Homering in the Ruth Era
Posted by Chris J. on August 14, 2007
Wanna know why people thought Ruth's career HR record would last forever? Well, you can check with the PI.
Here are the HR leaders from his rookie season in 1914 until his death in 1948. (A handful had 100 before then, but they'd all be well down below on the list).
1) Only 3 guys had half as many homers as he did when he died.
2) None had 75%. (Jimmie Foxx had 74.8%).
3) Only 9 guys even had 300 homers. All are in the Hall of Fame. So is Johnny Mize at 297. Indian Bob Johnson breaks up the streak at 288.
4) Of course, it's a matter of conjecture how many Josh Gibson would've hit . . . .
August 16th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Chris
I would agree that Ruth was head and shoulders
above his peers with one exception - Gehrig - his
teammate - was well on his way for over 600 home
runs before he was cut down with ALS..
Bruce
February 27th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Cy Williams is the answer to one of my favorite trivia questions, which would be...
Of all the players in ML history who began their careers before Babe Ruth, who hit the most HRs?