Happy Birthday to the Great Bambino

George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born on this day, February 6th, in 1895.

The Great Bambino hit 714 home runs, a big league record that stood until yesterday's birthday boy, Hank Aaron, smacked his 715th home run in 1974.

Ruth is widely considered baseball's greatest player.

In addition to the 714 homers, the 2,213 RBI, the .342 lifetime batting average, Babe was a great pitcher for many years, as a member of  three Boston Red Sox World Series Championships.

Babe's pitching line... 94-46, 2.28 ERA (1.75 ERA in 1916), and 107 complete games in 163 careers starts.

For me, Ty Cobb is baseball's greatest hitter, and there is a case to be made for Willie Mays is baseball's greatest all around player.

What Ruth did, all the offensive numbers, combined with the great pitching, I give the edge to the Sultan of Swat.

Happy Birthday George!