This is a pic that was recently found from the St. Mary school. Check out Babe Ruth on the far right. No telling how old he is in the picture, but look at this guns: http://www.baseball-fever.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=36238&stc=1&d=1203655438
Extremely rare shot of Babe and Joe Jackson. Had to have been in 1920, which was Georgie's first year with the Yankees and Joe's last year in the bigs: http://www.blackbetsy.com/imagefarm/joeandbabe.jpg
Babe Ruth's 1921 season at age 26 seems impossible even in a video game: 152 games, .378/.512/.846, 59 HR, 44 doubles, 16 triples, 171 RBI, 177 runs scored, 145 walks, 17 stolen bases, 457 total bases, 239 OPS+
That's just [expletive]. I wonder how good he would be if he had access to today's training methods? Would the pitchers he faced also have access to those training methods? Correct, so it probably would have equaled out and he still would have done the same damage. Which is sick. I've always thought of him as one of the all-time greats, but looking at his numbers, Williams was ridiculous. Too bad he's now cryogenically frozen in two pieces. Sad ending. I was just reading up on it I've always said that Williams is the best hitter ever, but Ruth is probably the best baseball player ever (gets the edge on Williams because on top of hitting almost the same as Williams, he ALSO was 94-46 as a pitcher). However, if I had to make a baseball player, I'd make Willie Mays.
I never liked catching the throws at first like the one that Cedeno just threw. It isn't that they are hard to catch at all, just that they are kinda "tweener throws" in deciding whether to catch it glove up or glove down. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
That's just [expletive]. I wonder how good he would be if he had access to today's training methods? Would the pitchers he faced also have access to those training methods? Correct, so it probably would have equaled out and he still would have done the same damage.
George Sisler had an interesting career affected by a weird eye injury. In his 7 full seasons before his eye disease, he averaged a 157 OPS+, in the 7 seasons after he averaged a 97 OPS+. He's most famous for having the single season hits record (257, 1920) that Ichiro broke recently. Before eye problems: http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh153/OleMissCub17/sisler1.jpg After: http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh153/OleMissCub17/sisler2.jpg
I think Cecil Travis, shortstop for the Washington Senators, probably has the best case for being someone who would have been a Hall of Famer had it not been for WWII. He missed nearly four complete seasons at the exact moment when he was entering his prime: http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/travice01.shtml
Career OBP% among the greats: Ted Williams: .481 Babe Ruth: .474 Lou Gehrig: .447 Barry Bonds: .443 Rogers Hornsby: .433 Ty Cobb: .430 Jimmie Foxx: .428 Tris Speaker: .428 Eddie Collins: .424 Joe Jackson: .422 Mickey Mantle: .422 Stan Musial: .416 Among active players (career): Todd Helton: .428 Albert Pujols: .423 Frank Thomas: .420 Lance Berkman: .414 Jason Giambi: .410 Manny Ramirez: .408 Jim Thome: .407 Chipper Jones: .406 Bobby Abreu: .405 Brian Giles: .404