One hundred years ago Babe Ruth became a professional baseball player. In February 1914, he left Baltimore's Saint Mary's Industrial School to join the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. That year he pitched for the Orioles, Providence Grays and the major league Boston Red Sox. Although he was an excellent pitcher, Babe Ruth is best known as a home run hitter especially during the years he played for the New York Yankees from 1920-1934. ...Shoken has generously shared the results of his research - a ten-part series titled "A Broken Home at Camden Yards: Babe Ruth's Early Life in Baltimore" on his blog, Babe Ruth 100.
As a local Baltimore historian and baseball fan, I have long been interested in Babe Ruth's early years in Baltimore. Although dozens of Babe Ruth biographies have been published, his life prior to 1914 has not been well-documented. ... Through newspaper articles, court records and other resources, I have been able to uncover new facts about Babe Ruth's early life in Baltimore.
In my research on the 1918 Red Sox, I found a photo of George Ruth as a seven-year-old, his age when his parents first turned him over to the Xaverian Brothers at Saint Mary's. The future greatest baseball player of all-time is on the right.
14 comments:
Great stuff, Allan - when I have time later, I will definitely give his site a more thorough look.
Ruth is the greatest baseball player of all time? Boy, that should open the floodgates for discussion. :-)
It's not impossible to make the argument that Ruth was a top-notch pitcher early in his career before his big bat significantly impacted the dynamic of the game itself.
However, going by the numbers alone, Stan Musial and Hank Aaron were both great, too, and perhaps one or both of them were better than Ruth. The competition was also a lot better when they played, too; Ruth pretty much stood atop the mountain alone during his time.
Knowing you, I would bet that you already have some solid evidence to back your claim... ;-)
Barely two hours later and I just discovered that today is Babe Ruth's birthday (1895). If he were alive today, he'd be very, VERY old!
No discussion greatest player of all time. Watch that swing on video...amazing.....and world class pitcher too?
Done, greatest.
Find another player who (a) who was so much better than his peers that the entire game of baseball changed because of him, (b) who had anything remotely approaching his hitting stats in an error that was all pitching, and (c) was also one of the greatest pitchers of his day, and might have been one of the greatest pitchers of all time had he continued pitching.
If anyone can find such a player other than Babe Ruth who meets all three criteria, we could discuss his status as greatest player of all time. Other than that, there's not much to discuss.
Many people under-rate Ruth because they don't fully understand how great he was. For that, you must read Allan's book! :)
I just discovered that today is Babe Ruth's birthday (1895)
That's why I waited and posted it today!
Well, I don't think my book is the best source, since it doesn't go past 1918 ... but I did write this.
"Barely two hours later and I just discovered that today is Babe Ruth's birthday (1895)"
Feb 6th birthdays:
My mom
Babe Ruth
Fucking Reagan
A quote:
If anyone fell victim to Major League Baseball's failure to aleviate Performance Enhancing Drugs in a timely manner, it was Babe Ruth. Allowing players to continue using PED's, the Babe was taken out once by Bonds, twice by McGwire and three times by Sosa in a span of four years before the hammer came down, albiet too late. After Maris set the record at 61 after hitting it on the last day of the 61 season, the Babe went from second to eighth on the single season home run list. Ruth's career home run record was first surpassed when it took Aaron over 11,000 at bats, followed by Bonds who needed over 9,000. Ruth needed only 8399 to set it. A combination of extra at bats and PED's were required to overtake two records that were initally set by a ballplayer who can out hit anyone today, anytime, and who still holds hitting and pitching records that have yet to be approached.
Eddie Spirito
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If our pinstripe friends count flags we sawx historians must remember Ruth was a huge part of 2 of our 7 flags. (I believe he had only 1 AB in the 1915 series against the Phillies)
Anyone want to venture a guess on which of his many records Babe was most proud of?
My guess would be WS scoreless innings pitched....
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Just looked this proof of best player ever up....
Some linky for the babe....
http://www.baberuth.com/stats/
Had 92 AB in 1915, did not realize so many and 18-8 on the mound...so hrstrat57 is crediting the babe with 3 WS titles with sawx vs. 4 w NY.
Okay, obviously there is a LOT of evidence to show that Ruth may, in fact, be the greatest baseball player ever (and I'm not surprised that several of you had it in your back pocket)...
The Babe did change the landscape of modern baseball and he excelled as both a pitchers AND an everyday ball player.
Just for fun, I Googled "who does bill james rank as the greatest baseball player" and, based his formula for Win Shares, Ruth comes out on top with 758. Also, BBRef lists his WAR as 183.8, highest in baseball history.
Looks like an open and shut case... for now... :-)
The added bonus of the pitching is what does it for me. ... I was looking at his stats and noticed that in 4 of his first 5 seasons with NYY, he hit over .375, and nearly batted .400 in 1923.
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