Babe Ruth was a great hitter and pitcher. Was he the best ballplayer ever?

For his time, but he sure is no modern athlete, but for his time absolutely.

Before he hit 60 homeruns no ballplayer had ever hit more than 29 and that was him. Without steroids modern hitters would still have trouble hitting more than 40. He also did it with dead baseballs that didn't have the pop that modern balls do.

I don't think he was a great athlete but he was the best baseball player.

Yes, he was. Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player ever.

I agree with James. When you look at his stats as a pitcher then you realize the magnitude of his abilities. I looked a couple of things up and here are a couple of striking (pun intended) stats: He pitched over 1,200 innings and compiled an aggregate ERA of 2.28!

He pitched 31 innings in the World Series and had an ERA of 0.87 including a consecutive scoreless innings pitched streak of 29 2/3 innings in World Series play which was a record that stood until 1961! So he didn't just pitch. He was dominant.

I would give a bit of a hedge due to the fact that he pitched in the dead-ball era but he single-handedly ended that with the excitement of his home runs. When the call Yankee Stadium "The House That Ruth Built" it was a testament to the fact that baseball exploded as the national past time because of the excitement he brought to the game. It is true that he played in an era of segregation but I believe the way to measure a player's greatness is to see how he did in his era and nobody has ever approached Ruth in terms of his combined pitching and hitting capabilities.

He transformed the game and is today still the name that gives baseball it's tradition and mythical status.

Honestly I cant say he is because I never saw him play! Thats the problem with the arguement of best ever! If you go by stats he's one of the best ever I just wish I saw him play, wait were did I put my time machine?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.