Babe Ruth is a legendary baseball figure. He was the most prolific home run hitter of his era, and is still third all time in career homers. Ruth often gets compared to current superstar Shohei Ohtani, as both players pitched and hit at a high level. Ruth is still regarded as one of the best players, if not the best player to ever play the game. However, although Ruth finished with 714 career home runs, it is estimated that he was robbed of around 75 long balls.

Should Babe Ruth have hit 800 home runs?

According to BaseballHistoryNut on Twitter, any ball that passed the foul pole in fair territory but curved foul was ruled a foul ball during Ruth's era. That has changed in today's game, as those types of hits are now ruled home runs. They occur quite frequently as well.

BaseballHistoryNut also shared that balls that landed beyond the wall but bounced back into the field of play were live, thus they were not ruled as home runs. As a result, Ruth lost an estimated 75 home runs. And that doesn't even factor in his years as a full-time pitcher.

While Shohei Ohtani pitches and hits at the same time, Ruth became primarily an outfielder after beginning his career as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox. Ruth played in Boston from 1914-1919 before getting traded to New York, in what was of course the most historic MLB trade ever (The Curse of the Bambino lived on until 2004).

From 1914-1917, ruth recorded a combined nine home runs. In 1914, Ruth appeared in just five games. But he was an everyday player from 1915-1917, and his pitching was his greatest contribution during that time. However, imagine if Ruth was clubbing home runs at a consistent rate during that time period?

If Ruth did not lose 75 home runs from the foul ball and bounce back rules, he'd have been on track for 789 home runs. And if the “Great Bambino” hit at least 10 home runs in each season from 1915-1917, he could have finished with around 819 career homers.

How accurate is Babe Ruth's 714 home run total?

We can speculate about how many home runs Babe Ruth could have hit based on rule changes and being a primary pitcher. But is Ruth's 714 home run total the most accurate number?

In 1918, Ruth clobbered a ball over the fence in a game against Cleveland. The home run was reportedly a moonshot, but ended up not counting because the winning run crossed home plate so Ruth was ultimately credited with a triple, according to MLB.com.

Although Ruth will always be associated with 714, and we do need to respect the rules of that era, he probably should have finished with 715. That isn't a huge difference, but a legend like Ruth's final home run total means something. It's an answer to trivia questions, and a mark to shoot for as today's young star power sluggers try to make history.

Surpassing Babe Ruth will be quite the challenge, however. Only Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds have done so, leaving Ruth third all time. Albert Pujols got close, finishing his career with 703 long balls. Alex Rodriguez is fifth at 696.

The closest active player is Miguel Cabrera. However, he's already 40-years old and has only 508 home runs. If Mike Trout can stay healthy, something he's struggled to do in recent seasons, perhaps he could make a run. He's currently at 368 and is 31-years old. Still, it seems like Ruth's placement as MLB's No. 3 all time leader will be safe for years to come.

Had the rules been different during his era and if Ruth focused more on offense early in his career, he could have been MLB's all time home run leader to this day though.