The best basketball player of all time is one of these guys.
The best football player of all time is one of these guys.
And the best soccer player of all time is one of these guys.
In every major sport, there is at least some debate on who is is the greatest of all time.
But not in baseball.
In baseball there is only one.
And that one is Babe Ruth.
As a kid, Babe Ruth was a delinquent.
He skipped school, ran the streets, and stole beer from his fathers bar at the age of 7.
So he was sent to reform school.
At the reform school, he was label as "incorrigible" - a kid that was not able to be improved.
Until he met this guy, Brother Mathias.
Brother Mathias introduced baseball to Babe Ruth.
And baseball kept Babe out of trouble.
After school, a minor league team in Baltimore signed Babe to play professionally.
On this team is where he got the nickname "Babe."
And he got it for two reasons.
The first reason was that the owner of the minor league team took an interest in his development, so he was the owner's "babe."
The second was that Babe Ruth did not know how to eat properly when the team went out to restaurants.
But over time Babe developed into a very good pitcher and hitter, and was called up to play in the major leagues.
He started with the Boston Redsox.
And while he was playing very good baseball, he was also drinking and arguing with his managers.
So the Redsox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
And that trade would become known as the worst trade in sports history.
Because with the Yankees, Babe Ruth would go on to become a legend.
In baseball there is a statistic called WAR.
It stands for wins above replacement.
And it measures how good you are compared to other players.
Babe Ruth is the all time WAR leader with 182.
And here is some context for how crazy 182 WAR actually is.
Major League Baseball has been around for 120 years.
During that time, only 270 players have made the hall of fame.
The average WAR of a hall of famer - the best 270 players ever to live - is 60.
Babe Ruth tripled that.
He was utterly dominant.
And being the best baseball player ever to live makes him a poster worthy person.
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