barry bonds joins babe ruth

What do I want to say about Barry Bonds' 714th homerun, which makes him tied for second place on the homerun leader list with Babe Ruth?

I want to explain how Babe Ruth was a much more significant figure in Major League Baseball.  Let's forget about statistics and talk about stories.

I like the story of the Curse of the Bambino, for example.  The Boston Red Sox let Babe Ruth go to the New York Yankees for a pittance, and then the Babe became a legend.  The Red Sox would not win the World Series again until 2004.

Yankee Stadium, opened for games in April of 1923, is called "The house that Ruth built."

In 1932, a famous moment in baseball history happened.  Babe Ruth, a 37-year-old, was no longer a leading homerun hitter.  Think about that for a moment.  Ruth came to bat in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.  (I'm rooting for you too, Cubbies!)  The Babe points a finger across the field-- perhaps at the pitcher, the Cubs dugout, the outfield fence.  Anyway, with the next pitch, Ruth hits a homerun in the very direction he just pointed.

The Hall of Fame inducted its First Class in 1936.  Plaques of the five inductees appear together on a wall in the hall.  Those players are Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and Babe Ruth.

Ruth played at a time when his legacy would probably live and die in the newspapers and on radio.  Could he have known that his dominant play would be forever honored among the greatest players?  His level of play has faintly been dreamed about in the past 70 years.  The Hall of Fame is the second house that Ruth built.