One hundred years ago today, George Herman “Babe” Ruth made his debut in Major League Baseball (playing for the Boston Red Sox). He played 22 seasons (six with the Boston Red Sox, 15 with the New York Yankees, and one with the Atlanta Braves) and racked up numerous batting records (many of these have been broken):
- career home runs (714)
- slugging percentage (.690)
- runs batted in (2,213)
- bases on balls (2,062)
- on-base plus slugging (1.164)
In his time with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven league championships and four World Series titles. His overall batting average was .342, and, as a pitcher, he had a win-loss record of 94-46 and an earned run average of 2.28. Ruth was one of the first five inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936 (garnering 95.13% of the vote).
Some of his career highlights include:
- 2× All-Star (1933, 1934)
- 7× World Series champion (1915, 1916,1918, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932)
- AL MVP (1923)
- AL batting champion (1924)
- 12× AL home run champion (1918–1921, 1923, 1924, 1926–1931)
- 6× AL RBI champion (1919–1921, 1923, 1926, 1928)
- AL ERA champion (1916)
- New York Yankees #3 retired
- Major League Baseball All-Century Team
- Major League Baseball All-Time Team
He was a pretty remarkable player!
The Gun-Carryin' Librarian 