Is Shohei Ohtani already better than Babe Ruth?

While that is true, a .264 hitter TODAY with 1.5 seasons of greatness at the plate doesn't constitute HOF material. It just doesn't.

At one point in his career, Christy Mathewson only had 21 career wins. At one point in his career Lou Gehrig only had 1.5 seasons of greatness at the plate.

Who is a better athlete Ashtn Eaton or Eliud Kipchoge, who would win a marathon?

Pretty sure Ruth did play against plenty of black players on barnstorming tours.

Bogus point.

Lou Gehrig had FIVE seasons of over 100 RBI before age 28. Ohtani has NONE (he has exactly 100 for ONE season). Gehrig had 5 seasons batting above .300 before age 28. Ohtani has NONE.

In the 5 years leading up to and including the season in which he was 27, Gehrig hit .313, .373, .374, .300, .379. Meanwhile, Ohtani hit .257 last season and is hitting .260 so far this season.

Mathewson won 20 games in his first full season at age 20! He had an ERA of 2.41 in that season. Ohtani is 28 years old right now and has one more win than Mathewson had at age 20.

So, get serious.

It is going to be really difficult for Ohtani to make the Hall of Fame. I don't see it happening.

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how is this the same comparison

Using RBI, batting average, and pitcher wins to evaluate players just shows that you are 20 years behind the modern game.

Ohtani is close to 1/3 of the way to the HOF, and players that start their careers in a foreign league will get some credit for not being able to start their MLB careers right away. He will also have the immense benefit for having been the biggest star in the game (which he is now), winning hardware like MVP and ROY, and the coolness of being a two-way player. He's really not far at all and he will get there barring injury or a sudden drop in performance.

I do not believe you are correct. Baring a sudden drop in performance? He likely will NOT even hit 40 HRs this season. He WILL begin to sink from that as early as age 34 if not sooner. His career batting average WILL be below .260. The two-way player IS cool, but it won't be enough...and shouldn't be. Also, he was 23 when he started playing in Major League Baseball. That's still pretty young.

He will be in the Hall of the Very Good.

these people are 68 they won’t understand the points you’re making.

Will Clark was the biggest star in the game for a couple of seasons. Dale Murphy was the biggest star in the game for a couple of seasons. Albert Belle was the biggest star in the game for a couple of seasons. Mattingly, Cecil Fielder, Maris, the list goes on.

About as relevant as comparing Ohtani's batting stats to Hall Of Fame inductees without also comparing their pitching stats.

If your default position is contrarian, you can even suck the joy out of a freak athlete who is a great hitter, base stealer and rapidly emerging pitcher.

Sit back and enjoy him.

my position is pro-ohtani

All you have to do is look at the stats. Sure, “the eras are different” but that’s irrelevant because the stats are relative so you can normalize and ignore that point. Babe really only pitched with the Red Sox. He pitched a total of it 31 innings from 1920 through his retirement in 1935. He was not a two way player after he was traded to the Yankees. So it’s really not even worth comparing. Will Shohei follow that route? Interestingly Babe’s hitting stats were junk with the Red Sox. It wasn’t until he stopped pitching he became the great hitter.

It’s still early in his career to tell if he’ll be in HOF. But watching him play is absolutely stunning. He is amazing and I don’t see if he keeps it up without significant injuries, I think he’ll be in HOF.
since he did play in Japan for several years prior, I think that would get taken into account for sure.

Yes he is

What about his play is "absolutely stunning?" His season average is now down to .263, and he's tied for 14th in MLB in Home Runs. Did you mean pitching? He's tied for 12th in the league in wins. I've been accused of using "old outdated stats". Ok. His WAR is 1.5 or 105th in MLB.

I just don't get it. He's a VERY GOOD player. He had a career year last year. He's not on pace to equal that this year.

Mike Trout is on pace to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Ohtani will have to be as good as he is right now in his prime until he's 40 to have a realistic shot. I don't see it. Big guys like him don't usually last as long. My guess is he's trailing off by age 34 and out of baseball by age 38. He'll end up with 450 HRs, a .251 batting average and 1250 RBIs. Not HOF numbers. WAR won't be HOF quality either...and his pitching stats will be even worse.

He's interesting because he's a two-way player, he's very nice, he's from Japan, but he won't end up in the Hall of Fame. I love greatness, so I hope I'm wrong.

Babe Ruth vs Ohtani? Surely you jest. Babe Ruth was so dominant, in one year he hit more Hrs in a season than over half the teams. You can only dominate the Era that you are in. As a friend of mine says..If it were that easy...many more would have done what he did. Ohtani is a career .263 hitter...263!! With ONE, ONE year touching 100 RBIs on the nose..please..

Trout is in the HOF right now if his career stopped ,despite being short of what used to be AUTO numbers. He is a .303 hitter with an OPS of 1.000 on the nose, and top 2 in MVP voting an absurd 7 times, 2 more in top 5?

Ohtani vs Babe Ruth? Insane comparison even. People need to do comparisons the right way, comparison in your Era is the only way. When you consider Babe Ruth's pitching as well..he is clearly the Greatest player that ever played.Bonds for those that want to use him, was so dirty it is scary, No One gets markedly better , way better after age 34 in MLB, just does not happen, there are very very few outliers on this statement. Here is another stat anomaly, think about this, Babe Ruth cleared the bases about 625 times before Lou Gehrig even got up...Lou Gehrig has 1995 RBIs..so..Lou Gehrig must have driven in almost every guy Babe Ruth did not drive in..lol. He came up with bases empty over 600 ABs.