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- Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player ever
The New York Yankees, holding 27 World Series titles, would never reach such heights without Babe Ruth's impact on the organization in the 1920's.
The argument
A player's ability to positively impact their team denotes a higher level of success and skill, and when that athletic proficiency sets new all-time trends for the entirety of American sports, the team will no doubt be influenced just as profoundly. That is the standard proponents of this position apply, and Babe Ruth meets it in a way no other player does. He was not only a pioneer in the art of home runs, but, before the New York Yankees were the all-time organizational juggernaut they are today, he started a legacy of winning lasting almost 100 years. The turning point is datable. Before the 1923 World Series, the Yankees were 0-2 in World Series — a franchise that had twice reached the sport's final stage and twice lost. When Ruth put up a .368 batting average, .556 on-base percentage, and a 1.00 OPS, they claimed the ultimate victory for the first time in their history. Those figures describe a player reaching base more often than not in the games that decided the title, which is why proponents treat the result as his doing rather than as a coincidence of timing. What followed is what separates him from other great players. Ruth and his Yankees went on to win two more times, and the franchise eventually won 24 times after that. A single championship can be credited to a strong roster in a strong year; a century of them describes an institution, and the institution dates from his arrival rather than from anything that preceded it. Babe Ruth was such a great player that his legendary status as a baseball enigma catalyzed the most successful franchise in major North American sports to this day. Because he kickstarted that franchise, proponents conclude, he is the greatest baseball player ever.
Premises
Counter-arguments
One player's success does not necessarily guarantee the overall success of their organization over time. Babe Ruth did give the Yankees their first World Series win, but he was not the only one to contribute to that win and the New York Yankees have seen many great players come and go in their long history. Should we attribute their World Series titles to one player, even if he was only there in the beginning? The success could come from other major factors like managerial moves, free agent signings, and smart draft choices. The impact of one player does not always lead to the success of his franchise for a century, and Babe Ruth is no exception.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] A franchise's success over time is not necessarily due to an individual's success, even if they gave the team their first major win. [Rejecting P2] Babe Ruth's excellence as a player is not automatically tied to the Yankees' all-time excellence. [Rejecting P3] This does not make Babe Ruth the greatest of all time.
Framing
When an individual player is so valuable and impactful in their entire sport that their franchise goes on to experience the most prosperous history in all of major sports, that player is unequaled in all-time greatness.