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How did the Babe save baseball? He saved it by changing the way the game was played. After the Black Sox scandal, fans began to lose interest in the sport. They felt that if the World Series could be fixed, then why bother caring about the game? Ruth added the home run to the game. No longer were home runs a rare novelty, they became the way we define a player. For instance, this entire thread.
In 1919, Babe hit 29 homers and broke the season mark of 27, set back in 1884. The rest of his team (his last year in Boston, the year the curse would begin) combined to hit 4 more. The following year, Ruth upped that mark to 54. That was more than any other TEAM hit that year, with the exception of the Philadelphia A's, who had 64. The top three power hitters on that team? 15, 14, and 9. Babe's new record didn't last long though, because the next year Ruth pushed it up to 59. The home run craze was catching on - the next two best home run hitters that year hit 24 apiece.
Home run chases? Ruth had one of those, and won it soundly. In 1927, when he set his mark of 60 that would stand until 1961, He beat his teammate Lou Gehrig, who hit 47. The third place winner was a Yankee too, Tony Lazzeri with 18. See where I'm going with this?
As for the Home Run Derby, it is supposed to showcase the BEST power hitters in the majors. Without Bonds or Sosa, or Frank Thomas, it becomes a showcase of the power hitters who decided to show up that day, like the NBA's Slam Dunk contest has. Home runs, like slam dunks, put fans in the seats. Without the best players in that showcase, sooner or later nobody will give a shit about the HR Derby, much like nobody gives a shit about the Slam Dunk contest. Can you remember off the top of your head who won the last three?
There were no HR Derbies in Ruth's day, but in 1934, Babe Ruth (then at the age of 39, like Bonds will be on July 24) who was nearing the end of his career and was about to be released from the Yankees, went on a barnstorming tour of Japan with other major leaguers during the offseason. The craze the games created in Japan led to the formation of the Japanese professional baseball leagues in 1936.
This is what I mean about the Babe. His influence carries much further than any other American athlete, with the possible exceptions of Muhammad Ali and maybe Michael Jordan. There are people in this world who have never heard of Barry Bonds, but who know who Babe Ruth was. Think there are people who know who Barry Bonds is, but have never heard of Babe Ruth? If you look up "Roaring 20's" in any encyclopedia or history book, two portraits you are GUARANTEED to see are Charles Lindbergh and Babe Ruth. The guy's been dead for just about 55 years and Red Sox fans STILL blame him for their team's inability to win it all. Almost 80 years from now, are we going to look back on Barry and remember him the way we remember the Babe? No freakin' way. A few of the Babe's nicknames, that fathers teach their sons with pride: Sultan of Swat, Colossus of Clout, The Great Bambino. Bonds' nicknames? Well, I'm sure SOMEBODY has heard of one, maybe.
He's a great player, no doubt. Maybe the best today. But you can't talk about him and the Babe in the same way.
-Mikey
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