re: Hank Aaron compares GOP to the Klan

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1. Aaron played the bulk of his career with a 162 game schedule vs. the 154 game schedule of the Ruth era.

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23*8=184 - potential games.

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2. Ruth spent the first 5 years of his career almost exclusively as a pitcher, meaning that he appeared in (at best) about 1/4 of his team's scheduled games.

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And he didn't play the whole game in many of his appearances, as well.

However - a career record is a career record. While you have to have a minimum number of at bats, appearances, etc. to be eligible for things like ERA, batting average, etc., a career record that is somehow subject to caveat because of rule changes or "But Ruth was a pitcher for 5 years" nonsense defeats the entire purpose.

A career record is a career record. Subjective qualifications aside (again, I concur that Ruth was, probably, the greatest offensive player ever - a true sports superstar, before there was really even such a thing - and should be credited with the wide popularization of baseball in the 20th century), we can, literally do this with every career record - from Rose's total hits, to Bonds 762*, and on and on and on.

If you play on a better team, you get more opportunities to record stats. However, what if the team is better because of you (Ruth, Gehrig, Rose, Mantle, Mays, etc.)?

I can sort of understand the 61 in 61, as he did hit 60 and 61 after the 154 game mark. But the way it was handled was all bull$hit - if anything, you asterisk Ruth's record and specify (* no other player has hit 60 or more home runs within a 154 game schedule) - not Maris who had, the season record for homeruns after 1961 - period.

You'll notice that Ruth's 1920 single season record wasn't subject to an asterisk (* this season was the first to feature the new composition ball - thus making homeruns much easier than before).

I guess it didn't hurt that he was shattering his own record from the previous year - but that is a coincidence of history - doesn't make the comparison any less valid.