The home run records, who REALLY owns it? Ruth hit 60 in 154 games. Maris hit 61 in 162 games. And lets put all the steroid guys aside & just look at the REAL top 3 HR hitters. Is it Henry Aaron with his 755 HRs dispite the fact that he played in almost 800 more games then Ruth (714) and had almost 4000 more at bats.? I mean hell Aaron played in over 300 more games then Mays (660) & had approx 1,500 more at bats. So who's the real leaders????? Is it Maris & Aaron because you shouldn't penalize players just because they played in more games & had more ABs? Or do you look at the numbers equally? I mean you look at basketball where Jabber is considered the all time scoring leader with 38,000 points, dispite the fact that he played 6 more years then Chamberlain (31,000 points) and played in over 500 more games. Its a tough call, what do you think? Me I have to go with Aaron (755) & Maris (61). JMO.
Well, to go just on who hit more in a season... 60 over 154 = 0.38961 HR/game... which = 63.11682 HR so I would still give it to Ruth As far as overall, it's really difficult to declare a clear cut winner... Ruth played 22 seasons, BUT his first 5 seasons were largely as a pitcher... that 5th year he was transitioning to being more of a hitter... 5th year = 59 games OF, 20 games P, 13 games 1B = 11 HR (9 HR total in years 1 - 4) 6th year was 111 games OF, 17 games P, 5 games 1B = 29 HR 7th year was 141 games OF, 2 games P, 1 games 1B = 54 HR see a connection? he didn't really become a true hitter until he truly focused on hitting... 17 years, 16 if you take out his last year as only 6 HR... 16 productive years as a hitter... all that with a 94-46 Win-Loss record and a 2.28 career ERA. 22 years with a .342 batting average... all with 154 games Aaron played in 23 seasons, all as a hitter... 7 of the 23 seasons were 154 game seasons, 16 seasons with 162 games... a career .305 batting average. Willie Mays played 22 seasons, and missed the 1953 season due to military service... 9 of his 22 seasons were 154 games, 13 seasons were 162 games... a career .302 batting average. Who is the leader??? I'd have to say Ruth and Aaron... but who was the better hitter? I'd go Ruth hands down...
To me Ruth will always be Mr. Mash. Others have passed in the record books but Ruth was the first to set those standards. I also believe that Ruth is the Yankee Franchise Player of all time.
There is no way of telling how much of a decline The Babe would of had if he played as many games as Aaron. All Time leaders are complied numbers but doesn't mean they are truly the best ever. Who knows how good Cy Young would have been playing in today's game. His numbers will never be broken all time leader in wins....AND losses. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
...it's all relative...how many HRs would Aaron have had if he had played in as few games as Ruth did?...answer, about 645.
Oh I'd have to say less then that. We're talking 800 games more, that's about 5 years. So say 30 a year that's 150 less then what he finished with which would make his total closer to 605.
that's fine to cut one's career but at the rate Ruth was going with his health would he have continued long enough to meet as many At bats as Aaron?
...but you're trying to prove a negative...we'll never know how many more HRs Ruth would have had if he had taken better care of himself...just like we'll never know what Mantles #s would have been if he had taken better care of himself. ...what we do know is how many HRs Ruth did hit in his career, and I think it's safe to say that Aaron only hit more because he had 800 more opportunities.
Even more amazing Al is that for the first 5 years of his career 1914-1918 (ages 19 to 23) he only had 678 ABs while pitching over 1000 innings. 678 at bats. most players get 2500 to 3000 ABs over a 5 year period. And to still end up with offensive #s he put up is just amazing.
I was also told growing up that after Ruth the best HR hitter people saw was Ralph Kiner who smashed around 370 HRs (1946-1955) in only 5000 ABs. But I was told that like Ruth he seemed to have hit them with such ease. By the time I got into the game My big boopers aside from the Mays & Mantles were guys named Big Frank Howard who could hit a ball a mile & Harmon Killibrew & the guy many (including Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax & Fergie Jenkins) feared pitching to the most was, Willie (stretch) McCovey.
