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Baseball celebrates Babe's 115th birthday

Seventy-five years after retirement, Ruth's 17 records now four

By Tom Singer / MLB.com

02/06/10 12:00 AM EST

The face of Major League Baseball for three quarters of a century is looking a little faint these days.

Babe Ruth's place in history is indelible, but not so his place in the record book. The Bambino wrote that book during his influential 1914-35 career, but a generation of neo-sluggers have been doing their own edits.

Then, one day the sobering fact suddenly hits that the Sultan of Swat is no longer the Sultan of Stat. Most of his significant records have been erased. A few years ago, the Boston Red Sox even threw off his identifying curse by winning a World Series.

The Babe just can't seem to catch a break these days.

And now his birthday party gets snowed out.

The Babe Birthday Bash planned by the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore for today -- George Herman's 115th birthday -- had to be postponed with an approaching storm expected to dump as much as 20 inches of snow. The event was re-scheduled for next Saturday.

Nonetheless, happy birthday, Babe. Here's hoping your remaining records survive longer than the wax in those 115 candles.

When Ruth retired in the middle of the 1935 season after taking the last swings of his half-season cameo with the Boston Braves, he owned 17 major single-season and career records -- many he had already held for a long time, having shattered the existing standards early in his career.

He is down to four:

Record of success
Babe Ruth set numerous career records, though many were surpassed as time went on. However, it doesn't diminish the level of achievement he established.
Stat Record Breaker Current
RBIs 2,217 2,297 (Aaron) 2,297 (Aaron)
HR 714 755 (Aaron) 762 (Bonds)
K's 1,330 1,710 (Mantle) 2,597 (Jackson)
BBs 2,062 2,190 (Henderson) 2,558 (Bonds)
Extra-base H 1,356 1,377 (Musial) 1,477 (Aaron)
AB/HR 11.76 10.61 (McGwire) 10.61 (McGwire)
OBP 0.474 .482 (Williams) .482 (Williams)

• Highest career slugging percentage: .690
• Highest career OPS (on-base plus slugging): 1.164
• Most extra-base hits, season: 119 (in 1921)
• Most times reaching base, season: 379 (1923).

That's it.

All the magic numbers are gone. But the magic will never fade. For decades, Americans reacted with instant recognition to 60-714, Ruth's homer records for a season and for a career.

Quick test: What is the new career number? (762, but the hunch is you had to look it up.)

The good news is, Babe's diminished role in the record books is safe. No one will touch his career slugging mark in an era in which normal people do not even reach .690 for a season. Similarly, an OPS of .900 any season is considered exceptional. And to put his remaining season marks into modern perspective: The most extra-base hits Albert Pujols has had in any season is 99, and the most times Ichiro Suzuki has reached base is 315.

The Bambino's role in baseball's evolution, of course, can never be diminished, or measured. Although some have tried: In 1919, the season prior to Ruth's game-changing trade to New York, the 16 MLB teams drew an average of 408,277 fans; by '27, Ruth's captivating 60-homer season, that average was up to 620,179.

Last season, the 30 MLB teams had an average season draw of 2,447,736.

Just part of the Bambino's legacy.

As are the records he did own, which at least presented a noble target for which his heirs to aim.

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Change for a Nickel. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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