DanMargarita.com

Whenever someone passes away, it is common for others to say wonderful things about them, unless they're talking about Hitler or someone like that. Although, I suppose there were people in Germany in 1945 saying, while weeping, "Achhh, zat Hitler vasn't such a bad guy."

I'm certainly not comparing Ted Williams to Hitler. He (Williams, not Hitler) was a complex individual who had his faults and flaws like all of us do. He also did an admirable amount of fund raising for the Jimmy Fund.

I hate to speak ill of the dead, or dead of the ill for that matter, but I'd like to contest this notion that he was the greatest hitter of all time. I know that may be heresy in these parts.

You see, there was another guy, who also spent part of his career with the Red Sox, who in my opinion is still the measuring stick for major league hitters. His name was Babe Ruth.

At the risk of sounding like a stat geek, while Ruth's career batting average was just two points lower than Williams, he led Williams in just about every other category including hitting almost 200 more home runs. Yes, Williams was the last guy to bat .400 but Ruth won a batting title hitting .378 not to mention not winning it in two season's while batting .378 and .393.

People love to point out that Williams missed five prime seasons while serving in the military, but Ruth spent the first several years of his career as a pitcher (and a darn good one) in the dead ball era for the Red Sox. Also, one might wonder how many home runs the Babe might have hit had he not spent most evenings after a game with two hookers drinking bootleg gin.

Most if not all of Ruth's batting records have been broken, but all by different individuals. To think that at one time one guy held all of these records is staggering.

So why has Williams become known as the greatest hitter of all time? Because Williams told us he was. He always said that he wanted to walk down the street and have people say "There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived."

Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy recounted the time he first met Williams. As the legend passed through the clubhouse, he passed a full length mirror. Upon seeing his reflection he exclaimed "There he is! The greatest hitter that ever lived!"

Most of us would've commented "Do these pants make me look fat?"

This seems to be a pattern in professional sports. Mohammed Ali is known as "The Greatest" because that's what he called himself. Was he better than Joe Louis? Was he better than Rocky Marciano who retired undefeated at 49-0?

The Rolling Stones refer to themselves as "The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band" although one could make an argument for The Beatles, The Who or the Cowsills since music is a matter of taste and largely subjective. If one goes by record sales, perhaps Slim Whitman is the greatest recording artist if the claim that he "sold more records than Elvis Presley and the Beatles" in his commercial is to be believed.

I've decided therefore that to achieve enormous success, I am now going to refer to myself as The Greatest Columnist of All Time. From now on when you pass me on the street, feel free to say "There goes the greatest columnist that ever lived."

I'd rather hear that than "Stick 'em up."