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Stay hydrated with Joe’s free newsletter, SPORTS! Happy Hour. Here’s the link to sign up. This is a column of perspective. ____________________________ Baseball is a funny game. It is romantic and eccentric all at the same time, which is a tough thing to pull off. Usually, you’re either one or the other. Sometimes art or artists have the power to be both at the same time, though, and that’s baseball. I’ve enjoyed watching the MLB playoffs this past month or so and it’s coming down to the wire. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays are tied 2-2 in the best-of-7 World Series. Baseball was my first love, and I’ve officially rekindled the flame with this year’s Fall Classic. Toronto won Game 4 6-2 on Tuesday night after an all-time classic in Game 3. The Dodgers won that one 6-5 in 18 innings. My return to baseball this October is easy enough to explain. I can’t stop watching Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani. There’s nothing like him. He hits prodigious home runs. He steals bases. He throws 99 mph fastballs. He’s like a one-man team. Personally, I love watching the Dodgers. I know the team catches a lot of grief from fans, but I’m not going to be a hater. I’m just going to enjoy the show, and Shohei, and be grateful I’m a sportswriter in the time of baseball’s modern-day Babe Ruth. While researching for this column, I found the perfect quote about Babe Ruth by legendary sportswriter Tommy Holmes. Holmes covered the Brooklyn Dodgers during Ruth’s time with the Yankees. “Some 20 years ago,” Holmes once said, “I stopped talking about the Babe for the simple reason that I realized that those who had never seen him didn’t believe me.” I get it, Tommy. After watching Ohtani, I totally understand what you mean. If I told someone 50 years from now what Ohtani did in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series, they probably wouldn’t believe me. He had two doubles and two dingers and after that the Blue Jays walked him five consecutive times. In an 18-inning game, Ohtani reached base nine times. It had never been done before, and it will probably never be done again. It’s one of one. Singular greatness. But here’s the thing. Ohtani then turned around and pitched the next day. Unbelievable, but 100 percent true. For most of my life, I always wondered what it was like watching Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson swing the bat. Was Ruth really that good? Was Gibson even better? I was skeptical. To me, the stories about them were just a product of baseball’s romantic nature. Not anymore. Watching Ohtani this October makes me believe all those stories about Ruth and Gibson weren’t just tall tales. If Ohtani can hit three towering home runs in Game 4 of the NLCS that all go over 400 feet, then Gibson probably did hit a home run 600 feet that time in New Jersey. And who am I to doubt that Babe Ruth hit a home run so far out of Birmingham’s Rickwood Field that it landed in a train car on its way to Georgia. Ruth hit 54 home runs in his seventh season in the Majors. Ohtani hit 54 homers in his seventh season. Ruth had 59 home runs in his eighth season. Going into Game 4 of the World Series, Ohtani has 55. Is Ohtani the greatest player in the history of baseball? That story is yet to be written, but he’s got a chance. I know this, though. We’ve never seen another baseball player like Ohtani. We can all say that with authority because no one alive today can remember watching Ruth. Gibson’s time in baseball is even more of a legend. I wish I knew more about his career. But watching Ohtani, in some mythical way that only baseball can allow, makes me feel like I’m watching Gibson, too. The New York sportswriters of his day tried comparing Reggie Jackson to Babe Ruth. Reggie quickly deflected the praise, saying there would never be another Babe Ruth. Reggie Jackson had levels of swagger and confidence like the game has never seen. For him to say that about Ruth, well, that pretty much says it all. Barry Bonds was an all-timer, but he’s no Ohtani. I can only compare watching Ohtani’s singular greatness to basketball players Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Who was better, Jordan or LeBron? In baseball, we now have the equivalent of that eternal debate. Is it Ruth, Gibson or Ohtani? Ruth and Gibson are considered the two greatest hitters in the history of the game. Ruth hit 714 home runs. Gibson, who played in the Negro Leagues, is credited with hitting over 800 homers for his career. Ohtani, currently at 280, has a long way to go. I have to wonder what Reggie Jackson thinks watching Ohtani play baseball. Is Ohtani the new Ruth? If football-great Cam Newton played defensive end and quarterback for Auburn, I suppose that would be close to the college football equivalent of what Ohtani does on the baseball field. Or maybe if Bo Jackson played running back and linebacker for the Raiders. Cam and Bo have very baseball-like personalities, and I mean that as the highest form of a compliment. Anyway, I digress. Baseball connects us to the past like no other American tradition. That’s the magic of this game, and that’s the power of Ohtani. In Birmingham, the city is lucky enough to have the game of baseball’s living time capsule, Rickwood Field. Bo played at Rickwood. Gibson played at Rickwood. Babe Ruth played at Rickwood. Willie Mays and Satchel Paige started their careers at Rickwood playing for the Birmingham Black Barons. We gotta get Ohtani to America’s oldest ballpark. Why? Because history demands it. Baseball’s quirky romance with the American spirit is a treasure to be forever unlocked, and Rickwood has a key. Can Ohtani hit a home run at Rickwood Field farther than Ruth (Birmingham to Georgia) and Stan Musial (over the right-field roof)? For the love of baseball, the game needs Ohtani at Rickwood and, let’s be honest, Ohtani needs at least one trip in his life to baseball paradise. I’ll have my tape measure ready. MAILBAG SOUND OFF Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything for the reader mailbag.
