TheDOCTORdre
05-11-2006, 08:33 PM
In a recent airing of Bob Costas' show on HBO, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, when asked about Barry Bonds' place in baseball history, responded that it was Babe Ruth who would "always be the guy."
In a sense, this is spot-on: Ruth will forever be an icon of the game, and he'll forever be regarded by many fans as the greatest hitter who ever was. On another level, however, Schmidt is wrong. As Bonds continues to hawk him down on the all-time home run list, it seems many fans and observers are becoming unduly attached to Ruth's eroding place in history. But that erosion is overdue.
In the statistical sense, Ruth is overvalued. The lefty-swinging Ruth benefited greatly from an inviting right-field porch (once called "Ruthville") in Yankee Stadium, where he played his home games from 1920 through 1934. Back then, the right-field line was only 295 feet from home plate, and it was only 350 feet to straightaway right field. Contrast those with the current dimensions of Yankee: 314 feet down the line and 353 to straightaway. Yankee Stadium, over the last three full seasons, inflated the home-run rates of left-handed batters by seven percent. While we don't have the necessary data to get the figures from Ruth's day, it's safe to assume that Yankee Stadium back then was even more beneficial to lefty power hitters. So his numbers need to be discounted accordingly.
Babe Ruth's cozy relationship with writers like Bill Corum kept his more unsavory personality traits from becoming an issue when he played. (AFP / Getty Images)
More important, however, is the social context of Ruth's era. Ruth played when black Americans and dark-skinned Latinos were barred from playing in the major leagues. This evil arrangement — besides being symptomatic of the racism of the day — also made things easier for Ruth. The artificially restricted talent pool meant that Ruth was thriving (and piling up all those numbers) against a lesser peer group. For instance, imagine the kind of stats, say, Lance Berkman could put up if he never had to face a Pedro Martinez, a Dontrelle Willis, a Johan Santana, a Carlos Zambrano or a Mariano Rivera and never had the likes of Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter or Mike Cameron turning doubles into fly outs.
These days, baseball draws its talent from all of North America and the Caribbean, much of Latin America, parts of Europe and Africa and the entirety of the Pacific Rim. Were Ruth competing against the "best of the best" rather than the "best of the white guys," you can be sure his numbers would be much less striking.
There are also the moral failings of Ruth to be considered. Bonds these days is subjected to (entirely warranted) scrutiny, ridicule and dismissal because of his alleged cheating. However, Ruth was anything but an angel in his day. While it's a bit too hindsighty to skewer Ruth for not rising above the mores of his time, he did gleefully participate in — and get rich off of — the racist construct that was organized professional baseball. It's fair to hold that tacit approval against him to a limited degree.
Ruth is also remembered as a loveable, convivial scamp — a Falstaff with power, if you will. The sports media of Ruth's day were more interested in mythmaking than muckraking, and, as a result, they ignored many of the Bambino's human failings. Ruth was a drunk (he was experimenting with alcohol by age 7 and drank heavily throughout his career), a glutton (his diet consistent mostly of hot dogs and soda), a malcontent (as a Red Sox, he ignored signs at the plate, once threatened to punch his manager in the face, went AWOL from the club on a semi-regular basis and ritually broke curfew) and a philanderer (he was unfaithful to his wife on a number of occasions, and it was rumored that a 1925 illness was the result of a runaway case of gonorrhea). As a result, Ruth neglected his obligations to the team by failing to stay in even passable physical shape.
Were the media of Ruth's age not so chummy, they would've etched a thoroughly different portrait of the man. These days, when many parents outsource their role modeling to celebrities, you can be sure Ruth would be derided as a bad influence to American's youth because of his lifestyle and frequent insubordination.
Phillies fans hold signs referring to Barry Bonds. (Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)
Ruth was a great player and — at times — a likeable figure. However, you can make a strong case that he's not the greatest hitter ever, and his peccadilloes were, more often than not, more dangerous than charming. We do well as a people to take the shine off our idols every now and again, and Ruth should be no exception. Remember him as a he was and not as the sentimentalists would have it.
In a sense, this is spot-on: Ruth will forever be an icon of the game, and he'll forever be regarded by many fans as the greatest hitter who ever was. On another level, however, Schmidt is wrong. As Bonds continues to hawk him down on the all-time home run list, it seems many fans and observers are becoming unduly attached to Ruth's eroding place in history. But that erosion is overdue.
In the statistical sense, Ruth is overvalued. The lefty-swinging Ruth benefited greatly from an inviting right-field porch (once called "Ruthville") in Yankee Stadium, where he played his home games from 1920 through 1934. Back then, the right-field line was only 295 feet from home plate, and it was only 350 feet to straightaway right field. Contrast those with the current dimensions of Yankee: 314 feet down the line and 353 to straightaway. Yankee Stadium, over the last three full seasons, inflated the home-run rates of left-handed batters by seven percent. While we don't have the necessary data to get the figures from Ruth's day, it's safe to assume that Yankee Stadium back then was even more beneficial to lefty power hitters. So his numbers need to be discounted accordingly.
Babe Ruth's cozy relationship with writers like Bill Corum kept his more unsavory personality traits from becoming an issue when he played. (AFP / Getty Images)
More important, however, is the social context of Ruth's era. Ruth played when black Americans and dark-skinned Latinos were barred from playing in the major leagues. This evil arrangement — besides being symptomatic of the racism of the day — also made things easier for Ruth. The artificially restricted talent pool meant that Ruth was thriving (and piling up all those numbers) against a lesser peer group. For instance, imagine the kind of stats, say, Lance Berkman could put up if he never had to face a Pedro Martinez, a Dontrelle Willis, a Johan Santana, a Carlos Zambrano or a Mariano Rivera and never had the likes of Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter or Mike Cameron turning doubles into fly outs.
These days, baseball draws its talent from all of North America and the Caribbean, much of Latin America, parts of Europe and Africa and the entirety of the Pacific Rim. Were Ruth competing against the "best of the best" rather than the "best of the white guys," you can be sure his numbers would be much less striking.
There are also the moral failings of Ruth to be considered. Bonds these days is subjected to (entirely warranted) scrutiny, ridicule and dismissal because of his alleged cheating. However, Ruth was anything but an angel in his day. While it's a bit too hindsighty to skewer Ruth for not rising above the mores of his time, he did gleefully participate in — and get rich off of — the racist construct that was organized professional baseball. It's fair to hold that tacit approval against him to a limited degree.
Ruth is also remembered as a loveable, convivial scamp — a Falstaff with power, if you will. The sports media of Ruth's day were more interested in mythmaking than muckraking, and, as a result, they ignored many of the Bambino's human failings. Ruth was a drunk (he was experimenting with alcohol by age 7 and drank heavily throughout his career), a glutton (his diet consistent mostly of hot dogs and soda), a malcontent (as a Red Sox, he ignored signs at the plate, once threatened to punch his manager in the face, went AWOL from the club on a semi-regular basis and ritually broke curfew) and a philanderer (he was unfaithful to his wife on a number of occasions, and it was rumored that a 1925 illness was the result of a runaway case of gonorrhea). As a result, Ruth neglected his obligations to the team by failing to stay in even passable physical shape.
Were the media of Ruth's age not so chummy, they would've etched a thoroughly different portrait of the man. These days, when many parents outsource their role modeling to celebrities, you can be sure Ruth would be derided as a bad influence to American's youth because of his lifestyle and frequent insubordination.
Phillies fans hold signs referring to Barry Bonds. (Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)
Ruth was a great player and — at times — a likeable figure. However, you can make a strong case that he's not the greatest hitter ever, and his peccadilloes were, more often than not, more dangerous than charming. We do well as a people to take the shine off our idols every now and again, and Ruth should be no exception. Remember him as a he was and not as the sentimentalists would have it.