Who is better, Ruth or Kelly?
Babe Ruth leads with a GOAT score of 94.6 against 53.7 for Merrill Kelly — a gap of 40.9 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
AthletesTeams
Ruth vs Kelly
Shareable comparison — send this exact matchup to anyone.
GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
RuthWinner
94.6Ruth wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Kelly
53.7Kelly wins: no category outright
Candidates
Locked to BaseballShareable URL · /compare/babe-ruth-vs-ros-merrill-kelly
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Babe Ruth
94.6
Ruth leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Babe Ruth
2. Merrill Kelly
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 23 · Form index per season
1. 🇺🇸 Babe Ruth11 home runs
1 season by age 23 · 11 per season
Setting the pace at age 23
No verified birth date for Kelly — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 23, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | RuthRetired | KellyActive · Arizona Diamondbacks |
|---|---|---|
| Home runs | 714 | — |
| World Series titles | 7 | — |
| Career OPS | 1.164 | — |
| Batting average | 0.342 | — |
| RBIs | 2,214 | — |
| Pitching ERA | 2.28 | — |
| MLB games | — | 201 |
| MLB wins | — | 87 |
| MLB strikeouts | — | 1,191 |
| MLB award: INT Mid-Season All-Star | — | 1 |
| Number | — | 29 |
| Dominance w25% | 100 | 50.2 |
| Peak w20% | 99 | 74.4 |
| Longevity w20% | 82 | 50.6 |
| Honours w20% | 94 | 26 |
| Statistics w15% | 97 | 72.8 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Ruth94.6
Kelly53.7
FAQ
Where does Kelly beat Ruth?
Kelly does not lead any of the five categories; Ruth is ahead or level on all of them.
How is the Ruth vs Kelly score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Ruth: 94.6, Kelly: 53.7.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Ruth vs Kelly. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.