By Michael Barzee
Now that Bonds has tied Ruth”s home run mark and will inevitably pass Ruth here in the near future, it doesn”t mean that Bonds is a better baseball player than Ruth and statistics prove it.
Baseball has more statistics than Britney Spears has baby mishaps. With so many stats it is hard to know where to begin, but let”s start with home runs.
HOME RUNS
As of Monday night, both Bonds and Ruth are at 714 career home runs. The most home runs Ruth ever had in a season was 60 but hit 50 or more in four of his 23 seasons. Bonds holds the single season home run record with 73 but that was the only season in which he hit 50 or more home runs in his 20 seasons played. Shortly after he hit 73 home runs in 2001, BALCO and steroid allegations surfaced. Finally, Ruth averaged a home run every 11.8 at-bats while Bonds averages a home run every 12.9 at-bats. Advantage: Ruth. Although Bonds may have more career home runs in the end, Ruth hit them on a more regular basis.
BASE HITS
Next up is batting average and hits. Ruth ended his big league career with a .342 batting average and accumulated 2,873 hits. On the other hand, Bonds is a career .299 hitter and has piled up 2,766 hits. The highest batting average in a season that Ruth ever had was .393 back in 1923, and the most hits he had in a season was 205. The best batting average Bonds ever had was .370 in 2002 and the most hits in a season was 181 in 1993. Advantage: Ruth
RBI KING
Now to times across the plate and helping others to cross the plate. Ruth finished his career with 2,174 runs and had 2,213 RBIs – only Hank Aaron has more RBIs with 2,297. His best single season for runs and RBIs was 177 and 171, respectively, both in 1921. Conversely, the most runs Bonds ever scored was 129 and did it in four different seasons – 1993, 2000, 2001 and 2004. Bonds batted-in 137 runs in 2001, his highest season total ever. Advantage: Ruth
DEFENSIVE ABILITY
Ruth definitely won on the hitting side of the ball bringing home the triple crown (HRs, RBIs, BA) over Bonds but on the defensive side of baseball Bonds gets the props. Throughout his 20-year career, Bonds has won the Gold Glove award, given out to the best defensive player at each position, eight different times in 1990-1994 and 1996-1998. However, Ruth won no Gold Glove awards because the award wasn”t given out until 1957. Additionally, Ruth was a pitcher from 1914-1921, 1930 and 1933. However, Ruth”s pitching statistics are quite impressive for someone with such offensive prowess. Ruth pitched in 163 games and 1,221 innings. Of the 163 games he pitched, Ruth 107 those he pitched the entire game. Ruth went 94-46 and had a career ERA of 2.27. That is very impressive but not quite as impressive as Bonds” eight Gold Glove awards. Advantage: Bonds.
AWARDS
The award category recognizes both MVP awards as well as World Series rings. Ruth only won the American League Most Valuable Player in 1923 but won seven World Series rings in 1915-1916 and 1918 with the Boston Red Sox and in 1923, 1927-1928 and 1932 with the New York Yankees. Bonds has won six National League MVP awards in 1990 and 1992 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and 1993 and 2001-2003 with the San Francisco Giants. However, Bonds has never won a World Series ring. In his defense, Ruth was on some of the greatest Yankees teams of all-time with such players as Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey. Advantage: Ruth. Championship rings define an athlete”s career.
MISC.
It is a well-known legend that the only substances Ruth ever used were cold beer and ballpark franks. Additionally, Ruth has more nicknames then any other baseball player or athlete ever. They include “The Great Bambino,” “The Sultan of Swats,” “The Babe,” “The Home Run King” and “The Colossal of Clout” to name a few. On the other hand, Bonds has been linked to BALCO and its infamous “cream” and “clear” and he has no known nicknames. Although, I don”t support either steroids or alcoholic beverages, at least alcoholic beverages aren”t performance enhancing like steroids. Advantage: Ruth.
The statistical results prove that Babe Ruth was a better baseball player based solely on statistics, winning all of the above categories except defensive ability. Remember, statistics don”t lie only President Bush does.
