by Lupine

Created on: February 07, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

When looking for the greatest baseball player of all-time from a statistical standpoint of view, it is impossible to really make a case for anybody but Babe Ruth. He towers above the competition in so many ways, dominates in so many ways, that it is relatively easy to say he is the greatest baseball player of all-time.

Let's look at the numbers, and at the end we will look at one critical element that is often overlooked by those who make comparisons.

What are probably the four most important offensive statistical categories are listed below, with the players who are first and second in the all-time rankings for each category. (Run average and RBI average are calculated out by dividing a players total Runs scored or total RBI's by the number of official at-bats. Calculated out just like batting average, but for Runs and RBI's.)

The All Time Leaders

On Base Percentage:

1) Ted Williams - .482

2) Babe Ruth - .474

Ted Williams is ahead of the Babe here, but by less than 2%.

Slugging Percentage:

1) Babe Ruth - .690

2) Ted Williams - .634

Babe is ahead of Teddy Ballgame by over 8%.

Run Average:

1) Babe Ruth - .259

2) Lou Gehrig - .236

The Babe is ahead of longtime teammate Gehrig by almost 9%.

RBI Average:

1) Babe Ruth - .263

2) Hank Greenberg - .250

The Babe leads Hammerin' Hank by about 5%.

In the four most improtant offensive baseball categories, Babe Ruth is the all-time leader in three of the categories by an average of better than 7%, and is second in the other category by less than 2%. To be an average of 7% better than your next competitor in any important stat is a huge margin. And that's what the Babe is in three of the categories. He simply towers over the competition.

Babe Ruth is the greatest offensive player in Major League Baseball history.

One Other Important Element

Babe Ruth was a tremendous pitcher at the beginning of his career. Many people forget this when comparing Babe Ruth with other players. The Babe was not just a pitcher, he was a great pitcher. Let's look at his pitching record.

Babe Ruth the Pitcher

The Babe's record as a pitcher was 94-46. Good for a winning percentage of .671. That puts the Babe in 7th place on the All-Time retired list, and 8th place on the current list. Here is the greatest offensive player in history, and in well over 100 pitching starts (148 actually) the Babe has a better winning percentage than all but 7 other pitchers. Think about that for a second.

Over the bulk of his pitching career, from 1915-1919, the Babe's record was 87-45. A .659

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