The Great Bambino signs a check for $190
Check filled by Ruth and signed: "G H Ruth", 1p, 8x3.
October 17, 1938. Drawn on the
Chemical Bank & Trust Company.
Check number 4529 for $190.00. Ink bleed affecting
"h" in the last name, otherwise fine condition. Few would contest that Babe Ruth
(1895-1948) was the greatest baseball player who ever lived.
While his record for career
home runs (714) has been surpassed by Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, and his single
season mark of 60 by four players, many other records stand unchallenged. One of the
new statistics devised to measure baseball value perhaps says it best:
Wins Above
Replacement (WAR). How many more games did his team win by having the Babe on
its roster instead of a replacement-level player? Over his career, his teams won 190 more
games with him than they would have won in his absence, and he had the American League's
best WAR in 12 seasons: two with the Boston Red Sox (1916, 1919), and 10 with the New
York Yankees between 1920 and 1931. His other annual stats follow the same pattern:
continuing leadership in on base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored and
runs batted in. While not a speedy fielder in his later years, he boasted a shotgun arm.
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