Jamie Markley on WMBD 1470 just called Wayne Gretzky the “Babe Ruth of Hockey.”
Rule of thumb: If someone has to be described as “the Babe Ruth of” anything, that person is nowhere near as important to their sport as Babe Ruth was to baseball. Babe Ruth helped make baseball America’s most beloved sport.
Most people are aware that Wayne Gretsky existed, but couldn’t tell you what team he played for.
However, Michael Jordan is not the Babe Ruth of basketball. Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of basketball. Indeed, there are those who call Ruth the Michael Jordan of baseball. It’s hard to disagree with that assessment.
Tags: Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Hulk Hogan was the Babe Ruth of professional wrestling.
Of course, pro-wrestling is not a sport…
Wayne Gretzky is much more deserving of the tag “the Babe Ruth of…” than Michael Jordan.
When Ruth started hitting homers at a rate never seen before, he changed his game. When Gretzky started scoring goals at a rate never seen before, he did the same. Meanwhile, in his best year, Michael Jordan NEVER achieved the individual accomplishments of Wilt Chamberlain, and even his six titles pale in comparison to Bill Russell. Did Michael Jordan dominate the game of basketball while he played? Yes, he did. But he did it to a LESSER extent than Gretzky dominated hockey, and Ruth dominated baseball.
Further, if you consider that to this day Gretzky has 93 more goals (or 10%) more than the nearest player to him, while Ruth has been passed in HR’s, and Jordan never did lead the NBA in career scoring, you could say that Babe Ruth was the Wayne Gretzky of baseball, and you wouldn’t be insulting The Babe.
I’ve heard this sort of Jordan-hating diatribe before. No, Jordan didn’t achieve all those individual stats. That just means he wasn’t as selfish a player as Chamberlin.
What I am talking about is impact on the game in the eyes of the fans. The NBA achieved new heights of popularity during Jordan’s career. Not so the NHL during Gretstzky’s. Period. End of discussion.
I am the Babe Ruth of laziness…….
There is no athlete, in any sport, whose achievements are comparable to Babe Ruth.
When Ruth registered the major’s first 50-homer season (with 54 in 1920) he hit more than every other American league team hit. And the leader in the National League, Cy Williams of the Phillies, hit 15. In 1921, when Ruth hit 59, the NL leader had 23. And in 1927, when Ruth banged 60, the leader in the NL hit half as many.
Think about that. Ruth was twice as good as his peers. In order for Barry Bonds to have the impact Ruth had he would have had to hit 104 homeruns (instead of 73) in 2001 because American Leaguer leader Alex Rodriguez launched 52.
When Ruth retired with 714 homers no other player had half as many.
Ruth also had a career average of .342, a ridiculous slugging percentage of .690, drove in 2,217 RBI and scored over 2,100 runs. He even stole 123 bases.
But what is really astounding about Ruth is that he was even better than his numbers indicate – because he spent his first 4 full seasons in the majors as a pitcher and didn’t appear in 100 games as a hitter until his 5th full season.
Imagine what his numbers would have been (over 1,000 homers?, 3,000 RBI?) had he played everyday fromthe start.
And you know what else? Before he became an everyday player he was the best lefthanded pitcher in the American League. Best hitter and best pitcher.
His lifetime record was 94-46. In 1916 and 1917 he had back-to-back seasons of 23 and 24 wins. His career ERA was 2.28 and he completed 107 of his 148 starts.
He set a World Series record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched that stood for decades and he routinely out-dueled other American League aces such as Walter Johnson and Ed Cicotte.
No one was as good then. And no has been as good since. It’s not even arguable.
Wayne Gretzky may or may not be the “Babe Ruth of hockey,” but he is certainly on his way to becoming the “Pete Rose of hockey”
Even though it’s Wayne’s wife and assistant coach involved, and not Wayne (at this point), I’d still rather be called the “Pete Rose” of something than the “Barry Bonds” or “Sammy Sosa” of something.
I hate steroid users in sports.