FIFY. Roger Maris is STILL the American League single season home run record holder after 51 years and the only player to ever hit 61 without chemical assistance in the history of the game. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hihr4al.shtml
You didn't fix anything. Ruth hit his 60 homers against a league with fewer teams, thus deeper pitching staffs.
If by "they" you mean unsuccessful t-ball coaches, then you are correct. There are no "bad" fielders in professional baseball.
In Ruth's day most players were not even professionals. It didn't pay enough so they were farmers or milkmen and pitched as a summer job or 2nd job or as a sort of hobby or to impress their girlfriend. There were no relief pitchers and they were expected to pitch all nine innings every outing. They played games nearly every day. There was no science to it, no talented and wise pitching coaches, and nearly every pitcher just made up his own style and often goofy windup. Batters typically hit above .350. For a big guy who could swing a bat, no matter how slowly, it was like shooting ducks in a barrel.
Batters did not. And before Ruth, the best anyone could do was 139 lifetime homers. So he clearly dominated a game that was not kind to power hitters. Ruth also hit 59 in a 154 game season. It took Maris a good part of 3 more years to hit another 61 homers after the '61 season. What was Babe Ruth's offseason job? Nolan Ryan worked as an air-conditioning installer in 1968. Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra worked in the offseason selling suits at a Newark department store. Richie Hebner was a grave digger in the offseason.
