coach66 said:
large beer belly with bird like legs in many of the photos I have seen of him. Hey, I am not picking on a guy that made the game look easy in his era and also practiced gluttony on the side, it is pretty well documented that he liked his beer, women, and hot dogs, not necessarily in that order.
There is a skinnier one and a fat one. A lot of people think of Ruth as fat because they remember the 1927 Babe Ruth that was, well, fat, because that was the year he hit 60 home runs, and that was also the Yankees greatest team during the Babe Ruth era. I think that's the picture you and most people- including me- have in your head when you think about him.
But around 1921 when Ruth was really at his peak in terms of playing, he was really just a big guy, but he wasn't fat.
Ruth has 123 career stolen bases, and he also has five seasons of 10 or more steals- including 1930 when he was 35, which is pretty good for a guy that size. I think he has an image of not being a great baserunner because he is seen as fat and because he was infamously thrown out to end the World Series in 1926, allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series. (Yes, it felt good for me to type that).
And let's not forget that for much of Ruth's career he had Lou Gehrig hitting behind him, so running might cause the other team to pitch around the Iron Horse, of course they would then have to get by Tony Lazerri, a HOF second baseman.
