http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2009/08/08/archives/post-perspective/homely-hero.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=homely-hero Home of The Saturday Evening Post Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:02:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2009/08/08/archives/post-perspective/homely-hero.html/comment-page-1#comment-241216 Frank McCosker Tue, 01 May 2012 00:43:48 +0000 http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/?p=9503#comment-241216 Anybody who ever broke one of the Babe’s records didn’t do it within the same parameters. i.e., number of games played, performance-enhancing drugs, etc. On top of that, his pitching records were cut short when he became an outfielder, and his hitting records were diminished by his early pitching career. The fact that many of his contemporary hall-of-famers felt that the Babe would have made the HOF as a pitcher makes him the greatest all-around player of all time, ahead of Mays, Mantle, et al. Pitching and position play in baseball are as different as Football and Basketball; noone but the Babe has mastered both. When Michael Jordan decided to try baseball, he demonstrated this difficulty. Bo Jackson made the All-Star team in both Pro Football and Baseball, but wasn’t HOF material in both. Deion Sanders established himself in Pro Football, but was a dime-a-dozen good field no-hit infielder in baseball. Jackie Robinson was an All-American College Football player and HOF baseballer, but in my opinion, falls short of the Babe’s all-around accomplishments.

]]> http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2009/08/08/archives/post-perspective/homely-hero.html/comment-page-1#comment-519 Jesuit Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:06:45 +0000 http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/?p=9503#comment-519 The Babe was a gruff, overgrown boy with a tender heart. No more magical sports figure ever lived.
He wasn’t good-looking, he was beautiful.

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