Babe Ruth vs. Hank Aaron

There was no Barry Bonds in those days and Sadaharu Oh seemed to be skipped over in this set.  How could they skip him when he surpassed Aaron during the late 1970s when these cards were being produced.

Back to Ruth vs. Aaron.  I want to check out what was written about them on the back of their Sportscaster cards.

Babe Ruth

Ruth was called muscular by Sportscaster writers.  That seemed a bit different from other depictions.  The story begins with his called shot in the 1932 World Series.

Ruth had 730 total homers because they added his 15 in the World Series and one in an All-Star game.  He also hit .342 and had 2,217 RBIs in his career. 

Ruth was also a star pitcher, winning 94 games and losing 46.  He set a record with 29 1/3 scoreless innings as a pitcher in the World Series. 

Ruth set career records with RBIs, walks (2,056) and HRs as well as a few other categories.

Not on the card - he is now credited with 2,214 RBIs and 2,062 walks.  Ruth only had one All-Star Game homer because the All-Star Game begin in 1933 as Ruth was ending his career. 

Hank Aaron

Aaron's story starts with a recap of the game in 1974 when he surpassed Ruth by hitting his 715th homer.  I remember watching the game on the floor of my family's house.  I also taped the play-by-play with a cheap tape recorder.  Sadly, I didn't keep the tape for very long because it didn't work so well.

Sportscaster mentioned in the text that he hit 745 homers, a record that may never be broken.  At the bottom of the card it correctly mentions his career total of 755 homers.  Aaron hit 10 homers in 1976, so the writers were certainly using his stats through 1976 on this card.  This is the promo card, so maybe this was updated in the real set.  I will check that on the next commercial of DieHard.  Yes, it was corrected in the regular set, so this promo card was certainly done before getting 1976 stats.

The cards ends by mentioning that Aaron retired after the 1975 season.  The updated card mentions that he played for the Brewers in 1976. 

I was surprised that the card didn't mention that Aaron had career records in RBIs and Total Bases.  He still is the all-time leader in both.