Bonds passes Ruth with 715th*

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds passed one of the magical numbers in American sports on Sunday by hitting his 715th career homer and overtaking baseball legend Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time home-run list.

Is it just me, or does this just seem like a non-event? I try not to pay attention to stuff like this because I don't think it deserves attention, BUT I feel like I have to address it to point out the truth. Babe Ruth is still better. Come on, let's face the truth. Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer. Don't get me wrong, Bonds has always been strong. But consider this- In his first 10 years in the league he hit 40 or more HR only once in 1993 when he had 46. In his next 8 seasons he failed to hit at least 40 only twice and in one of those seasons he was injured and still hit 34 HRs in 102 games. In those first 10 years he hit a HR in every 17.2 AB, since it's a HR in every 10.12 AB. More interesting to me is that in 1999, Barry turned 35. From that season on, he's average a HR in every 8.5 AB. How does that happen? I'd love to give him the benefit of the doubt and I think everyone has for quite some time.

From the Washington Post- Five Reasons Why Babe Ruth is Better Than Barry Bonds
Sorry, Barry. Here's why the Babe is better:
1. He was a wonderful pitcher. Really, this should end any debate. Not only was Ruth a top pitcher, but to this day he owns the 12th-highest winning percentage (.671) and the 15th-lowest ERA (2.28) among pitchers with at least 100 career decisions.
2. He regularly out-homered entire teams. In 1920, when Ruth hit 54 homers (a record at the time), he out-homered 14 of the other 15 teams in baseball. As late as 1927, when he broke his own record with 60, he out-homered every other AL team.
3. He has the highest OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) in history. These days, OPS is viewed as the ultimate measure of an offensive player, and no one tops Ruth's career mark of 1.164. Bonds? He's fourth at 1.052.
4. He did it in fewer at-bats. Ruth hit his 714 homers in 8,398 at-bats, for a rate of one homer every 11.76 at-bats. Bonds has needed 9,246 at-bats (through Thursday) to collect his 714, a rate of one every 12.95 at-bats.
5. He was never accused of using steroids.