Babe Ruth: A Hall of Famer as a Position Player and as a Boston Red Sox Pitcher

In 1916,  20-year-old Babe Ruth won 18 games for the Boston Red Sox.  He batted .315 and hit four home runs in 92 official at-bats, which calculates to one home run for every 23 at-bats.

The following season, Ruth was 23-12.  He led the league with a 1.75 ERA, a 158 ERA+,  40 starts, nine shutouts, fewest hits allowed per inning (6.4) and he did not allow a home run in over 323 innings.

How many 21-year-old pitchers would be allowed to make 40 starts today?  How many pitchers, regardless of age, would be allowed to make as many as 35 or 36 starts today?

In 1917, Ruth won 24 games, but enough of the statistics.

Some individuals claim that Ty Cobb was the greatest of all players. Others think that the Honus Wagner was the greatest.  Those fans that accept events at face value know that Barry Bonds was baseball's greatest player.

It really is no contest, because only Babe Ruth could have been elected to the Hall of Fame as either a position player or as a pitcher.

In 1918 WW I forced a shortened major league schedule. The Red Sox played only 126 games, going 75-51 to win the pennant.  Ruth started 19 games, winning 13 and losing seven, because playing 59 games in the outfield and 13 games at first base limited the time he spent on the mound.

He batted .300/.411/.555 and led the league with 11 home runs.

In 1918, the Red Sox hit 15 home runs. Other than Ruth, no Boston player hit more than one home run. Ruth's 11 home runs were more than the Washington Senators (four), St. Louis Browns (five), Chicago White Sox (eight) and Cleveland Indians (nine) hit.

Ruth pitched in the 1916 World Series against the Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers) and in the 1918 Series against the Chicago Cubs.

Now remember, in 1916, Ruth was 21 years old, he had started 40 games and pitched 323.7 inning during the season. Ruth started the second game of the World Series at Braves Field.

Brooklyn scored a run in the first inning when Hi Myers hit an inside-the-park home run. It was the first home run off Ruth all season and was the only run Ruth would give up.

After the Red Sox tied the game in the third inning when Everett Scott tripled and scored on a Ruth ground out, no one scored until the Red Sox half of the 14th inning.

Ruth pitched 14 innings. He faced 48 batters, allowed six hits, three walks and struck out four—shades of Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn.

On Sept. 5, 1918, Ruth started the World Series opener at Comiskey Park against the Cubs. He pitched a complete game shutout as the Red Sox won, 1-0.

On Sept. 9, Ruth started Game 4, but he weakened in the eighth inning as the Cubs tied the score at 2-2.  Boston scored in the bottom of the eighth to lead, 3-2.  Bullet Joe Bush came in to pitch, Ruth moved to the outfield and the Red Sox won.

In World Series play, Ruth started three games, won three games, had an incredible 0.87 ERA, a 0.935 WHIP and allowed only 19 hits in 31 innings.

There may have been a greater position player than Ruth, although that is a tough sell. There certainly were greater pitchers than Ruth.  But there was never a player that could have been a Hall of Famer both as a position player and as a pitcher.