A bit of comment about a few points.
Ruth would be fine today. The "overweight" Ruth is partly body type, partly from the late career photos.
His huge count of triples compared to steals is from a couple things.
1) Huge ballparks. A drive to center in the polo grounds probably wasn't going out. (Although Ruth hit at least one out there around 460ft, out of any modern park)
2)He could actually run. Especially earlier.
3) Who would try stealing with Gherig at bat?
4) Stealing is more of a mental exercise than physical. Sure, speed helps a lot, but it all works off the pitchers time to the plate and how they watch the runner. I don't know how they played Ruth. If he was watched closely there may have been little opportunity to steal as well as reduced need.
Ruths pitching ability was also excellent.
And the argument that he wasn't facing ALL the best players could be countered by the one saying he also didn't face players from 15+ teams, only 8. figuring a modern 5 man rotation that's 40 pitchers who would be minor leaguers without expansion. More if you figure 1920's teams didn't have 5 man rotatons or closers or middle relievers. Of course the counter then is that modern players are often facing fresh pitchers instead of a guy throwing pitch number 257....Endless.
The other big sport of the 20's was 6-day bike racing. the top riders earned more than Ruth. 500-1000 a day, on top of the contract, plus prizes. Chicago was a favorite town since Capone was a huge fan and spent many nights giving out prizes for sprints every few laps $100 here, $500 there....
Bonds never tested positive. True. Maybe. I believe he stopped once the testing program began. It's also likely that the "cream" and "clear" were new stuff there wasn't a test for. Lance also "never tested positive" except for that one time he blamed the butt ointment, and that time he was let slide, and that other time Nike "took care of it"
Testing in Baseball began in 06, and Bonds had a very typical year lost to injury in 05. A very common thing for players stopping steroids.
So I'm not buying that part.
Sadly, I think if he'd stayed clean and been a bit nicer as a person he'd still have the career HR record, He just would have gotten it a couple years later. And may have stuck around a couple more.
Steve B
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