Greatness Among Us!

[CJinPA]

Originally Posted by G1911

Ohtani is a great player and I'm rooting for him, but 674 and 455 is such a meaningless cherrypick of a standard. People have been comparing current-hot-player to Babe Ruth for a century. It's never really been true. Just let Ohtani stand on his own pedestal of accomplishment instead of trying to place him as new Ruth.

I agree - over the long haul let Ohtani stand on his own. That said, these can understandably be seen as cherrypicked, but comparing the first 674 and 455 and seeing the similarities is interesting, no? When I saw it, I thought so. And Ruth stopped being a pitcher around his mid-20's I believe (save a few starts here and there later in his career).

I started watching MLB baseball in the late 70's so from then to now is my frame of reference. I'm not aware of anyone comparing the two-way playing abilities of Ruth with anyone. Have there been really good hitting pitchers, sure... the most impressive in my life was Ankiel and what he was able to do but that was more him becoming a position player after the yips on the mound - so not really a comparison there.

As a hitter, I can only imagine Barry Bonds as even coming close to Ruth in his ability to change a game from the offensive side (in the mid-latter part of his career while 'enhanced').... that's another conversation altogether and not worth getting into here.

btw - I love Ruth, was lucky enough to play on the same ballfields in Trenton, NJ that he did while barnstorming. So awesome those days had to be for the common baseball fan!

https://www.trentondaily.com/babe-ru...ambers-street/