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Achievements
Babe Ruth's career mark of 714 home runs stood as the all-time record for 39 years, until Hank Aaron hit his 715th on Opening Day of the 1974 season.
Babe Ruth is the only player ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game on two separate occasions—Game 4 of the 1926 Series and Game 4 of the 1928 Series.
Babe Ruth reached the 500 home run plateau in 5801 at-bats--the second fewest number in history.
Babe Ruth holds the record for the longest complete game victory in World Series history. In 1916, as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Ruth pitched 14 innings to defeat the Brooklyn Robins. He only allowed one run in the first inning, then settled down to shut out the Robins for the next 13 innings for the 2-1 win. The Red Sox would go on to win the Series in 5 games.
Babe Ruth led the American League in home runs 12 times (1918-1921, 1923, 1924, 1926-1931.)
In 1927, Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs accounted for 14% of all home runs in the American League that year. To put that figure in modern perspective, a player would need to hit over 340 home runs in a season to account for 14% of the American League’s total homerun output.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Babe and teammate Lou Gehrig were the most feared hitters in baseball. Remarkably, the dynamic duo combined to out-homer every team in the majors except one in 1927.
From 1915-17, Ruth won 65 games, the most by any left-handed pitcher in the majors during that time.
Ruth‘s career .690 slugging percentage is the highest total in the history of Major League Baseball. (Slugging percentage is calculated by dividing total bases by at-bats.)
Ruth altered the salary structure of the game - via a trickle-down effect. His highest salary was $80,000 annually in 1930 and 1931. He suffered a $5,000 pay cut in 1932 despite hitting .373, leading the majors in 1931 with a .700 slugging percentage, tying for the lead in homers with 46 and knocking in 163 runs.
After the Red Sox sold him to the Yankees, Ruth single-handedly outhomered the entire Boston team in 10 of the next 12 seasons.
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