People who insist Barry Bonds is better than Babe Ruth

[sighyoung]

Do you mean better at baseball, or better at making the beast with two backs?

[M1IRONMIKE]

I think that is a bunch of crap. Ruth was playing against people of the same caliber for the generation he played in. Pitching is much more watered down now as well. Ruth probably never denied that he didn't know what was in that cheesburger he ate either

I think Stan was an all around better man & player than Bonds! At least he is respected more & Ruth is respected more as well. Who knows, in 50 years after Bonds is out of jail, maybe he will be respected by a few people

The argument is that in Ruth's day you had to be white and live east of the Mississippi. The talent pool was much smaller. I read a very good chapter on the Bonds vs Ruth debate in Baseball Between the Numbers. It attempted to water down Ruth's stats based on the larger talent pool, but also inflate it based on better conditioning/equipment etc... Depending on the slant you took, you could pretty easily make an argument for either player.

My hunch is that if Bonds and Ruth played in the same era, Bonds would have been the better player.

My hunch is Bonds could have never won 97 games as a pitcher!!!!

[Windy City Flyer]

My hunch is that Ruth wouldn't win half of those games in this era or hit 700 home runs.

[M1IRONMIKE]

My hunch is that Ruth wouldn't win half of those games in this era or hit 700 home runs.

era.....schmera.......97 wins.......714 homers.... .340+ lifetime average........the Babe was the best!

[obucard]

My hunch is that Ruth wouldn't win half of those games in this era or hit 700 home runs.

He'd do both as a pitcher/DH.

IMO, the talent level is about even. True, Babe played in an all-white league, but Barry plays in a league twice as big that has to compete with football and basketball for talent.

[Socnorb11]

My hunch is that Ruth wouldn't win half of those games in this era or hit 700 home runs.

He'd do both as a pitcher/DH.

IMO, the talent level is about even. True, Babe played in an all-white league, but Barry plays in a league twice as big that has to compete with football and basketball for talent.

Ruth competed against the best white American players east of the Mississippi. Bonds competes against the very best players of every ethnicity in the entire world. And believe me, with the scouting today, no stone goes unturned. If there's a great player out there, he's playing. Not necessarily true in Ruth's era.

Not to mention, in Ruth's day, it wasn't uncommon for pitchers to throw complete games, on shorter rest. Many of them were surely pitching with tired, sore arms. Hitters didn't have to bat against a fresh "specialty" pitcher in every inning after the 6th, in virtually every game. That's what Bonds faces today.

I don't think there's any question that it's more difficult to hit today than it was in Ruth's era.

[Radio_Bugtussle]

Babe Ruth also never went to bat wearing a set of Orlando Pace's shoulder pads on his lead elbow.

[jim]

Babe Ruth also never went to bat wearing a set of Orlando Pace's shoulder pads on his lead elbow.

Of course it's really impossible to say, but there has been attempts to account for things such as this in BBTN. Based on the population pool you get "penalized", and for equipment/conditioning etc... you get "rewarded".

Completely my opinion - if Bonds and Ruth played in the same era Bonds would have helped his team win more games than Ruth, including Ruth's pitching. In other words, I think Bonds is a more talented baseball player than Ruth.

[JL21]

Not to mention, in Ruth's day, it wasn't uncommon for pitchers to throw complete games, on shorter rest. Many of them were surely pitching with tired, sore arms. Hitters didn't have to bat against a fresh "specialty" pitcher in every inning after the 6th, in virtually every game. That's what Bonds faces today.

Of course, isn't that something of an argument in favor of Babe Ruth because of his pitching numbers?

[Socnorb11]

Not to mention, in Ruth's day, it wasn't uncommon for pitchers to throw complete games, on shorter rest. Many of them were surely pitching with tired, sore arms. Hitters didn't have to bat against a fresh "specialty" pitcher in every inning after the 6th, in virtually every game. That's what Bonds faces today.

Of course, isn't that something of an argument in favor of Babe Ruth because of his pitching numbers?

Sure. I'm not arguing his pitching prowess, at all. I'm only arguing in favor of Bonds being the "best hitter".

I don't think you can dispute that Ruth is the best player.