Babe Ruth 1923 vs Barry Bonds 2001

[3and2Fastball]

Babe Ruth 1923 vs Barry Bonds 2001. Which was a better season?

 

According to Fangraphs:

Ruth wins in wOBA .571 to .537

Bonds wins in wRC+ 235 to 231.

Bonds wins in OPS vs RHP 1.437 to 1.358

Bonds wins in OPS vs LHP 1.239 to 1.203 .

 

Ruth was better defensively in those particular years. Based on league quality, I'd pick Bonds but it is close. I could see the argument that Bonds had a better offensive season but Ruth had a better overall season.

 

In terms of WAR, according to Baseball Reference Ruth had a 14.1 season, Bonds 11.9

 

Ruth .393/.545/.764 41 HR's, 45 Doubles, 13 Triples

Bonds .328/.515/.863 73 HR's, 32 Doubles, 2 Triples

[3and2Fastball]

Bonds league OPS was .756, Ruth league OPS .767

[sveumrules]

Two of the greatest seasons of all time for sure. I'll take the Babe.

 

Bonds probably had the slightly better offensive season on account of the 73 bombs, but Ruth's production was much more well rounded with the noted .393 average fueled by a ridiculous career best BABIP of .423 compared to only a .266 BABIP for Barry in 2001.

 

The real deal breaker for me would be defense though. Accurately quantifying defense in this day & age is still an inexact science but even on an intuitive level it seems like a more or less prime Ruth at age 28 would be a better defender than a bulked up 37 year old Bonds.

[reillymcshane]

Ruth had a better season because he was able to drink and chase women and eat junk food - all without seeing it on the Internet.

[Crash2303]

Jon Bois with SB Nation tackled this to some degree with a humorous data/thought exercise that looked at Bonds' historic season of 2004, which he argued was not only his best, but the best hitting season of alltime. though, it only focused on hitting...or lack thereof. check it out here:

[Oxy]

Jon Bois with SB Nation tackled this to some degree with a humorous data/thought exercise that looked at Bonds' historic season of 2004, which he argued was not only his best, but the best hitting season of alltime. though, it only focused on hitting...or lack thereof. check it out here:

 

So, would you rather have 1923 Ruth hit in front of 2004 Bonds or vice versa? I bet 2004 Bonds would not be 2004 Bonds If 1923 Ruth was hitting behind him....but protection is a myth?! Hmmm...