Bonds Beats the Babe! Statistical Model Crowns a New ‘Greatest' in Baseball

New York Times

9 hours ago

Every sport has its arguments over which player was the greatest, but no sport takes the debate as seriously as baseball does. It is a game informed by an obsession with statistics, such that passions are often checked by numbers: How could anyone love a player with such a miserable on-base percentage?
It is something consequential, then, when anyone makes a declarative statement regarding anything about baseball. But a team of statisticians did just that. They have spent years devising a definitive ranking of baseball's best performers, no matter what era or which team was involved. Their new method compared players across history by placing the respective achievements within the context of a given year's pool of eligible baseball talent.
The controversial answer: The Greatest of All Time title no longer belongs to the New York Yankee legend Babe Ruth but to Barry Bonds.
The poor Bambino isn't even second. That spot belongs to Roger Clemens, who pitched for both the Boston Red Sox and the Yankees. He is followed by Bonds's godfather, Willie Mays (both men are generally associated with the San Francisco Giants, though they played for other teams as well). Ruth ranks fourth, followed by Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee, and later Atlanta, Braves. Mickey Mantle, who won seven World Series rings while wearing Yankee pinstripes, falls to 23rd.
Baseball purists may object, noting that Bonds and Clemens are among several high-profile major league players accused of using steroids during the 1990s. (This likely explains why neither player is enshrined in Cooperstown, the sport's Hall of Fame in upstate New York.)
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