Ruth was also a great pitcher. Looking at his numbers it's hard not to choose Ruth as the best baseball player ever. Great hitter, great pitcher
Ruth was so far and away better than anyone around. He out home-runned entire teams and was the best left handed pitcher in the league for a good 3 years.
Ruth, Dempsey and Houdini to this day have the highest respect among most historians. It's only a handful of individuals that for whatever reason want to hate a man who died 30 years ago who think otherwise. There was no doubt to Dempseys greatness of those experts who saw him in his prime. When Sam Langford stated Dempsey was the greatest hwt he had ever seen it means something. When Ray Arcel stated that Dempsey was on par with Louis and Ali it means something. When Gene Tunney stated Dempsey was the greatest hwt he had ever seen it means something. These type comments were not made regarding other hwt champions who were not all time greats. Experts know greatness when they see it.
Now you doubt a Babe Ruth's greatness ? Move over Jack Dempsey you now have a fellow hyped athlete by todays critics mainly on ESB... Sir WHO ARE THE NAMELESS EXPERTS you spout who question the Bambino's greatness saying they doubt he would even be an "average" hitter today ? Name them sir if you have the cujones ? For your darn info Ruth had to travel from city to city without air conditioning on bumpy buses and railroads, hitting against pitchers who threw spit***** and scuffed base*****, facing rough and tough pitchers without helmets on their heads, and latest medical assistance and with a comparatively dead ball compared to today and yet hit the furthest home runs in recorded history more often than any hitter before or today. But of course you who knew how mediocre Dempsey was, now include the great Bambino in your sicko grandeur of knowing more about these two titans than the hard nosed experts of those times. BAH ! P.S. George Bernard Shaw was correct when he wrote," It is a pity that Youth is wasted on the YOUNG "...
Calm down, old fella! You're over there getting worked up over nothing. I never questioned Babe Ruth's greatness. He has as great a claim to being the greatest of all time as anyone. Unlike some folks around here though, this young youth recognizes that achieving greatness is no guarantee that a person would be a star in a vastly different era against vastly different opposition. And a simple google search will uncover plenty of examples of sports ****ysts and athletes questioning whether Ruth's stance and mechanics would fare against 100-mph fast*****.
Young fella. I AM CALM. But have you ever heard of Walter Johnson or Lefty Grove and other fireball pitchers of those days ? Of course not. Just bark B.S. to cover up your nonsense...Yes ignorance is BLISS they say...
I know a great deal about them. I suspect that you are the one who has a great deal to learn about how the game has changed since Ruth's day. The questions about whether Ruth's swing would fare well in the modern era have been floating around the internet for years and its common knowledge that today's pitchers are on average substantially faster than 100 years ago. You may be surprised to know that plenty of modern pitchers might be able to match or surpass Walter Johnson's jaw-dropping fastball (depending on which of the many estimates of his speed you regard as most plausible). Not to mention the pitches that hadn't even been invented in Johnson & Grove's day (like the slider and split-finger fastball). But stay ignorant, my friend :good PS - I don't have any opinion whatsoever about how well Ruth would fare if he were popped into a time machine and brought to the 21st century. I just know enough to understand that it's an open question, no matter how Great he was. The same is true X100 for a heavyweight like Jack Dempsey...
Maybe reading comprehension is out the door for you, but I am saying the exact opposite. Ruth was a paradigm changer, a completely incredibly aberration of talent and excellence. That despite him being a complete prima donna. He remains the greatest ballplayer in the history of the game.
Paradigm:yikes Abberation And before 10 am! Impressive:good Hitters .Ty Cobb ,Lou Gehrig? Pitcher Joe Williams,well according to Joe Louis.
S, this time you are baying at the wind. I never posted YOUR doubts about the Sultan of Swat, but you are so full of fire and brimstone you of course question my ability to comprehend ! You may now try to demean me sir, but when U get to my age U would be considered lucky to even comprehend who was the baseball player named Babe Ruth... Respect sir ,even for your elders....