Was Hank Aaron better than Babe Ruth?

[Zone91]

Was Hank Aaron better than Babe Ruth?

Post # 3

[Leon]

So Adrian comes out shooting today with his alotted 2 threads as polls. Nice job Adrian!! These should keep you engaged through your other 15 posts.

Who knows on the question but I think Ruth was/is the biggest name in baseball of all time. I chose him but that doesn't diminish what Aaron did either (on the field).

[Zone91]

Leon I was sick the last few days hence my low posting count.

I believe Aaron was a better baseball player....more home runs and more hits than the Babe just not lucky to be a African American in a time like his. If he had be a Caucasian he would be in my opinion bigger than Ruth for baseball.

Post # 5

[pgellis]

Not to diminish what Aaron did, but he hit only 41 more home runs than Babe with about 4,000 more at bats than Babe.

Plus Ruth was one of the best pitchers of his time before he converted to outfield so that he could put his bat to use every day instead of every 4 days or so.

Ruth would also hit more home runs in a season than some teams combined.

[vintagecpa]

You need to consider that Babe Ruth broke the HR record when he was 26 years old. When you factor in he was a pitcher his first 5+ years of his career, he is by far the best baseball player of all time IMO. If he would have started out a position player from day one, you could probably figure another 150-200 HR to his HR total. Nothing against Hank, but he should be compared to Mays and Mantle. Not the Babe.

[Moonlight Graham]

Originally Posted by pgellis

Not to diminish what Aaron did, but he hit only 41 more home runs than Babe with about 4,000 more at bats than Babe.

Plus Ruth was one of the best pitchers of his time before he converted to outfield so that he could put his bat to use every day instead of every 4 days or so.

Ruth would also hit more home runs in a season than some teams combined.

And probably hit a lot of those homers with one hell of a hangover
Ruth all the way!

[39special]

Two totally different eras.I picked Ruth,but Aaron was a hell of a player.

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by Zone91

I believe Aaron was a better baseball player....more home runs and more hits than the Babe just not lucky to be a African American in a time like his. If he had be a Caucasian he would be in my opinion bigger than Ruth for baseball.

Post # 5

Really???

Ruth was a lifetime .342 hitter, his OBP was .474 (that's almost half his AB he was on base)

As for HR...Aaron highest HR total was 47 HR, which he did once, Babe hit 47 or more 6 times and he hit 46 twice.

Then we get to pitching - in just over 1200 IP, just had a 2.28 era and a 1.15 whip, he also never had a loosing record in any season and has a 94-46 record.

Its not even close IMO.

[MattyC]

There are plenty of tough debates comparing players... This is not one of them. Of course just my opinion, but in baseball and even cards, to me, all roads lead to Ruth.

[Paul S]

Under most circumstances I'm not a believer in comparing eras. I dearly love Aaron and IMO he is entitled to a career HR crown as well as his yearly and career leader stats. Plus he batted over .300 career while doing so. But, you look at Babe's years as compared to his peers, My God, he literally and totally savaged the league and shook the Earth. .342 avg while doing it is no small accomplishment either.

[nsaddict]

Aaron was a great player and deserving of a first year ballot HOF plaque. But Aaron had about 7 more full seasons of batting and barely eclipses the Babe in homeruns and rbi's. And Aaron's skin color has little to do with his stats in the eyes of true baseball fans. A bigger positive factor would have been if Hammerin Hank played his career for the pinstripes. Not even a close comparison!

[auggiedoggy]

Gotta love Hammerin' Hank but the Babe was the best. The Babe had fewer ABs and could perform after a good bender the night before, plus he smoked and tended to avoid exercise like the plague. Oh and there was that strange rule that existed back in Ruth's era where a ball hit out of the park fair but curved foul afterwards was not counted as a home run. Silly rule. Glad they had the wisdom to remove it. I wonder how many home runs that robbed the Babe of? I heard that he would have actually hit 80+ HRs the year he hit 60 if it weren't for that rule. That's 80 HRs with a non-juiced ball and a non-juiced batter!

Beat that, Barry!!!

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by Zone91

Was Hank Aaron better than Babe Ruth?

Post # 3

From ESPN's Website:

Babe Ruth at No. 1: There is no doubt that the Babe was the greatest player who ever lived. That doesn't mean he was the greatest person. Years ago, I was sitting at a picnic table in the Yankees' clubhouse, waiting to talk to a player, when Pete Sheehy, the ancient clubhouse man, plopped down opposite me. We made small talk until I asked him, "Pete, you knew Ruth -- what was he like?" Pete thought for a moment, and said, "He never flushed the toilet."

enuf sed...

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by irishdenny

From ESPN's Website:

Babe Ruth at No. 1: There is no doubt that the Babe was the greatest player who ever lived. That doesn't mean he was the greatest person. Years ago, I was sitting at a picnic table in the Yankees' clubhouse, waiting to talk to a player, when Pete Sheehy, the ancient clubhouse man, plopped down opposite me. We made small talk until I asked him, "Pete, you knew Ruth -- what was he like?" Pete thought for a moment, and said, "He never flushed the toilet."

enuf sed...

Because ESPN is the be all, end all authority on baseball history.

As far as sports journalism goes, I put ESPN one rung above the Bleacher Report. In other words, I put next to zero credence in what those jokers say.

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Because ESPN is the be all, end all authority on baseball history.

As far as sports journalism goes, I put ESPN one rung above the Bleacher Report. In other words, I put next to zero credence in what those jokers say.

Bill,

You have a good point! Only, the one I was making... had to do with the kind of team mate Ruth wasn't. Unfortunately for me(I'm not a BiG of Ruth Fan, I still have to say that The Babe is the Best Ball Player ever! But what do I know... Who know's, Maybe Harper will give us all treat and the Babe a run for his Money... Doubt it though.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by irishdenny

Bill,

You have a good point! Only, the one I was making... had to do with the kind of team mate Ruth wasn't. Unfortunately for me(I'm not a BiG of Ruth Fan, I still have to say that The Babe is the Best Ball Player ever! But what do I know... Who know's, Maybe Harper will give us all treat and the Babe a run for his Money... Doubt it though.

Ok, Denny, I've got it now. Forgive me for being a little dense at times. Can I blame the vicodin and take a mulligan?

The media back then covered up all the sordid stuff Ruth was involved in. But I've always found the man behind the home runs fascinating. The thing about Ruth was...he was actually a pretty good person deep down. He definitely lived a life of excess (I'd imagine he boinked everything in a skirt he could find while the wife and his daughter were at home), he boozed, and he drank like a fish. But of all the superstar sports celebs we've had in any of the major sports, I'd be hard pressed to find somebody that was more giving of his time, and more charitable when it came to helping people out (especially kids).

If you haven't watched the excellent HBO documentary on him (it's available on HBO Go, if you have that), you should. It reinforced some of the things I knew about him, but did an outstanding job of painting a complete portrait. After seeing it, now I really want one of his baseball cards (and I mean one of the classics that was made when he was playing, not one of those cards today with bat barrel pieces, etc. Those are nice, for sure--if they're legit. But I want a card that might have been held by the Babe. Something that was in circulation while the Bambino was swinging for the fences!)

[BigJJ]

This is a ridiculous question.
Ruth was one of the best pitchers in baseball,
and one of the best hitters (contact) batted .342,
and one of the best big hitters (hr and slugging).
Ruth lacked only two things. Base running because of his skinny ankles, and perhaps two more seasons of play because of a few bad health choices.

Ruth didnt even bat really until just before the Yankees, that and the dead ball, only had 16 seasons, really 14 seasons, and he accumulated all those hits (because he batted .342!) And accumulated home runs 714! At such rapid pace.

And the pitchers could arguably do whatever they wanted with a darkened ball at least for a portion of Ruth's career.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by BigJJ

This is a ridiculous question.
Ruth was one of the best pitchers in baseball,
and one of the best hitters (contact) batted .342,
and one of the best big hitters (hr and slugging).
Ruth lacked only two things. Base running because of his skinny ankles, and perhaps two more seasons of play because of a few bad health choices.

Ruth didnt even bat really until just before the Yankees, that and the dead ball, only had 16 seasons, really 14 seasons, and he accumulated all those hits (because he batted .342!) And accumulated home runs 714! At such rapid pace.

And the pitchers could arguably do whatever they wanted with a darkened ball at least for a portion of Ruth's career.

I take it you just breezed past all the points I made arguing on Aaron's behalf.

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

I take it you just breezed past all the points I made arguing on Aaron's behalf.

Bill, some of these people still have the * by Maris in '61......

[maniac_73]

Hank Aaron wasnt even the best player in his era. First off I think comparing players from different eras is silly because its a different game. The only way to somewhat accurately do it is not by stats but how the players compare to the other players of that time. Babe was so far ahead of any other player of his time it was insane. one year he hit more home run by himself then any other team!
By comparison one could easily argue that Mays/Williams were much superior players to Aaronn.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by maniac_73

By comparison one could easily argue that Mays/Williams were much superior players to Aaronn.

If it's so easy, I challenge you to do it.

Career OPS +
Mays 156
Aaron 155

Career #'s per 162 games
Aaron .305 35 HR 113 RBI 337 TB
Mays .302 36 HR 103 RBI 328 TB

If you want to go by defense; career gold gloves:
Mays 12
Aaron 3

Hank Aaron's last gold glove was in 1960, and then Roberto Clemente, arguably the greatest defensive right fielder to ever play the game, started winning them all. Nobody in right field, not Aaron, or Mays if he'd moved there, was going to win that award over Clemente.

Career top 5 MVP finishes
Aaron 8
Mays 9

Batting titles:
Aaron 2
Mays 1

Home run titles:
Aaron 4
Mays 4

RBI titles:
Mays 0
Aaron 4

Base stealing? Mays did steal a little more than Aaron, but as far as success rates, they are remarkably similar:

Aaron: 240 steals in 313 tries 0.766773
Mays: 338 steals in 431 tries 0.784222

Mays was about 1.7% more successful as a base thief.

I won't make any analysis of Williams and Aaron, as they had very little overlap in their careers. By the time Aaron was reaching his prime, Williams' career was nearly over.

But please, now show me your evidence in support of the statement that Mays was a much superior player than Aaron.