You make an excellent point (although perhaps inadvertently, as I'll explain).
You say "Golf
fans
will talk about NicklausBasketball
fans
will talk about Jordan."
A fan of an individual team will always have their favorites, even if those players are not necessarily well-known universally. But a fan of that sport has respect and reverence for the greatest players in that arena. I root for the Mets, so I shouldn't care about the accomplishments of other National League teams, but I'm more than that. I'm a baseball fan who roots for the Mets, so I am grateful for Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken, Jr., Ozzie Smith, and yes, even Chipper Jones, even though he always killed the Mets. Because I'm a
fan
of baseball who happens to root for the Mets. Anyone who gives me good baseball will always get my respect and admiration.
Those Sandlot kids were fans of the game first and foremost. The narrator even says so. Baseball was more than a game for them; it was life. And Ruth was bigger than life.

When somebody is the greatest of all time in a given sport, and you take part in the sport, they'll come up.
Golf fans will talk about Nicklaus (retired 11 years ago)
Basketball fans will talk about Jordan (retired 13 years ago)
Hockey fans will talk about Gretzky (retired 17 years ago)
Soccer fans will talk about Pele (retired 39 years ago)
Cricket fans will talk about Bradman (retired 67 years ago)
I suspect the problem is that you have too many paperclips up your nose

Babe Ruth came along at a time when sports superstars were almost virtually unheard of.

He wasn't just the best, as every era of every sport has someone considered the best. It's that he was the best by an exponential degree. There were seasons where by himself he had more homers than entire other teams combined. To put it in perspective, in 1920 Ruth led the American League with 54 home runs. By comparison, Cy Williams led the National League with 15. That's pretty lopsided.
And his success hitting home runs made changed the way the game was played since they weren't really a big part of the game before he came along. That was a big change both on the field in terms of winning games, as well as making baseball a more successful sport since everyone loves seeing them.
Most big time home run hitters may have a decent batting average, but Ruth's was insane (he had 8 seasons where he led the league in homers AND batted over 0.350). Mike Schmidt led the league 8 times in homers and only batted over 0.300 once. Mark McGwire led the league 4 times in home runs and his highest average was barely over 0.300.
Ruth was arguably the first sports superstar. There were plenty of great athletes before Ruth, but none were considered bigger than their own sport. There may have been a few others in boxing in the early 20th century with a similar status, but even they didn't compare to Ruth.
Everyone on this thread saying Babe Ruth is the best without explaining why sounds like the kids in the movie
I understand your point, which is why I gave a detailed explanation, but that being said, maybe some either here or the kids in the movie don't elaborate more because they don't really need to. It's just a given that Ruth was the biggest star. And that's the point, at least in the movie. Smalls, despite being new to baseball, is still supposed to know who the guy is. For Pete's sake, even his mom, aka "a grown up girl" knows Babe Ruth. And girls aren't even supposed to know anything about baseball.
If you took a poll from people who admit they don't follow baseball in the least, if you asked them to name a bunch of players, they'd all know Babe Ruth. Some would know Ted Williams, Pete Rose, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, DiMaggio, Barry Bonds, etc. but they'd ALL know Babe Ruth. Ask someone who knows nothing about basketball to name a player, they'll mention Michael Jordan. Gretsky for hockey, Pele for soccer, etc. The guy is an icon.

Everyone on this thread saying Babe Ruth is the best without explaining why sounds like the kids in the movie.
Grant discovered raptor eggs in Jurassic Park

when i was a kid in LA during the late 80s, early 90s playing baseball, we talked about babe ruth quite a bit, I imagine kids today still do - he's quite possibly still the greatest player to ever play the game. That's what you do when you're a kid, idolize the greatest; playing football we knew who Jim Brown was, etc.

Ruth is still a cultural icon even today.
Son, you got a panty on your head.

This message has been deleted.

You're right. I thought about Maris and his single season record. I was talking about the career record that's what I mean when I said no one was close.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

The biggest record in sports, especially in the 1960s, is arguably the all time home run record. Ruth not only held it at the time,
nobody in the early '60s was even close
. Ruth would have been a legend by then.
Not arguing with the first half of your comment, but the movie is set in 1962, and Roger Maris had just hit 61 home runs the previous summer. I'd call that more than close.

XenaGuy

The biggest record in sports, especially in the 1960s, is arguably the all time home run record. Ruth not only held it at the time, nobody in the early '60s was even close. Ruth would have been a legend by then.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

yeah, and? lol
When I was a kid, I knew more about Ruth and Gehrig than I did about modern day players and that was like 25 years after these kids.
Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player of all time. Its perfectly natural for any kid to consider him their favorite player. But nowhere in the movie does it hint that these kids didnt also have favorite modern day players as well.
I Emily Blunt

The heavy kid made numerous references to the Babe before they played with the ball.
Everyone of em knew one of his nicknames too.

Why are you under the impression that they were obsessed with Babe Ruth over 60's contemporaries? Ruth is the greatest that ever played so naturally any baseball fan knows him well. That being said, it just so happens that they played with a ball that was signed by Babe Ruth. They lost an heirloom and thats what they had to get back. Thats the only reason Babe Ruth was in the movie. Nowhere in the movie does it indicate that each kid had a Babe Ruth poster on their wall and werent big fans of current day players.
I Emily Blunt

The movie made a big point of heroes vs. legends. "Heroes get remembered but legends never die." I think the boys were probably fans of players from their time (Benny had a Hank Aaron baseball card in his dream) but revered Babe Ruth as a legend.
I live in Edmonton and a lot of kids here seem to be fans of Wayne Gretzky. He hasn't played hockey in 14 years (and in Edmonton for 25 years) so I think, to them, he's part of a legendary past: A Golden Age when the Oilers were amazing and had the best player of all time in his prime playing for them.

people are still talking about Babe Ruth and he's now been dead 70 or so years. That's just how good Babe Ruth was.
When you consider how good he was compared to those he played against, and when you consider how his numbers stack up even today, and when you consider the sorts of things he did on a baseball field, he was far and away the greatest player who'll ever play.
In 2001 when barry Bonds hit 73 homeruns, the furthest he hit was something like 465 feet. In 1921 alone, Babe Ruth hit 10 balls over 500 feet. And Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Willie Mays, or anybody never hit a called shot homerun.
Even today when people think of baseball, they think of Babe Ruth
Insert Signature Here

Understand that Babe Ruth was a big legend. Legends never die, according to the film. Also, Benny makes a statement about Ruth being the best player that ever lived so they sort of felt awed by him. It is like filmmakers saying that Scorcese and Spielberg are geniuses, but Welles topped them all.

You have to remember, Mickey Mantle was a NY Yankee hero. Willie Mays was a NY Giant hero. Babe Ruth was a universal baseball legend. Babe Ruth was larger than life. These kids grew up in LA. The other guys played in NY (the Giant's didn't move to SF until '58). These kids' parents grew up hearing stories of Babe Ruth, probably listening to the games he played in.
The other thing is that for people who aren't necessarily baseball fans probably know very little about "the Mick" or "the Say Hey kid", but they all know of the greatness of "the Babe". And the movie makes this point in the dream Benny has about Babe Ruth, he states "heroes get remembered, but legends never die".