Babe Ruth played for 22 years and his lifetime batting average is .342. That's 70 points higher than Ohtani.
Ohtani has only played 6 years and he hits an average of 41 home runs a year. Ruth would average 46 home runs a year in a 162 game season.
Ruth's OPS after 22 years was 1.164. Ohtani's been over 1.0 once in his career.
Ohtani's great. He's not in the same league as Ruth.
Comparing apples with oranges. Full credit to Babe Ruth for dominating the league at the time. But it was a white league with much fewer pitchers throwing significantly longer and more often.
Who knew all those evil whiteys winning the Cy Young almost every year for the last 66 years couldn't actually pitch because they were white!
Also noteworthy: Ruth's 1932 World Series jersey sold for $24 million a few days ago. Nearly 100 years later, The Great Bambino still resonates with fans.
Yeah, why would you expect Ohtani to hit more HRs between now and age 37? There's a better change that Ohtani is out of baseball by age 35 than he averages more than 31 HRs per season between now and age 37.
Alex Rodriguez hit 258 home runs in his 30s and 9 when he was 40.
Pujols hit 354 home runs after he was 30 including 64 HRs in his 40s.
Babe Ruth who was overweight and didn't have any of the modern nutrition or health care support modern athletes get hit 427 home runs after he was 30 and played until he was 40.
It might not be likely but it's absurd to claim it's "highly unlikely" or that there's "no chance".
ARod was a cheater, so he doesn't count...neither does Bonds.
Pujols is one of the rare exceptions. Most power hitters see significant decline around age 35.
Babe Ruth was just better than the pitchers of the day...and even so, just another exception. Hank Aaron is also an exception. Ohtani has a history of injury issues, so he doesn't appear at this stage to be one of the iron men that the exceptions were.
He will end up with fewer HRs and RBIs than Adam Dunn.
Alex Rodriguez hit 258 home runs in his 30s and 9 when he was 40.
Pujols hit 354 home runs after he was 30 including 64 HRs in his 40s.
Babe Ruth who was overweight and didn't have any of the modern nutrition or health care support modern athletes get hit 427 home runs after he was 30 and played until he was 40.
It might not be likely but it's absurd to claim it's "highly unlikely" or that there's "no chance".
ARod was a cheater, so he doesn't count...neither does Bonds.
Pujols is one of the rare exceptions. Most power hitters see significant decline around age 35.
Babe Ruth was just better than the pitchers of the day...and even so, just another exception. Hank Aaron is also an exception. Ohtani has a history of injury issues, so he doesn't appear at this stage to be one of the iron men that the exceptions were.
He will end up with fewer HRs and RBIs than Adam Dunn.
ARod was a cheater, so he doesn't count...neither does Bonds.
Pujols is one of the rare exceptions. Most power hitters see significant decline around age 35.
Babe Ruth was just better than the pitchers of the day...and even so, just another exception. Hank Aaron is also an exception. Ohtani has a history of injury issues, so he doesn't appear at this stage to be one of the iron men that the exceptions were.
He will end up with fewer HRs and RBIs than Adam Dunn.
Ohtani has injury issues?
Here are his last 4 seasons:
2021 - 155 games
2022 - 157 games
2023 - 135 games
2024 - On pace for about 160 games.
Hasn't missed many games last 4 years.
2023 (that was just LAST YEAR) he was limited to 135 games, AND he was so injured that he couldn't pitch this season which is the thing that really made him stand out. AND, while he played many games, he did so while inured...complaining of back issues, etc. Those things will require days off as he gets older.
I know you want to add a hero to your list beside Trump, but he's just a man...a man who has lots of things going against him as far as getting standout career stats.
Ohtani had surgery on his busted elbow at the end of last year, and though he's fine to hit he's been playing through recovery from it. Bryce Harper had a similar deal a few years ago, though he played through with it injured and had surgery after that season.
The Yankees used to buy anyone at all costs in the George Steinbrenner days but nowadays Cashman's more careful about hitting the luxury tax threshold so he's not going to just throw money at Soto unless they also deal one or more other expensive guys this offseason.
The one year he can't pitch he decides why not be the 2nd highest basestealer in the league? It's like when Wilt decided to lead the league in assists just to show he could
The guy is up to 42/42
He will be the first ever 50/50
Pitching, HR's and stealing bases are three completely different unrelated skills and he masters all of them.
I know he's "only" the 2nd best base stealer, 2nd best HR hitter and when healthy only one of the top 5-7 pitchers in baseball
But the thing is when you combine all three of those together you get the greatest baseball player of all time
Hey I've been living in 1980 with Flagpole, how's Ohtani going, any good yet?
He's pretty good. Reminds me of Cecil Fielder
If he plays like this for another 5-10 years, I think he's got a shot of having a HOF case like Adam Dunn.
'He's got a shot'. If he plays for two more years, even with moderate productivity they'll put him in, regardless of the 10 year rule. This man is incredible.
ARod was a cheater, so he doesn't count...neither does Bonds.
Pujols is one of the rare exceptions. Most power hitters see significant decline around age 35.
Babe Ruth was just better than the pitchers of the day...and even so, just another exception. Hank Aaron is also an exception. Ohtani has a history of injury issues, so he doesn't appear at this stage to be one of the iron men that the exceptions were.
He will end up with fewer HRs and RBIs than Adam Dunn.
Ohtani has injury issues?
Here are his last 4 seasons:
2021 - 155 games
2022 - 157 games
2023 - 135 games
2024 - On pace for about 160 games.
Hasn't missed many games last 4 years.
Ohtani is durable as a position player. The poster was alluding to his pitching injuries. But they're not so significant as to severaly impede his position playing and batting ability. Being DH will keep him healthy. He's fortunate they brought that position back because the MLB wanted more runs scored.
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