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Bonds vs. The Babe

Who is the greatest baseball player of all time?

Posted: Saturday May 20, 2006 5:02PM; Updated: Sunday May 21, 2006 11:47AM
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Love him or hate him, 'roids or no 'roids, Barry Bonds now shares the No. 2 spot on the career home run list with Babe Ruth. With all due respect to the No. 1 man on the most hallowed list in sports, Hank Aaron, this Ruth-Bonds longball lock means it's a good time to answer the question of who is the best player of all time: Ruth or Bonds?

Here's a statistical look at how the players compare in the three major categories: hitting, defense and postseason.

HITTING

In terms of raw stats, here's how they match up in the batter's box:

Babe Ruth's Career Stats
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBIs SB BB SO BA OBP SLG
2,503 8,398 2,175 2,873 506 136 714 2,217 123 2,062 1,330 .342 .474 .690
Barry Bonds' Career Stats
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBIs SB BB SO BA OBP SLG
2,766 9,236 2,100 2,764 570 77 714 1,868 506 2,353 1,448 .299 .443 .611

Not only does Babe lead Barry in every category except for doubles, steals and walks, but he does so with 838 fewer at-bats. His supremacy in the three percentage marks (avg., OBP and slg.) is stunning. It should be noted, though, that Bonds holds the single-season high marks between the two players in HRs (73), SBs (40), BBs (232), OBP (.690) and SLG (.863).

Advantage: Babe

DEFENSE

Ruth was nothing special with the glove, but he excelled on the mound for a brief period at the beginning of his career. Basically, this comes down to Babe's pitching vs. Bonds' fielding.

Babe Ruth's Career Pitching Stats
W L G GS CG SHO IP H ER HR BB SO ERA WHIP
94 46 163 148 107 17 1221.3 974 309 10 441 488 2.77 1.159
Barry Bonds' Career Fielding Stats
G Chances Putouts Assists Errors Double Plays Fielding % Gold Gloves
2,723 5,772 5,332 163 90 24 .984 8

The Bambino was only a pitcher during his early days with the Red Sox. The numbers aren't plentiful, but they're still impressive -- especially the ERA and WHIP. Although he has significantly tailed off recently, Bonds, in his heyday, was a premier defensive left fielder. Bonds made up for a wet-noodle arm with his great instincts and notable closing speed.

Advantage: Even

POSTSEASON

How do Ruth and Bonds compare when the stakes are the highest?

Babe Ruth's Postseason Stats
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG Rings
41 129 37 42 5 2 15 33 33 30 4 .326 .467 .744 7
Barry Bonds' Postseason Stats
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG Rings
48 151 33 37 8 2 9 24 52 26 9 .245 .433 .503 0

Although Ruth participated in three more postseasons, he actually played in seven fewer games than Bonds due to playoff expansion. And Ruth's production is still markedly better. While Ruth was consistently spectacular in the postseason throughout his career, Bonds initially struggled to produce in October. Prior to 2002, when Bonds carried the Giants to the World Series, he was known as someone who disappeared in the postseason.

For good measure, Ruth also went 3-0 on the hill with an 0.87 ERA in postseason play.

Advantage: Babe

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