<< Don’t get me started on Clemmons, Bonds, Sosa, et al. >>
I (kind of) feel the same way as you do. However...
Hank Aaron recently admitted to doing amphetimines when he was a player; Willy Mays did them, too.
Babe Ruth played when “negro” players weren’t allowed to play; Gaylord Perry threw a spitball, (an “illegal” pitch.)
I’m personally VERY happy that Bonds and Clemens were denied, because they not only OBVIOUSLY did steroids, but they are arrogant bastards, as well. But, if Aaron, Mays, et al made their way in doing illegal things, how does one justify keeping Bonds and Clemens out?
I can’t answer that. I’m just asking.
Bonds and Clemens should get 100% of the first-ballot vote from any objective observers. Both had Hall-of-Fame career numbers before steroid use ever became part of the game. But sportswriters are legendary for their desire to serve as moral police...look how Keith Olbermann turned out. :)
Multiple wrongs don’t make a right.
And Ty Cobb was a son of a bitch. So what? This isn't the Boy Scouts.
Yes, Babe Ruth did play at a time when baseball was segregated. But for the record Babe Ruth did have some experience playing against some of the great black players of the era (not in a regulation game atmosphere obviously). Bill Jenkinson notes:
“The fact is that the Bambino had a rich and vibrant history of competition against the best black players of his era. He played often against Negro League All-Star across the United States and Cuba(1920) in fall barnstorming tours. In those games games, Ruth far exceeded his Major League statistics in batting average, slugging average, and home run percentage. . . . Negro luminary Buck O’Neil recalled the time that Ruth faced the legendary Satchel Paige sometime around 1938 in Chicago. Babe was about forty-three at the time and had already retired. Nonetheless, he launched a tremendous home run to center field in his first at-bat that left Paige speechless for perhaps the only time in his life. . . . Babe Ruth is known to have batted fifty-five times against the top black pitchers of his era. In those at-bats, he connected for twenty-five base hits and blasted twelve home runs. That works out to a batting average of over .400 and a slugging average of over .1000.”
This isn’t to denigrate those black players. The fact is Ruth would have excelled in any setting against any baseball players in any venue. Most people know of Ruth the legend. They know very little of the Ruth whose accomplishments created that legend. As a kid at St. Mary’s he would play as many as 200 hundred games a year. Few people know that his last home runn was a 500 footer, the first ball ever to clear the double decker grandstand at Forbes Field. He was 40 years of age! And he once hit a fungo 447’. There are many examples of his long ball hitting and despite what one would think no player in history comes close to his exploits.
While researching Ruth I came up with this:
Note the year 1921, 25 home runs in excess of 450 feet! Also check this video of a 500 footer in an exhibition game at Ruppert Stadium in Newark, NJ on April 7, 1935. Three days earlier he hit a 500 footer at Savannah, “a hit that was longer by far than any other drive in city history.” Regarding the video: “Three days later in Newark, Ruth smashed two homers, the second one (featured in video) being the longest ever at Ruppert Stadium. It cleared the fence in deep right center field (note spectators running up to see where the ball landed) by some 50 feet and landed outside the park about 500 feet from where it began.”
http://www.t3licensing.com/video/clip/3871900.do
Babe Ruth Home Runs in excess of 450’ and 500’ by year.
Year 500+ 450+
1915—0———1
1916—0———1
1917—0———1
1918—0———0
1919—3———9
1920—5-——17
1921—9-——25
1922—1———8
1923—1-——14
1924—5-——14
1925—2———4
1926—5-——13
1927—3-——20
1928—4-——14
1929—1-——14
1930—3-——15
1931—1———6
1932—0———8
1933—1———8
1934—1———5
1935—2———2
Quite simply Ruth was the greatest ever.
Completely and totally irrelevant to the fact that Babe Ruth was one of the greatest baseball players of all time.