Passing the Babe

Uncle Bud has proclaimed that baseball will not celebrate homeruns 714 and 715.

"Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record," Selig said. "We don't celebrate anybody the second or third time in…We celebrate new records, that's what we do. We're being consistent. There's nothing to read into that."

So, since it’s not a record, it doesn’t matter.

Since when?

I live in San Francisco, and I root for the Giants. I’m not a Barry Bonds devotee, though I’ve certainly enjoyed many of his exploits including his dramatic game-tying homer on Wednesday. So, I guess I’m a little biased. My college buddies in the east have been debating the importance of Barry passing the Babe and they seem to think, like Bud Selig, that this is not significant.

Hey, guys, I just said you think like Bud Selig. That ought to make you think twice about your position.

I did like mhs’ note about the Babe:

“The only career HR "record" the Babe still has is most career HRs by a white guy playing against white guys.”

I responded to this chatter with the following email (cleaned up for better spelling and grammar):

First off, let me say that Bud Selig may not care about Barry passing Babe, but the Giants do. It's a big deal out here, and it means significant promotional dollars. The Giants are going on the road soon, and believe you me, they'll be packing the stadiums wherever the Giants are playing in hope of seeing 714 and 715.

Is it a record? No. Is it a significant milestone? You bet. People wanted to see 500 and 600 and 661 (Willie) and 700. People want to see a 3000th hit and a 3000th strikeout and a 300th win.

Are you suggesting that if someone was bearing down on Ty Cobb's hit "record" (it isn't one, but it did stand up for an awfully long time), we wouldn't be paying attention and it wouldn't matter? Is mhs really suggesting that no one would care if someone passed Gehrig's consecutive game number? Sure they would -- it's part of the fabric of the national pastime.

Here is something even more obscure--how many of you Yankee fans "noticed" when Griffey passed Mickey on the homerun list? I did, and I have every time someone has passed him. It's certainly not a record, but it still means something to those of us who were fans of Mickey.

It has nothing to do with white or black. It is a recognizable milestone, and it is one that is less arbitrary than 500 homers or 600 homers or 700 homers or some even number. It is less arbitrary because it connects to baseball and its history in a very personal way. Only one guy has ever done this (passed the Babe), and that hasn't been done since we were in college. I remember watching Aaron hit his in my apartment on Crescent St. Did you guys notice last September how old we all got since then? That was a long time ago.

Barry's black, he's an asshole, and he's apparently been caught. That's why people are minimizing this. It may not be a record, but it's history. But this whole sordid steroid affair has made it tainted history.

Baseball isn’t just about records. It’s about history. It’s what makes baseball different from all other sports, that you can have a conversation that includes Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth in the same sentence. This gives us a chance to celebrate Babe Ruth, not just Barry Bonds, to discuss just how dominating he was in an era before most people alive in 2006 were born.

When juiced up Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were headed toward homer 61 and beyond, Roger Maris, long dead, got more attention than he did since that fateful summer of 1961. It was as if he finally got the recognition for how great his feat was – passing the Babe.

Barry is giving us a chance to pay tribute to them all, Hank and Roger and Mark and Sammy and Willie and the Babe. And so we should.