With an overwhelming 48% of respondent votes, Babe Ruth secured the title of greatest baseball player of all time, and for good reason. Babe's numbers are staggering with 714 career home runs, a .342 batting average, 1.164 OPS, 123 stolen bases and seven World Series wins. His influence on the game runs much deeper than numbers, though. He could do it all: hit, pitch, run and field.
According to the survey, no other player comes close to Babe in terms of popularity. Full respondent breakdown includes:
| Top 10 Players* |
| 1 |
Babe Ruth (48%) |
6 |
Derek Jeter (4%) |
| 2 |
Jackie Robinson (5%) |
7 |
Joe DiMaggio (2%) |
| 3 |
Mickey Mantle (5%) |
8 |
Pete Rose (2%) |
| 4 |
Hank Aaron (4%) |
9 |
Ken Griffey Jr. (2%) |
| 5 |
Willie Mays (4%) |
10 |
Lou Gehrig (2%) |
While today's sports fans agree that competitors across almost all sports have gotten faster, stronger, and by extension better, this survey's result runs counter to that wisdom, indicating that Americans not only still believe that a baseball player who was in his prime in the mid-1920s (almost 100 years ago) is the greatest player ever, but the greatest percentage of Americans that believe this are actually millennials. In fact, 48% of millennials selected Babe Ruth, even though they were born decades after the Great Bambino had retired from the game.
"When we look at how the Sultan of Swat would have performed on DraftKings today, there is no doubt that he is the greatest of all time," said Matt Kalish, co-founder of DraftKings. "Babe would have averaged 11.6 DK fantasy points per game, with 28,910 career DK fantasy points – 4,515 more than Derek Jeter's career total. In a low scoring era, the Babe's power hitting changed the game of baseball forever."
About DraftKings
DraftKings is an innovative sports-tech entertainment platform changing the way consumers engage with their favorite sports, teams and athletes by bringing fans closer to the game. DraftKings, headquartered in Boston, MA, offers daily and weekly fantasy sports contests across ten professional sports in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Malta and Germany. Founded in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman, DraftKings makes sports better and better sports fans by creating the 'Game Inside the Game.'
[i] Sourced from a survey conducted by KRC Research among a national sample of 1,009 adults, age 18 years and older. The survey was conducted over the telephone including 509 by landline and 500 by cell phone.
* 21.67% of respondents chose other MLB players including Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Cal Ripken Jr., Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson and more.
SOURCE DraftKings
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