As I sit watching the Yankees lose to the Jays, I stumble online and notice that today in 1935 Babe Ruth retired. A better time for New York baseball, and a time to be reflective of the man that changed the game. Of course he is the 'hyperbolic' greatest of all time, but when you actually break it down...he really is!
Albert Pujols, one of the most effective hitters in the game today only just passed Ruth's hit record of 2,873! Ruth still owns 115 Home Runs on Pujols whom has 599 in his career, and in a sport where 500 Home Runs is achieved by only the greatest players of all time, Babe Ruth sets a caliber for himself in retiring with 714! That is a massive feat, and shows that Ruth still sets the bar for greatness over 80 years since his bowing out of the beautiful game...
Babe left the sport after 22 seasons, 10 World Series and 714 home runs. He recorded an average of 126 runs batted in each season, and ended his career with a record 2,213 runs completed! No one was able to break his inhuman RBI record until 39 years later when Hank Aaron took to the task, another absolute marvel of the game...
He has immortalized the game of baseball and did what no man of his era could accomplish. He is surely the best power hitter of all time, and his funky stance to swing 'em out the park is absolutely essential to understanding the evolution of the hit box and baseball in general. Ruth wasn't the fastest runner or strongest player on the field, but he knew how to gain momentum with his step in swing, and he had some damn good precision to boot!
Babe was the every man you could say, an incredible hitter with a repertoire in all aspects of the game. BR was a hell of a pitcher too, not many people speak on this but the numbers speak for themselves: Babe only allowed ten home runs in 1,221 innings, he pitched nine shutouts for the Red Sox in 1916, and his World Series streak as a pitcher would leave him undefeated at 3-0 (games) with a record at the time of 29 scoreless innings...an incredible task for the so called 'Sultan of Swat'.
Let us respect the King on this glorious day, and hope the Yankees can pull a few more hits out tonight!