Babe Ruth vs Lou Gehrig

8of 9 lines

1of 9 lines

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig compared on their MLB careers: Babe Ruth played 22 seasons, 1914 to 1935, Lou Gehrig 17 seasons, 1923 to 1939. Babe Ruth has .342 batting average to Lou Gehrig's .340. Babe Ruth won 7 titles, Lou Gehrig won 8 titles.

Who has the better career numbers?

Babe Ruth leads in 8 of the 9 lines, Lou Gehrig in 1. Bold marks the better figure; playing time — games, minutes, at-bats, innings — is not scored.

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig career totals

2,503	GP	2,164
8,399	AB	8,001
2,174, better	R	1,888
2,873, better	H	2,721
714, better	HR	493
1,983	RBI	1,995, better
123, better	SB	102
0.3, better	AVG	0.3
0.5, better	OBP	0.4
0.7, better	SLG	0.6
1.2, better	OPS	1.1

How do they compare in the postseason?

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig postseason

41	GP	34
129	AB	119
37, better	R	30
42	H	43, better
15, better	HR	10
30	RBI	35, better
4, better	SB	0
0.3	AVG	0.4, better
0.5	OBP	0.5, better
0.7, better	SLG	0.7
1.2	OPS	1.2

Where each stands all time

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig all-time places

3rd (714), better	Home runs	29th (493)
45th (2,873), better	Hits	63rd (2,721)
6th (1,983)	RBI	5th (1,995), better

Among the MLB players with a career line on file, regular season, counting stats only — the same lists the records pages run on.

Titles and awards

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig titles and awards

7	Championships	8, better
—	AL MVP	1, better

Awards come from the league’s published winner lists; a championship counts a season played for the club that won it.

Season by season

Lined up by career year, not by calendar: each row is the players’ nth season.

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig season by season

1st	1914	.200	0	0	1923	.423, better	1, better	9, better
2nd	1915	.315	4, better	0	1924	.500, better	0	5, better
3rd	1916	.272	3	0	1925	.295, better	20, better	68, better
4th	1917	.325, better	2	0	1926	.313	16, better	112, better
5th	1918	.300	11	0	1927	.373, better	47, better	175, better
6th	1919	.322	29, better	0	1928	.374, better	27	142, better
7th	1920	.376, better	54, better	137, better	1929	.300	35	126
8th	1921	.378	59, better	171	1930	.379, better	41	174, better
9th	1922	.315	35	99	1931	.341, better	46, better	184, better
10th	1923	.393, better	41, better	131	1932	.349	34	151, better
11th	1924	.378, better	46, better	121	1933	.334	32	139, better
12th	1925	.290	25	66	1934	.363, better	49, better	165, better
13th	1926	.372, better	47, better	146, better	1935	.329	30	119
14th	1927	.356, better	60, better	164, better	1936	.354	49	152
15th	1928	.323	54, better	142	1937	.351, better	37	159, better
16th	1929	.345, better	46, better	154, better	1938	.295	29	114
17th	1930	.359, better	49, better	153, better	1939	.143	0	1
18th	1931	.373	46	163	—	—	—	—
19th	1932	.341	41	137	—	—	—	—
20th	1933	.301	34	103	—	—	—	—
21st	1934	.288	22	84	—	—	—	—
22nd	1935	.181	6	12	—	—	—	—

What the columns mean: AVG · HR · RBI