I have an ongoing war with math and statistics, and I love baseball. This is a hypocrisy, a yin and yang, or an explosion of the head ready to happen thing. A true baseball fan loves the stats, the records, theaverages, etc….. A whole new system of stats (sabermetrics (sabr)) is loved by so many reporters and fans a like. This “new” type of stat started to form in the 70’s (Society for American Baseball Research).
The original stats that baseball fans, players, and mangers grew accustomed to are hits, runs, home-runs, etc….. for the offense, buts since the 70’s new sabers have determined the outlook of a player’s career such as “created runs.” I would love to list all of these wonderful stats, but the next step is to give you two links.
Babe Ruth (The Greatest Baseball Player of All Time)
- Career Home Runs: 714
- Slugging Percentage .690 (Record)
- RBI 2,213
- Walks 2,062
- Home Run Season 60
There are many other numbers. He dominated his era. The two records that he set and became broken are the Career Home Runs, and the Home Runs in one season.
Babe Ruth retired in 1935, so his career home runs of 714 set that record, and that did not break until 1974 by Hank Aaron. That is 39 years. Roger Maris broke the record with 61 home runs set in the 1927 season in the 1961 season. That is a 34 years apart.
In 1998 Sammy Sosa and Mark Macguire both past the single home run record of 61. Macguire ended with 70. In 2001 Barry Bonds obtained 73 home runs, and also has career home runs of 762 retiring in 2007.
Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s record 33 years later.
Mark Macguire broke Roger Maris’ record 37 years later.
Barry Bonds broke Mark Macguire’s record three years later.
Roger Maris broke Babe’s Ruth record 39 years later. This involved an extended season of 162 games. When Babe Ruth broke and set his records, there was a 154 game season.
That also includes Hank Aaron’s 16 out of his 22 years of his career and that took 35 years.
I do believe that Hank Aaron’s and Maris’ records are valid. This just shows how long-lasting and insanely awesome Babe Ruth’s records that he set were.
Macguire, Sosa and Barry Bonds alleged got their records for the use of steroids or peds, and they ruined our wonderful stats/records.
When a football player is caught with steroids, we shrug it off. When a baseball player is caught using peds or steroids, we get mad, foaming at the mouth mad, and that reason for that double standard is that we as fans love the game, but also the historical numbers that come with these records.
I was recently at the hall of fame, and noticed that they had the record-breaking home-run ball in a case. The ball had an asterisk on it. The person who donated the ball first hired someone to cut out an asterisk. I remember hearing this, but I thought it was just an Internet rumor.
It is hard to see, but right in the middle the asterisk is in that middle of the words that are inscribed in every ball. I guess it is not an Internet rumor after all.
A Blankbook with Information 