The Babe and the Donkey

[DOUGHBOYS]

Baseball is so strange.
I had a guy ask me a 'trivia' question that he had heard during a broadcast of a game.
He wanted to know who the only player in history to have led the Majors in Home runs, walks, and strike outs and who is on pace to match him this year.
I answered that Babe Ruth had done it three times and that Adam Dunn was well on his way to doing it this year.
In turn, I asked him the difference between Ruth doing it during his era and Dunn this era.
He rolled his eyes as if only wanting to know if I knew the Answer and anything else was a bother.
In a mood to torture him a little, I told him that Dunn could set a new high in strike outs. The one category of the three that a player would not want to break a record. Dunn is also flirting with the Mendoza line, which means that his hits, are for the most part, mistakes that didn't soar like his home runs. Adam Dunn is a left handed Rob Deer or Dave Kingman. There's nothing wrong with that. He still is of use as a hitter and even part of a fantasy team.
But, to categorize him as performing the same feat as Babe Ruth is like one of Dunn's single's, a mistake.

Here are the Babe's stats from his league leading years:

1923- 41hr's, 131 rbi, 170 bb, 93 k's, .393
1924- 46 hr's, 121 rbi, 142 bb, 81k's, .378
1927- 60 hr's, 164 rbi, 138 bb, 89 k's, .356

Here is Dunn's stats for this year

2012- 38 hr's, 88 rbi, 95 bb, 191 k's, .206

Ruth lived and played in an era where striking out was still thought to be an embarrassment for a player. He even became a target for members of the press and other players for setting new marks in strike outs.
He responded, "I never let the fear of striking out get in my way".
When Ruth was finished with his career, he was easily the all time strike out king as well as being the all time home run king.
He ended his career with a mark of 1330 strike outs.
Some pundits thought that that record would stand longer than the Bambino's 714 home runs.
They were wrong.
Ruth began a whole new way of hitting. Strike outs became ok. A part of the game. Not embarrassing.
Other players were not letting strike outs get in their way too.
Babe's strike out record has been obliterated time and time again.
And this year a funny thing happened.
Babe Ruth is no longer in the top 100 of all time strike outs. He is number 101.
Earlier this year, he was passed by Carlos Pena.
It took Reggie Jackson 21 years to become the all-time strike out king.
He has 2,597.
It took Ruth 22 years to reach 1330.
It's taken Adam Dunn 11 years to reach 2,000.

Babe Ruth was a strike swinger. Anything that he could hit, he would take a whack at.
Pitchers threw around him or intentionally walked him.
Ruth had arguably, the second most feared hitter in baseball behind him.
Still, pitchers preferred to pitch around him and take their chances with Gehrig.

Dunn on the other hand, is picky.
He has a small zone of pitches that he'll swing at. If the ball is not in the zone, Dunn does not offer.
OBP guys love him.
His teams wish that he would swing at more pitches, especially early in a count rather than waiting for the perfect pitch. They'd prefer more chances for home runs, rather than a better chance to walk....or strike out.

Ruth and Dunn will share the record book for the same achievement.
It's a different time and different game now.
And although the record shared by Ruth and Dunn is the same.....it is so, so different.


Oh, and thanks to those that are still reading this.
My friend got bored halfway through my retort, and made up an excuse to go see an imaginary friend.