Babe Ruth's numbers if he played today

[fenrir]

Statistically, Babe Ruth is easily the greatest player ever. Nobody really comes close (except arguably Bonds, if you take his numbers at face value). Ruth apparently hit home runs further than anybody ever (including many steroid abusers), and hit home runs at a faster pace than anyone ever (besides steroid user Mark Mcgwire). I've always found it interesting how Ruth was able to do things nobody else ever was able to do, with the exception of one or arguably two steroid users. The man has a .690 career slugging% for pete sakes, how many all-time greats were able to even post a .690 slugging% in a single season (not including roiders)? Hell, if Bonds never juiced, Ruth would still hold the single season record for walks, slugging%, OPS, OPS+, HR/AB ratio, pretty much every single season record out there.

So my question is, did Ruth just happen to be vastly more talented than anyone else who ever play baseball, or was he a great player who dominated arguably inferior competition? Perhaps both? Albert Pujols is widely considered the best hitter of his generation (not including Bonds and Frank Thomas who are more from the 1990's generation), and yet his single season best OPS+ falls well short to Ruth's career OPS+. Was Ruth just that much more talented than the man who is considered the best hitter from his generation? Perhaps he was, but I'm not sold on that.

[1905 Giants]

I think he was in the right place at the right time and wouldn't dominate as much now.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I think he was in the right place at the right time and wouldn't dominate as much now.

Even though I consider Ruth to be the greatest combo, hit for average and power consistently, I have said the same, he would not dominate today as he did back then.
The problem is some posters try to chip away too much, to take a legit heavyweight hitter and make him a welterweight hitter in today's game.
Nonsense and it is nonsense, some believe he might not get off the bench as a starter today and finish it off with saying he might be a modern day Jim Thome................and even, yes, Steve Balboni.

Obviously, their line is not very convincing, he's always on top in most polls, this board, other boards and the baseball world in general. But they will try again and fail again.
Don't believe in polls, who cares, he gets the consensus.

[fenrir]

Even though I consider Ruth to be the greatest combo, hit for average and power consistently, I have said the same, he would not dominate today as he did back then.
The problem is some posters try to chip away too much, to take a legit heavyweight hitter and make him a welterweight hitter in today's game.
Nonsense and it is nonsense, some believe he might not get off the bench as a starter today and finish it off with saying he might be a modern day Jim Thome................and even, yes, Steve Balboni.

Obviously, their line is not very convincing, he's always on top in most polls, this board, other boards and the baseball world in general. But they will try again and fail again.
Don't believe in polls, who cares, he gets the consensus.

Is that an insult to Ruth though? Thome was an excellent hitter who had excellent power and an excellent ability to get on base. Thome had a great career that any player would be proud to have.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Is that an insult to Ruth though? Thome was an excellent hitter who had excellent power and an excellent ability to get on base. Thome had a great career that any player would be proud to have.

Not to diminish a great slugger Jim Thome, loads of power and a decent batting average, but there are a good number of hitters in recent years who would probably rank higher than Jim as all around hitters.
We have remember it wasn't all about home runs with Ruth. He might not bat .342 in todays game but that is the 5th highest career batting average in modern times.

Any advantage one might think he had with that average in those times, he had no advantage over any other in his time. He was swinging from the heels and beating 90% of the contact hitters in his time. He was playing his own game and despite going for the long ball he was beating all but a few hitters at their own game, contact and hit for average.

I certainly never considered Thome an insult.

Ruth has one rival as far as career hitting for average, power and OBA, Ted Williams, Gehrig close.

[Blackout]

he'd hit 75 homers

[Jobu Voodoo]

I think he was in the right place at the right time and wouldn't dominate as much now.

This is what I'd say as well. Allegedly, he wasn't as clean of as player as you would think either. The same goes for some of the other ball players of yesteryear. "Players have attempted to gain chemical advantages in baseball since the earliest days of the sport. In 1889, for example, pitcher Pud Galvin became the first baseball player to be widely known for his use of performance-enhancing substances.[6] Galvin was a user and vocal proponent of the Brown-Séquard Elixir, a testosterone supplement derived from the testicles of live animals such as dogs and guinea pigs.[6]

The book The Baseball Hall of Shame's Warped Record Book, written by Bruce Nash, Bob Smith, and Allan Zullo, includes an account of Babe Ruth administering to himself an injection of an extract from sheep testicles.[7] The experimental concoction allegedly proved ineffective, making Ruth ill and leading the Yankees to attribute his absence from the lineup to "a bellyache"."

[drstrangelove]

This is what I'd say as well. Allegedly, he wasn't as clean of as player as you would think either. The same goes for some of the other ball players of yesteryear. "Players have attempted to gain chemical advantages in baseball since the earliest days of the sport. In 1889, for example, pitcher Pud Galvin became the first baseball player to be widely known for his use of performance-enhancing substances.[6] Galvin was a user and vocal proponent of the Brown-Séquard Elixir, a testosterone supplement derived from the testicles of live animals such as dogs and guinea pigs.[6]

The book The Baseball Hall of Shame's Warped Record Book, written by Bruce Nash, Bob Smith, and Allan Zullo, includes an account of Babe Ruth administering to himself an injection of an extract from sheep testicles.[7] The experimental concoction allegedly proved ineffective, making Ruth ill and leading the Yankees to attribute his absence from the lineup to "a bellyache"."

I'd be interested in seeing some backup. I looked this up and not too surprisingly the story is repeated verbatim on every site, with no added details. Unfortunately, this is typical of a made-up story.

Ruth was one of the most well-known persons in the US for a span of 20 years in the largest city with the most newspapers and reporters. You'd think that along the way there would be more to the story than a casual 30-word report.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

This is what I'd say as well. Allegedly, he wasn't as clean of as player as you would think either. The same goes for some of the other ball players of yesteryear. "Players have attempted to gain chemical advantages in baseball since the earliest days of the sport. In 1889, for example, pitcher Pud Galvin became the first baseball player to be widely known for his use of performance-enhancing substances.[6] Galvin was a user and vocal proponent of the Brown-Séquard Elixir, a testosterone supplement derived from the testicles of live animals such as dogs and guinea pigs.[6]

The book The Baseball Hall of Shame's Warped Record Book, written by Bruce Nash, Bob Smith, and Allan Zullo, includes an account of Babe Ruth administering to himself an injection of an extract from sheep testicles.[7] The experimental concoction allegedly proved ineffective, making Ruth ill and leading the Yankees to attribute his absence from the lineup to "a bellyache"."

Oh boy, is that one back and are you buying it. Anyone can say anything about anyone. Talk is not really cheap, it's worthless.

[brett]

I think he'd have a batting line similar to Pujols, Manny Ramirez with maybe a little lower average and a few more home runs. A-Rod's career .301 average with 630+ home runs through 2400+ games looks about right, but with a .400 OB% and around 100 walks. He might have played first base too where I think he would have been a well above average fielder, probably a guy who would have won a 2-3 gold gloves or he would have been an above average corner outfielder-maybe a lot like Dave Parker in the outfield and a gold glove or two there with that arm. He may have hit a lot like Frank Thomas but lasted longer at his peak but I tend to think he would have swung a little more, had his average and walks come down a little and hit a few more home runs, and topping 50 in his best 4 years.

[fenrir]

I think he'd have a batting line similar to Pujols, Manny Ramirez with maybe a little lower average and a few more home runs. A-Rod's career .301 average with 630+ home runs through 2400+ games looks about right, but with a .400 OB% and around 100 walks. He might have played first base too where I think he would have been a well above average fielder, probably a guy who would have won a 2-3 gold gloves or he would have been an above average corner outfielder-maybe a lot like Dave Parker in the outfield and a gold glove or two there with that arm. He may have hit a lot like Frank Thomas but lasted longer at his peak but I tend to think he would have swung a little more, had his average and walks come down a little and hit a few more home runs, and topping 50 in his best 4 years.

That's a fair assessment.

[StanTheMan]

He would be an elite modern day player, with raw talent and desire that would, while also taking advantage of modern conditioning, coaching, technology, video, etc. - allow him to close the perceived gap between player quality in his era vs that of today, and place him among the best in the game, perhaps the best.

I still contend he's the best of All-Time for one, often overlooked fact. Forget all the numbers of big hitters, different eras etc. 9 Ruths would beat 9 Bonds, or Aaron's, or Mays, Williams, Musial etc etc etc

Because Ruth could take the mound and strike people out. No other big hitter could pitch as well as he.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I strongly believe Ruth, and most other old time stars, would most likely struggle in today's game. I think a Jim Thome type hitter is the upper ceiling for Ruth IMO. Ruth dominated because his incredible talents perfected matched the environment of the game. Same thing happened with Wilt Chamberlain.

[GiambiJuice]

I'm guessing he'd finish with about 250 wins and a low to mid 3.00's ERA. Probably a similar career to CC Sabathia.

A successful starting pitcher would never be converted to a full-time hitter in today's game.

[willshad]

To me, it's kind of silly to think he wouldn't be better than anybody playing today. A .690 LIFETIME slugging percentage? Today's pitchers would have to be a LOT better than those in the 1920s in order to bring that down by .150 or so to bring Ruth down to the level of the guys playing today. Why is it so hard to believe the best baseball player played 90 years ago? The best has to appear at SOME point, doesn't he?

I think his numbers in his 30s would be the kind of numbers he would put up in his prime; a 1.200 OPS, and perhaps a couple of much better peak seasons. Basically Pujols with 50-100 more walks and a little more power. People forget, Ruth was kind of the 'perfect' storm of hitters. He combined perfect eyesight, almost superhuman reflexes, great strength, patience, and a flawless swing. Most players perform pretty well in most or all of these aspects, but Ruth was top notch in ALL of them.