What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Don't worry, to those few that are actually following this, I have not forgotten. I am currently overseas for work, and I was very busy leading up to this trip. I will resume the polls once I get back home and everything settles down a bit. I will have the whole thing done before the next season starts.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

bigblue_dl said:
90 years later and Babe Ruth still has his grip on American sports: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/...r-record-44-million-at-auction/#ixzz1vUVmYawP

It may not say much towards him being the "Greatest" Athlete, but I think if it was reworded "Most Influential" Athlete, we might have found our winner, with IMO only 2 guys to challenge him: Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson
Click to expand...

Agreed. And Ruth did it with no TV, no ESPN. Imagine endless reviews of the "called shot," or the 3 dingers in Forbes Field or the homers for the sick kid. Imagine the discussions of whether or not the Yankees owed him a shot at managing (they certainly did). Imagine the national/local radio talk shows going on endlessly about these matters and others. He absolutely saved baseball. And he absolutely changed it, forever. He didn't have a perfect physique, like an egg balanced on two straws. And he had that mincing home run trot. But he was nevertheless a terrific athlete. Stole home in a world series game once. Best pitcher in baseball for 5 seasons with nearly 100 wins. .342 lifetime BA. Honestly, and meaning no disrespect to Ali and Jackie and the other outstanding athletes, the Babe is in a class by himself. He is an unparalleled cultural icon. He shouldn't even be involved in this competition. There's The Babe and then there's everyone else.

One of the all time great lines came from his roommate, Jumpin' Joe Dugan: "I don't room with Babe Ruth, I room with Babe Ruth's suitcase."
 
Last edited:
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Old Pio said:
Agreed. And Ruth did it with no TV, no ESPN. Imagine endless reviews of the "called shot," or the 3 dingers in Forbes Field or the homers for the sick kid. Imagine the discussions of whether or not the Yankees owed him a shot at managing (they certainly did). Imagine the national/local radio talk shows going on endlessly about these matters and others. He absolutely saved baseball. And he absolutely changed it, forever. He didn't have a perfect physique, like an egg balanced on two straws. And he had that mincing home run trot. But he was nevertheless a terrific athlete. Stole home in a world series game once. Best pitcher in baseball for 5 seasons with nearly 100 wins. .342 lifetime BA. Honestly, and meaning no disrespect to Ali and Jackie and the other outstanding athletes, the Babe is in a class by himself. He is an unparalleled cultural icon. He shouldn't even be involved in this competition. There's The Babe and then there's everyone else.

One of the all time great lines came from his roommate, Jumpin' Joe Dugan: "I don't room with Babe Ruth, I room with Babe Ruth's suitcase."
Click to expand...

OP-Great summary. I think the best way for anyone to understand just how great the Babe was-just compare some of his stats to the AVERAGE stats of other players of his time. When he was hitting 59 and 60 homeruns in a season, many teams did not hit those numbers for the entire team. I fully understand that the game has changed-it is nearly impossible to compare stats from a different era. But his accomplishments stand out far above and beyond numbers we have seen since. And as you correctly point out-if he had continued as a pitcher, he might have been a hall of famer just on his pitching ability.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

DrDemento said:
OP-Great summary. I think the best way for anyone to understand just how great the Babe was-just compare some of his stats to the AVERAGE stats of other players of his time. When he was hitting 59 and 60 homeruns in a season, many teams did not hit those numbers for the entire team. I fully understand that the game has changed-it is nearly impossible to compare stats from a different era. But his accomplishments stand out far above and beyond numbers we have seen since. And as you correctly point out-if he had continued as a pitcher, he might have been a hall of famer just on his pitching ability.
Click to expand...

It took Whitey Ford 'til the 50's to break Babe's record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched in the World Series. Henry Aaron, whom I admire greatly, had about 2500 more at bats than the Babe and produced a handful of homers. How many more would Babe have hit with 2500 additional at bats? Early on, Babe broke the lifetime record for homers. Every homer he hit thereafter, for the rest of his career, was a major league record. It is simply not possible to overstate the Babe's significance, accomplishments or influence. He towers over American sport like the Colossus of Rhodes.
 
Last edited:
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

I guess I should put together the next round. I should be able to get to it this week sometime.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Old Pio said:
It took Whitey Ford 'til the 50's to break Babe's record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched in the World Series. Henry Aaron, whom I admire greatly, had about 2500 more at bats than the Babe and produced a handful of homers. How many more would Babe have hit with 2500 additional at bats? Early on, Babe broke the lifetime record for homers. Every homer he hit thereafter, for the rest of his career, was a major league record. It is simply not possible to overstate the Babe's significance, accomplishments or influence. He towers over American sport like the Colossus of Rhodes.
Click to expand...

Can you imagine what the Babe could have done if he had the advantage of some chemical enhancement? Maybe he did-who knows.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

DrDemento said:
Not accusing anyone of anything-but I think if Ruth had the same 'help' that Bonds had he might have hit 1400 home runs.;)
Click to expand...

For cripes sake, both his hat and shoe sizes increased! You're a doctor, is there some condition that would explain that? Remember that silly movie "Rookie of the Year," about the kid with the trick delivery who helped the Cubs win a World Series (a fantasy, obviously)? Anyway, the young Bonds is featured and he displayed an impressive but perfectly normal physique, not the pumped up, freakish look of his last several seasons. This is a guy who almost certainly would have been in the HOF, only with 500 plus dingers instead of 700 plus.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Old Pio said:
For cripes sake, both his hat and shoe sizes increased! You're a doctor, is there some condition that would explain that? Remember that silly movie "Rookie of the Year," about the kid with the trick delivery who helped the Cubs win a World Series (a fantasy, obviously)? Anyway, the young Bonds is featured and he displayed an impressive but perfectly normal physique, not the pumped up, freakish look of his last several seasons. This is a guy who almost certainly would have been in the HOF, only with 500 plus dingers instead of 700 plus.
Click to expand...

OP-There are several conditions that manifest with bony growth that could explain foot size and head size increasing. But they are so debilitating that he would not be able to walk to first base much less run or swing a bat. I don't know the man and certainly never had the chance to examine or evaluate him in person. But from pictures-he would be the poster child for testosterone containing or enhancing drugs. The Babe on the other hand would be the poster child for a guy who could win the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest and give Andre the Giant a run for his money in any alcohol imbibing contest (although I have heard some reports about Andre that would make me believe no one could compete with him). Truly makes you wonder though about any statistics or accomplishments in many sports since the 1970's onward.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Just imagine if Babe had been born 10 years later. The years where we really saw the big totals back then were in the 1930's. By the time Opening Day 1930 rolled around, Babe was 35 and past his prime. Had he been born in 1905 instead of 1895, and not spent the better part of the first 5-6 years of his career as an elite pitcher, it's not hard to see him put up a few years of 80 HR-220 RBI seasons. And I don't think it's a stretch to say that he would have been closing in on 1,000 homers. I mean, he could have put his numbers waaaay out of reach. Remember, he did the vast, vast majority of his damage in the 16 seasons between 1919 and 1934.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

Hammer said:
Just imagine if Babe had been born 10 years later. The years where we really saw the big totals back then were in the 1930's. By the time Opening Day 1930 rolled around, Babe was 35 and past his prime. Had he been born in 1905 instead of 1895, and not spent the better part of the first 5-6 years of his career as an elite pitcher, it's not hard to see him put up a few years of 80 HR-220 RBI seasons. And I don't think it's a stretch to say that he would have been closing in on 1,000 homers. I mean, he could have put his numbers waaaay out of reach. Remember, he did the vast, vast majority of his damage in the 16 seasons between 1919 and 1934.
Click to expand...

In the John Goodman bio pic on Ruth (I like Goodman a lot, but he was waaaaaay to fat to play Ruth) there's an exchange between Babe's team mates. One says: "He's an animal." Jumpin' Joe Dugan disagrees, and says: "He's a god." Exactly.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

DrDemento said:
OP-There are several conditions that manifest with bony growth that could explain foot size and head size increasing. But they are so debilitating that he would not be able to walk to first base much less run or swing a bat. I don't know the man and certainly never had the chance to examine or evaluate him in person. But from pictures-he would be the poster child for testosterone containing or enhancing drugs. The Babe on the other hand would be the poster child for a guy who could win the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest and give Andre the Giant a run for his money in any alcohol imbibing contest (although I have heard some reports about Andre that would make me believe no one could compete with him). Truly makes you wonder though about any statistics or accomplishments in many sports since the 1970's onward.
Click to expand...

I'll repeat two of my favorite Ruthian factoids: he sent his wife to a farm in upstate New York, while he occupied an 11 room suite at the Ansonia Hotel! He also told his mail answering service he only wanted to see mail "from broads" or mail containing money or business propositions.
 
Last edited:
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

After much delay...

Here are the matchups for the next round:

1 Michael Jordan vs. 16 Bo Jackson
2 Gordie Howe vs. 15 Wilt Chamberlain
3 Jim Thorpe vs. 14 Lance Armstrong
4 Muhammad Ali vs. 20 Walter Payton
5 Wayne Gretzky vs. 12 Pele
6 Ted Williams vs. 11 Jesse Owens
7 Bobby Orr vs. 10 Babe Ruth
8 Carl Lewis vs. 9 Jim Brown

I will post 4 of the matchups shortly, and leave them open for 2 weeks.
 
Re: The Greatest Athlete of All-time

The first 4 are posted. Any ties will be broken by whoever had the higher % in the first round.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top