Baseball's G.O.A.T.

So, who is baseball's greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.)?  I love Willie Mays who has been my favorite player my whole life.  He is clearly the greatest living baseball player, but the greatest of all time is clearly George Herman (Babe) Ruth.

Babe Ruth was born February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland.  As his parents were of German ancestry, he spoke German growing up (similar to Donald Trump's father).  At seven years of age, Ruth attended St. Mary's Industrial School for boys where he fell under the tutelage of Brother Matthias Boutlier, the school's Prefect of Discipline plus baseball coach and who became his mentor/role model.

At nineteen, Babe Ruth signed a professional baseball contract with the local Baltimore Orioles.  He excelled as both a powerful hitter and an adept pitcher.  

On July 4, 1914, facing financial difficulties, the Oriole owner sold Babe Ruth's contract (plus those of two other players) to the Boston Red Sox for $25,000 (about $648,000 today).  He became one of their best players for six years.  

On January 6, 1920, the Red Sox owner sold Babe Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees for $100,000 (almost $1,300,000 today).  He became a legend.  

After playing 15 years with the Yankees, Babe Ruth played one final season (1935) back in Boston, this time with the National League's Braves.

Babe Ruth's career record as a pitcher is 94 wins and 46 losses with an earned run average (ERA) of 2.28 (runs per 9 inning game), including 17 shutouts, with 488 strikeouts (twice as many as walks allowed).  He gave up only 10 home runs in 163 games.  Babe Ruth also pitched a no-hitter.    

In the 1916 and 1918 World Series, Babe Ruth won 3 games (giving up only 3 runs in total), helping the Red Sox to two championships.  His statistics are very good and he could have become one of baseball's best pitchers, but he stopped pitching and instead became one of baseball's greatest hitters.

In 22 years as a player, Babe Ruth collected 2,873 hits, including 714 home runs, with 2,241 runs batted in (RBI) and a career batting average of .342.  He also was walked by opposing pitchers 2,062 times.

Appearing with the Yankees in seven World Series, Babe Ruth helped them win four times, getting 41 hits, including 15 home runs and 30 runs batted in.  

The bottom line you can glean from the above statistics is that Babe Ruth was both a great pitcher and a great hitter.  Nobody else in the history of the game can make that statement.  

Babe Ruth sadly died of esophageal cancer on August 16, 1948 (seventy-two years ago today) at the age of only fifty-three.