Who is the best Major League ballplayer of all time? This is a debate that can never, and should never get a definitive answer, but I believe that there is fair and logical way of approaching this age old question. 

For simplicity sake and limited space I’ve excluded pitchers, the underappreciated Negro Leagues, individual awards (since most were initiated in later years), su####ion of performance enhancing drugs and advancements made in baseball equipment. Factors such as baseball I.Q., championships, arm strength, range and fielding ability are included in my assessment, but admittedly aspects of the game that cannot be quantified are more difficult to evaluate.

If given the opportunity I would consider all the elected members of the H.O.F. and other players with similar statistical accomplishment. These players would include, but not be limited to Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Stan Musial, Jakie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, etc. Again, because of constraints I am forced to choose only three players. I have selected Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, because they are from various generations and are the usual suspects when discussing the greatest of all time.

I took an “apples to apples” approach in my analysis, which means I compared and contrasted relative data and then made an overall assessment to tie everything together. The seven statistical categories that I depended on are AB, B.A., Runs Scored, O.B.P, SLG., HR, and SB. Finally, I dismissed any season that a player did not reach at least 70 at bats, which has created some minor deviations in the lifetime totals.

Babe Ruth:

                           Ruth        Rest of League     (1915 to 1935)                       

Bat Avg.:           .342          .276

O.B.P.:              .474          .339

Slg.:                   .690          .382

AB/HR ratio:     11.75        101.20

AB/Runs ratio:   3.86          7.32

AB/SB ratio:      68.20        53.40

Over his career Ruth displayed an exceptional ability to play above his peers. As we can observe, Ruth had a career Batting Average that was 66 points higher, an On Base Percentage that was 135 points higher and a Slugging Percentage that was an uncanny that 308 points higher than the average player of his time. These numbers are impressive, but what really stands out was the frequency Ruth was able to hit the ball out of the park during a period when homeruns were a rarity. He accomplished this at a rate that was 8.6 times better than the standard of his day.

Taking a closer look at the 1920 season, Ruth hit 54 homeruns which eclipsed every other team’s combined homerun total for that year by a margin of 8%. If a player was to accomplish this same achievement in the 2005 season he would have had to hit 280 homeruns. This was not anomaly because he did this again (at nearly the same ratio) seven years later in the 1927 season. This is in my opinion is the greatest feat in sport’s history.

Hank Aaron:

                           Aaron       Rest of League     (1954 to 1976)                       

Bat Avg.:           .305          .255

O.B.P.:               .374          .319

Slg.:                   .555          .382

AB/HR ratio:     16.38        43.14

AB/Runs ratio:   5.69          8.19

AB/SB ratio:      51.52        72.26

Hammer’n Hank deserves to be known as one of the greatest of all time. He played during an era of low batting averages and slugging percentages, yet he still hit with power and could swipe a base as well. He maintained a batting average well above the mean and hit homeruns over 2.6 times better than his competition. Also, earlier in his career he was a top outfielder, but what is most impressive about Aaron’s career was his longevity.  A manger could pencil in a 300 batting average, 40 homeruns and over 100 RBI just about every one of his 23 year career.

Barry Bonds:

                           Bonds      Rest of League     (1986 to 2004)                       

Bat Avg.:           .300          .259

O.B.P.:              .442          .325

Slg.:                   .611          .401

AB/HR ratio:     12.94        37.03

AB/Runs ratio:   4.40          7.69

AB/SB ratio:      17.98        47.25

Regardless of recent allegations Barry Bonds is a great baseball player. He is the most complete player to ever play the game. Power, speed, batting average, gold glove, bat control and ability to change an opposing team’s game plan goes unmatched. An argument could be made that if starting a team of all time players Bonds would be the first selected. His slugging percentage is over 200 points higher and he is 1.74 more times likely to score than the average player of his generation. What is most astounding is that his career is not over. Who knows how long he will play and what other feats he will accomplish.

Conclusion:

There is an old joke that if Ruth played today he would only bat .275 and hit 25 homeruns. And that’s because he would be over 100 years of age. Though this analysis is grossly under complete I believe that it is a foundation that would eventually prove that Babe Ruth was the best to ever play the game. The main assumption I make in my analysis is that the most complete way to judge a player’s ability is to compare him to the other players of his generation. There is no doubt that Ruth was statistically superior to Aaron and Bonds, but the argument is strengthened when we examine proportionally how much better he performed in his generation compared to both Aaron and Bonds. The argument can even be further reinforced if we factor the intangibles such as pennants and conditions of the era, such as equipment and ballpark dimensions. Let us also not forget that Ruth was utilized more as a pitcher for the first five years of his career.

Endnotes:

Out of all my postings to date I am most interested in the feedback and response to this blog.  Please agree, disagree and/or provide your opinion on who you believe is better between Aaron and Bonds as well.

When factoring the AB to SB ratio I used ABs instead of the more appropriate plate appearance because I could not obtain those figures.  

Finally, I would be happy to prove my work and send you my spreadsheets if anyone is interested.  Just provide me your email.

A little less then a year ago the President mentioned steroids and baseball in his State of the Union Address and since that speech we have seen some notable changes in our national pastime.  In the last year National League homeruns were down 10.3% and runs scored down 4.2%.  In the Junior Circuit the numbers were similar with homeruns decreasing 7.0% and runs scored down 5.3%.  Not to get too bogged down in the figures, but from this small sample it appears that major league hitters have not been striking the ball with the same authority as in recent years.  I expect to see much of the same in the coming years, especially as more steroid suspensions are doled out.

Though I would never condone steroids I am not convinced that they are as harmful to mature males in controlled environments as we are lead to believe.  If it were not for the infamous anecdotal evidence of Lyle Alzado I’m not sure how great of an “epidemic” this would be.  What really disheartens me is how the sanctity of one of the most pure games to ever grace this world has been blemished.  Baseball sets itself apart from other sports by the significance of its statistics.  This is possible due to the judiciousness and prudent planning by Abner Doubleday and the other forefathers of the game: 60 feet 6 inches from home plate to the rubber, 90 feet between base paths, three strikes your out, four balls take your base –these rules are set in stone.  They rarely if ever needed to be altered.  The double play today is just exciting as it was back when “Tinkers to Evers to Chance” manned the diamond and statistically means just as much.

I cannot recall the last time I heard a spirited debate about who was a better running back Frank Gifford or Fred Taylor.  Or is it really fair to compare the great Bill Russell (6’9” 215 lbs.) to other centers of today such as Shaquille O’Neal (7’2” 325 lbs.) and Yao Ming (7’6” 310 lbs.).  Where size, strength and foot speed are the dominate factors in most sports, it is hand-eye coordination that plays a larger role in baseball.   We can realistically compare Honus Wagner to Paul Molitor, and there is nearly100 years of separation between their careers.  A valid argument could be made that the baseball players of yesteryear were better, for the simple fact that they could not “muscle” balls out the larger ballparks as players so often do in today’s game.  

This is why I have taken personal offense to the steroid abuse in MLB, even more so than in other sports I enjoy.  These offenders are disturbing the essence of the game that so many people hold dearly.  I believe it is our responsibility as fans to take an honest but stern look at certain players that possess aberrations and abnormalities in their statistics over their careers.  This is not intended to be a witch hunt, but I have listed several players that have raised red flags in my judgment.

Maybe it’s unfair for me to speculate in such a manner, but in no way am I accusing all of these players of using performance enhancing drugs.  I’m just initiating a debate which I think will eventually be had in the future, especially for the players that have the “numbers” to reach baseball’s paradise, the Hall of Fame.  Let us not forget, improprieties have most certainly taken place and in my mind that is just as immoral, as say, betting on the game.

The All-Suspect Team

CATCHER:

Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez

            AVG.  RBI  OBP  SLG.

2004    .334    86     .383   .510

2005    .276    50     .290   .444

Pudge lost nearly 30 lbs. before the start of last season so that his “defense would improve”.  Pudge already owns ten Gold Glove awards.

INFIELD:

Jim Thome

          AVG.  HR      RBI   SLG.

2001  .291     49        124   .624

2002  .304     52        118   .677

2003  .266     47        131   .573

2004  .274     42        105   .581

2005  .207       7         30    .352

Again, I’m not saying Thome is guilty (he is one of the good guys), but these numbers stand out to me.

Brett Boone

            AVG.   HR  RBI   SLG.

2001    .331      37   141    .578

2002    .278      24   107    .462

2003    .294      35   117    .535

2004    .251      24    83     .423

2005    .220        7    28     .365

Boone’s numbers were on the decline in ’04, but so much so that he should be out of the league in ‘05?

Mike Lowell

           AVG.    HR    RBI   SLG.

2004    .293      27      85      .505

2005    .236      8        58      .360

Jason Giambi

Giambi already has admitted to a federal grand jury that he injected steroids, but this did not prevent him form leading league in on base percentage for 2005.

Adrian Beltre

            AVG.   HR   RBI   SLG

2004     .334     48    121   .629

2005     .255     19      87   .413

Beltre did switch leagues, which may have contributed to his poor performance at the plate, but I’m quite confident that he was permitted the 4 balls and 3 strikes he had in his old league.

OUTFIELD:

Barry Bonds

Every single season from 37 to 40 years of age Bonds slugging percentage was higher than any previous year in his career.  During his rookie year he weighed in at 185 lbs. and today is listed at 228 lbs.   Let’s not forget the 73 homeruns and .863 slugging percentage in ‘01.  There should be an asterisk next to the record in my opinion.  

Sammy Sosa

            AVG.   HR   RBI   SLG

2005    .221     14     45     .376

We are all aware of what Sosa has accomplished with the bat in his career, but last year's numbers and the inexplicable inability to remember how to speak English during the congressional hearings was too much for me.

Jim Edmunds

           AVG.  HR   RBI     SLG

2004    .301    42     111     .643

2005    .263    29      89      .533

Edmunds plays the game like it was meant to be played, but there is no denying he had a significant drop for '04 to '05.

Luis Gonzalez

This is another player that has obviously put on enormous amount muscle after the age of 30.  This is not impossible, but it is not typical for a player to hit 57 homeruns at the age of 33 when he had never hit over 31 homeruns previously in his career.  It took Gonzalez he first six plus years combined just hit 59 homeruns.  I’m sorry but I will never put Luis Gonzalez in the same breath as a Hank Greenberg, but their numbers are very similar.  Something’s not right.

Tested Positive:

11/2 Matt Lawton, OF Yankees

10/18 Felix Heredia, LHP Mets

10/4 Carlos Almanzar, RHP Rangers

9/7 Michael Morse, SS Mariners

8/2 Ryan Franklin, P Mariners

8/1 Rafael Palmiero, 1B Orioles

6/8 Rafael Betancourt, P Indians

5/2 Juan Rincon, P Twins

4/26 Jamal Strong, OF Mariners

4/20 Agustin Montero, P Rangers

4/11 Jorge Piedra, OF Rockies

4/4 Alex Sanchez, OF Devil Rays

10) I turned on ESPN at 3am last week and witnessed Barry handily beat Magnus Samuelsson in the Truck Pull.

9) Altoids just signed Barry to a lifetime contract to be their poster boy.