One hundred and eighteen years ago today,
George Herman Ruth was born in Baltimore. Back when the only performance-enhancing drugs were hot dogs and beer, Babe Ruth was a star for your Boston Red Sox. His six seasons with the team were mostly spent as a lights-out hurler—going 89-46 with a 2.19 ERA. In what is still the best measure of pitching effectiveness, he gave up 256 fewer hits than innings pitched in that span. Despite mostly being on the mound, he still hit 49 home runs for the Sox and had an OPS of .981. Oh, and by the way,
he won three rings in Boston—not that there were any actual rings to give out. Those three world championships were just
one fewer than he won in New York. So, by any measure, he was one of the greatest
Red Sox players
ever.
And yet, because of the silly "curse" nonsense, we feel somehow awkward about acknowledging his achievements in Carmine Hose.
Why? As we have advocated before, the team should place a
'Circle Of Honor' on the right-field facade—emblazoned simply with
the word "Babe". He never had a number with us, but he definitely had an impact. Let's honor it.
