Best All-Time Professional Baseball Player

Why Babe Ruth is the Greatest Baseball Player of All-Time?

For decades, Babe Ruth was THE symbol of baseball greatness, his name known by your Aunt Olive and everyone who did not even follow baseball. Since his retirement, many of his records have been surpassed, but his greatness has not.

Consider that Babe Ruth started out as a pitcher, and twice, in 1916 and 1917, was a 20-game winner. While there have been other great baseball players, can you imagine Warren Spahn or Greg Maddux giving up the mound and becoming the greatest home run hitter in history?

Once he moved to the outfield full time, Ruth regularly hit more home runs in a season than entire teams. It's true that Barry Bonds, Roger Maris, and Mark McGwire have all eclipsed Ruth's record for home runs in a season, but in an era in which teams regularly hit more than 150 home runs in a season, this is not quite so remarkable.

In addition, Ruth was not just a home run hitter, he was a run making machine. In five different seasons, Ruth had more than 150 RBIs, something no contemporary player can match. Further, Ruth was a complete hitter, finishing with a career batting average of .340. This is far higher than the career averages of great hitters like Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn or Wade Boggs.

Some people have argued that the Babe had an advantage over current players in that he played no night games, and in a league that excluded talented Latin and black players. This is true, however, it must be kept in mind that Babe also played in the dead-ball era, before ballparks and baseballs were designed to be hit over fences. And, if the competition was truly so weak, then why were there no other players putting up the numbers the Babe did?

Because he was truly great – not only the best player of his time, but the best baseball player of all time.

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