How many career walks did Babe Ruth draw?

Babe Ruth drew 2,062 career walks in Major League Baseball. In baseball statistics, a walk—also called a base on balls—occurs when a batter receives four pitches outside the strike zone without putting the ball in play.

Ruth's remarkable total reflected more than patience. Pitchers often avoided challenging him because of his extraordinary power, especially after he became the Yankees' premier slugger in the 1920s. His ability to combine power with strike-zone judgment made him one of the most dangerous hitters of his era, even when he did not swing the bat.

At the time of his retirement, Ruth held or shared numerous major batting records, including career home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and walks. His final batting line included 714 home runs, 2,873 hits, a .342 batting average, and a .474 on-base percentage. Readers sometimes confuse walks with intentional walks or with Ruth's pitching statistics, but 2,062 is his total batting bases on balls across his full major-league career.