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A frequent debate among baseball fans is whether greats of the past, like Babe Ruth, could compete in the modern era.

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Babe Ruth is a baseball legend and an all-time great. Babe Ruth played baseball in the major leagues from 1914 through 1935, spending most of his time playing for the New York Yankees. Throughout the years, baseball has evolved, and the talent has risen. A big-time question and debate is, would Babe Ruth be good today, and would he even be in an MLB starting lineup? 

Babe Ruth was a star pitcher, combined with a great power hitter. His career batting average was .342, and he had a total of 2,873 hits with 714 home runs. He changed the game of baseball and in his time, no one even came close to how good he really was. By the time he retired he held 56 major league records and was honored as one of the first Hall of Fame inductees.

No way Babe Ruth could succeed in today’s game though. First of all, he had a terrible physique since he smoked and drank so much. During every game, he would drink six bottles of soda. Not every baseball player has great habits though. You may think of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry when I say that. These were two great baseball players that played most of their careers for the New York Mets, but their careers were slowly ruined by cocaine addictions. Babe Ruth’s health though would not match that of pretty much any big leaguer today other than maybe Bartolo Colon. If you go on YouTube and watch Babe Ruth highlights, he does not look like he has much athleticism. You can see that this dude has a max running speed of 3 mph and runs like a T-rex. 

MLB pitchers today are throwing around an average of 95 mph with some pitchers throwing around 100 mph consistently. Pitchers today also have crazy off-speed pitches with curveballs averaging 60 inches of droppage and around 7 more inches of movement compared to their fastball. Back around the 1920s, it is estimated that MLB pitchers were throwing on average 85 mph, with some pitchers maybe topping out at 90 mph. Their pitches also didn’t have some of the nasty movement as todays off-speed. 

So, would good old Babe Ruth be able to hit today’s pitchers with his 34 inch, 42oz bat? Absolutely not. If you stuck Babe Ruth in today’s MLB, he would definitely be a bench player. Now I’m not completely saying I don’t think he could succeed. If you brought up Babe Ruth, updated his equipment, and gave him a year to train, I think he could be a great baseball player again. He’s an athlete and would evolve with the game. But if you think you could stick the old Babe Ruth in today’s game and think he would succeed or be great, you’re crazy.