Jul 30
Athlete of the Century. **** Ruth or Michael Jordan?
According to Associated Press’s list of athletes of the century Michael Jordan is 2nd to **** Ruth. I would like to know if you guys think that **** Ruth should be over Michael Jordan?
Babe Ruth Resume:
-2x All-Star selection (1933, 1934)
-7x World Series champion (1915, 1916, 1918, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932)
-1923 AL MVP
-First player to hit 30, 40, 50 and 60 home runs in a season
-New York Yankees #3 retired
-Ranks in the top 10 of numerous career statistics
Michael Jordan Resume:
-6x NBA Champion (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998)
-5x NBA MVP (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998)
-14x NBA All-Star (1985-1993, 1996-1998, 2002-2003)
-6x NBA Finals MVP (1991-1993, 1996-1998)
-1x NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1988)
-10x All-NBA First Team Selection (1987-1993, 1996-1998)
-1x All-NBA Second Team Selection (1985)
-9x NBA All-Defensive First Team Selection (1988-1993, 1996-1998)
-1985 NBA Rookie of the Year
-1985 NBA All-Rookie Team
-3x NBA All-Star Game MVP (1988, 1996, 1998)
-2x NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner (1987, 1988)
-NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
-1x NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion (1982)
-1982 ACC Freshman of the Year
-1x ACC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year (1984)
-1x USBWA College Player of the Year (1984)
-1x Naismith College Player of the Year (1984)
-1x John R. Wooden Award (1984)
-1x Adolph Rupp Trophy (1984)
-1991 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
-2000 ESPY Athlete of the Century
-1990s ESPY Male Athlete Decade Award
-1990s ESPY Pro Basketballer Decade Award
Jim Thorpe - subsequently lost his Olympic titles when it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of minor league baseball before competing in the games (thus violating the amateur status rules).
Okay Nice.
theHound - I got all information from wikipedia I posted what’s written in there I’m not a baseball fanatic like you. You also didn’t talk about Michael Jordan.
But who was **** Ruth’s competition back then for the mvp and did the other baseball teams have good quality players to compete against the Yankees? In the Jordan era there was Barkley and co.
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15 Responses to “Athlete of the Century. **** Ruth or Michael Jordan?”
the babe
LeBron.
umm i would have to go with jordan
Without question it is MJ.
Some like to argue Ali, but I don’t see it.
Babe Ruth wouldn’t be in my top 5.
of course michael jordan..but **** ruth will still be considered as the american ”hero”
Jim Brown.
what i think is Michael Jordan should be selected
you need to look up what jim thorpe did in his life if you are talking about the best athlete of the century
Babe Ruth have been known to baseball for the longest time and had so many records.
If Wilt won all the titles Bill Russell won he would have been named the best NBA player ever… Michael Jordan is the most popular basketball player to ever grace the courts but that’s because he build on it, a very charismatic Basketball player he treated media and fans alike to a great basketball show in all his games, and he had that great PR pull on him that nobody so far duplicated.
As for the anlysis, I think it’s accurate. As Phil Jackson once put it Michael is the personality of this sport, he’s **** Ruth reincarnated. So MJ is still being compared to **** which means Babe’s still numero UNO.
Hope this helps.
Tim Hardaway…duh.
Let me begin by saying that I am a Yankee hater, and it gives me great pains to write anything positive about any Yankee. But, you present a biased presentation of the two athletes, giving a short straw to the transcendent athlete of the 20th century, George Herman Ruth.
You leave out or misrepresent the following:
You mention he was a two-time all-star selection, in 1932 and 1933. The fact is that the FIRST all-star game was in 1932, and Ruth was on that team and the next, at the then incredibly advanced ages for professional athletes, of 37 and 38, respectively, in the twilight of his career.
You mention that he was the first player to hit 30, 40, 50 and 60 home runs in a season. Well, when he broke the single season home run record in 1919 with 29, the prior record was something like 11. In many of the next dozen years, when he was hitting 40, 50 and 60 home runs, he hit more home runs per season than any other TEAM in baseball.
You mention that he ranks in the top 10 of numerous career statistics. For most of those records, he retired at number one, and it took decades for them to be broken. He hit his 60 home runs in 1927, and that record stood until 1961. He and Roger Maris with the one season of 61 are likely the only two players to ever his 60 home runs in a season not aided by illegal steroids. When he retired with 714 career home runs, no other player had hit 500 (actually, it may be that no other player had hit even 400 as of then) His career stats include unbelievable totals of 2,213 runs batted in, and what remains yet today the third or forth highest lifetime batting average ever, of .342.
You entirely omit the fact that before he became an outfielder in 1918 or 1919, he had been for the prior 3-4 years, the best left handed pitcher in baseball, compiling a 94-46 won lost record, and over his total of 1,221 innings pitched, he had the astounding ERA of 2.28.
But more than the statistics, following the darkest days in baseball history, and its possible demise, he alone resurrected the game of baseball from the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, and restored faith in the game, brought the greatest fan interest ever, and became the first true American professional sports icon.
There is no number two. **** Ruth is the greatest athlete of the 20th century.
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read more of my opinions on my new sports blog:
Neither Best athlete of the 20th Century was Jackie Robinson. His baseball exploits are well known so no need to recap. But Robinson had more talent in football and would have made the NFL and starred but WWII and The Brooklyn Dodgers asked first. He also was an excellent basketball player and excelled in track and field. But again the NBA hardly existed in the late forties and neither the NBA or NFL would have let him play anyway. He also played tennis at UCLA. I would also include Rafer Johnson who was an Olympic Decathlete and won a gold medal. Keep in mind that he, Robinson, lost his best years to WWII before his break in baseball.
The proliferation of awards in later times allowed Jordan to pad his resume. Comparing Ruth’s greatness to Jordan by simply listing awards would be wildly inaccurate.
Some things to consider:
- Before 1931, the baseball MVP (and there are plenty of versions) was only awarded ONCE to a player.
- College awards are a moot point of comparison when dealing with baseball players
- It was only in 1933(?) that the MLB All star game started. Ruth’s last playing year was in 1935, was already traded to the Braves and was in the end of his career.
Keep in mind, that pro-baseball was the first one to experiment with award concepts like MVP’s, all-star games etc.. Pro-basketball, pro-bfootball, and pro-hockey copied and/or built upon what pro-baseball started.
Anyway, both AP and ESPN’s Athlete of the century awards are heavily based on player popularity, to the point that it overshadows player achievements in judging greatness.
Case in point, using only the awards that exist all throughout the players playing years:
Bill Russell: 5 MVP’s, 11 rings, 1 NCAA Most Outstanding Player, 2 NCAA rings
Michael Jordan: 5 MVP’s, 6 rings, 0 NCAA Most Outstanding Player, 1* NCAA rings
* As a role player to the 1982 MOP James Worthy, the leader and star player of the 1982 UNC NCAA championship team.
(DPoY and Finals MVP are excluded because they were only created in 1969, Russell’s last year):
(Adolph Rupp, Wooden and USBWA etc. were not given during Russell’s college years. Wooden wasnt even a HoF worthy coach when Russ was playing)
(Needleess to say, ESPN awards dont exist during Russell’s time)
(The ban prohibiting pro-basketball players from participating in the Olympics was lifted only in 1989, which allowed for the 1992 dream team and Jordan’s second gold medal)
And people still think Jordan is the Greatest basketball player? Bill Russell doesnt only excel in basketball. He was ranked World #7 high jumper back in college. Apart from gambling, what other sport does Jordan excel in?
Jordan is more recent and achieved his popularity because of cable and satellite television not to mention because of his ever present commercials. It allows him to have an impact on more people. Give Russell the same kind of treatment and we would all be unanimously declaring him as the GOAT. The funny thing is, even without modern media, **** Ruth is still a popular and highly respected figure because your average baseball fan value history. In contrast, your average basketball fans know very little prior to Bird and Magic.
In short, in my opinion Jordan is NOT the Athlete of the Century. I dont think **** is too but he is closer to that title than Jordan is.
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Edit: On top of my head, i would name Ty Cobb and Roger Hornsby as Ruth’s competition. Im sure a baseball nut would have a better answer. I do believe baseball fans consider the 1920’s and early 1930’s as the some sort of baseball Golden Age so good luck trying to convince them that Ruth played in a weak era.
Michael Jordan by far!
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