Babe Ruth Wasn't That Good

Okay, so that's kind of a lie: Babe Ruth was pretty good. And, beyond having been good, he was a central figure in the development of baseball. As the first person to figure out that, hey, hitting lots of home runs is a mighty good idea, he introduced the game to a whole new era. But I do think that, in a certain way, one can give him a little bit too much credit for having been the first guy to figure out that home runs are good. To show how this is so, I'll compare him to Barry Bonds.

From 1914 through 1935, Babe Ruth his 714 home runs, leading the majors twelve times in fourteen years. His on-base percentage was .474, and he led the majors ten times. His slugging percentage was .690, and he led the majors thirteen times out of fourteen years. All of that is very impressive. From 1986 through 2007, Barry Bonds hit 762 home runs, leading the league twice including a year when he hit 73. His on-base percentage was .444, and he led the league ten times including leading the majors six of his last seven years. His slugging percentage was .607, and he led the league seven times. All of that is rather impressive as well. Which was more impressive? Well, according to the Wins Above Replacement statistic, Bonds accumulated 171.8 WAR as a hitter, while Ruth racked up 172.0. So, very similar.