There is a statistic that Bill James invented (or popularized?) called linear weights. The idea behind it is to come up with a single statistic to judge a player's overall worth.
The way it works: it first gives each statistical measurement a weight in terms of how many runs it produces on average (example: a triple was about 1.1, a stolen base .34, caught stealing -.65, etc., with related measures for pitchers). Then, the player's runs from that year are compared against an average player, or "replacement level" player of that same year, to determine how many more runs this player produced. "Runs" is then tranlsated to "wins", so that by the time you consider the entire player's career, you have a measurment of how many more "wins" they brought to the teams they played for.
I can't find the chart right now, but comparing careers, Ruth crushes everyone. IIRC, he was the only person to break 100 "wins" in this measure. He also had the best single season every, but I don't remember that as well.
To be sure, Bonds will rightly go down as one of the all-time greats. I think that putting him in the top 10 ever is not unreasonable. But it's only in his dreams that he'll take down the Bambino.
As a friend of mine said, "Put me in something the size of a badminton court, and I'll break the home run record too."
Oops - hit "Post" too soon. Although the right field line is 309 ft., the RF wall is 25 feet high. In looking up the park dimensions, I found an interesting article on mlb.com:
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20021011&content_id=155530&vkey=cs2002news&fext=.jsp 10/11/2002 8:28 pm ET
Pacific Bell Park not a Homer Haven
By Chris Shuttlesworth / MLB.com
Pac Bell Park is the toughest park in the NL to hit a home run.
SAN FRANCISCO -- When planners nestled Pacific Bell Park into a tiny patch of land on the shores of San Francisco Bay, conventional wisdom said balls would be flying out over the right-field wall, a mere 309 feet away down the line.
The Giants got a major sponsor for the seating area and walkway atop the right-field wall, dubbing it "Splash Landing" and installing a large counter with three digits to record the number of "Splash Hits" clubbed by the Giants.
A home run paradise, right?
Wrong. Very wrong. The counter sits at "022," with Barry Bonds accounting for 20 of those. Four opposition homers have also cleared the wall entirely and splashed into McCovey Cove.
Combine the height of the wall (25 feet) with the rate at which the wall angles out (from 309 to 365 in straightaway right to 421 in right-center) and throw in the wind blowing in from the Bay, and you have a daunting task for all but the strongest of left-handed hitters.
That's not the only place where Pacific Bell Park keeps balls in the park. That 421-foot Death Valley in right-center encourages triples, not long balls, and the cool climate tends to push balls down as well.
In 2002, the Giants hit 72 homers at their home park, 126 on the road, and Pacific Bell Park ranked last in the National League with 114 homers allowed. Contrast that with Busch Stadium, the last of the cookie-cutter stadiums built in the late '60s. That park plays fairly neutral; 154 homers were hit there this season.
While Saturday's 1:17 p.m. PT first pitch is consistent with weekend start times throughout the regular season, this game, likely to be longer than a regular game, is in mid-October, so shadows will begin creeping over the batter's boxes late in the game.
On Sunday and Monday, the late-afternoon games will start already in shadow, probably putting the entire infield and right field in darkness with left and center still in sunlight. The setting sun has been casting a blinding glare off the center-field scoreboard, and fielders catching fly balls in left or center will be staring directly into the sun, which wasn't a factor in the two night games in St. Louis.
Late in Games 4 and 5, the notorious San Francisco chill and wind could prove to be a factor, as temperatures are likely to be around 60 degrees by first pitch with the potential for heavy wet air. Although rain is nowhere in the forecast, misty fog is certainly possible, signicantly affecting the flight of the ball.
Pacific Bell Park boasts one of the smallest foul territories in the Majors, giving hitters new life when in other parks they might record outs.
Speaking of foul balls, the intimate design of the park introduced a problem rarely seen at parks like Busch Stadium: fan interference. The Giants have been struggling with the problem of fans touching fair balls hit down the lines and also with spectators reaching over the outfield fences to catch balls that could be homers or outs, depending on the distance and the fielder's prowess.