that the Babe stood on the mound in the first inning, he was still standing there for the final out in the ninth. Oh and they batted too. Oh and they would show up on the mound more than once a week.  Oh and the Babe racked up three solid World Series wins as a pitcher for Boston.

If you have the time read some of the stats for Cy Young or Walter Johnson.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=youngcy01

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Johnson

As a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Nationals/Senators, Walter Johnson won 417 games, the second most by any pitcher in history (after Cy Young, who won 511). He and Young are the only pitchers to have won 400 games.

Oh and do not get fooled by the notation that the Babe pitched for ten years on the stat sheets.  The Yankees would put him on the mound for a publicity stunt from time to time. He really only pitched for five years with the Red Sox; full time, as it were.

I was really thinking about this in contrast to Tiger Woods who now has 71 PGA (approved) wins on tour as a pro. He will be 34 in December. Nicklaus won 73 wins during his entire career. And Sam Snead, kind of looked at as a Babe Ruth on the golf course, won 82 during his entire career. Same won his last tour event after he had reached his 50th birthday.

The accomplishments of Babe Ruth cannot be minimized.  Imagine, the Babe was hit by a pitch 43 times in his career AND HE NEVER WORE A HELMET. Hahahaha

Besides Tiger , the real reason I looked up the Babe again, was because it has been hinted on MSNBC and confirmed at HUFFPO that the dems now have 60 senators again.

60 is not that easy a number to reach you know. The repubs made sure that the Minnesota Recount for the Senate Seat dragged on and on and on.  But Massachusetts has passed the law allowing the Mass Gov to appoint a new Senator to fill the seat left by another hero of mine, Ted Kennedy.  The guy's name is Paul Kirk, a man who worked for Ted Kennedy for decades in various capacities.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/paul-kirk-kennedy-senate_n_296411.html

But are we really at 60? Senator Byrd from West Virginia has been on life support for several years. Watching him give a speech in the Senate last year made Sam Erwin seem like a great orator during the Watergate hearings.

Yes, 60 is a magic number. But it seems so unattainable without performance enhancing drugs these days.

Something the Babe never needed.