Generalship and Sports: Where Babe Ruth and Roger Maris Meet Hannibal and Scipio

Babe Ruth's home run record has become something of a religious icon, that perfect 61 that seemingly ruined the life and career of a man who had every right to take his place in the Hall of Fame right alongside him, and the impact that this drunken alcoholic who would have been laughed out of the farm leagues in modern baseball has left on the game is absolutely undeniable. In many ways, The Babe has become synonymous with baseball, in much the same way that Hannibal Barca has become synonymous with ancient warfare and military strategy - and much like the pedestal of Ruth's records, this theory of Hannibal is unfounded.

I once took "The Punic Challenge", as I called it, where I entered three different major book stores: Walden Books, Books-a-Million, and Barnes and Noble. I perused the history and military aisles, pulling out every book I could find on the Punic Wars, military tacticians, biographies on great generals, and important battles, and to my utter dismay, nearly every single one put heavy emphasis on the Babe Ruth of ancient warfare with a surprising neglect to the man who not only put his own strategic prowess to shame, but crushed him on equal footing in an almost tournament style duel of two military titans.

As I continued to pour through the books, I grew increasingly frustrated as Hannibal's victories were covered in excruciating detail, and in the few cases where I could find even reference to Publius Cornelius Scipio they were hashed over as unimportant. As I continued to flip the pages, it conjured images of Billy Crystal's made for HBO film 61*, a tragic tale of a ballplayer who met all the same challenges as his predecessor, and was short changed by a society that was not ready to give up the mythos of The Babe.