*Babe Ruth Thread*

[SHOELESSJOE3]

What is the latest in the season Ruth was still batting .400?

Going on memory for this one, must have been 1923 when he batted .393. If I recall did the math some years ago, 4 more base hits would have put him at .400
Another indication of his baseball skill.
I think 1916 or 1917 pitched a one hitter against the White Sox, one of the best hitting teams, in both leagues, an infield hit. A drive hit him in the leg and the SS just missed throwing out the runner. Career hits 2873.
On top of all that he did, this one man just missed a .400 season, a no hitter and missed a 3000 career hit total by 127 hits. Maybe one less season pitching, good chance at 300 career hits

[Nimrod]

What is the latest in the season Ruth was still batting .400?

I would think it would be during the 1923 season when he hit .393.Going into the game on Sept. 2,1923 he was hitting just over .400 but fell below .400 during that game.I don`t see that he ever reached .400 again in the remaining weeks.

[bluesky5]

Thanks guys

Also, I was watching an old film from 1920 on youtube highlighting a Yankees at Indians series in August. It referred to Ruth's swing as the "follow through swing." The film showed 4 players swings in slow motion: Ruth, Pipp, Pratt and Speaker. Speaker was the only other player mentioned as using the "follow through swing." I've never heard that in my life. Can anyone shed light on it? I assume it simply means swinging from the knob of the bat ala Joe Jackson and Nap Lajoie.

Link to video

[Badge714]

Babe crosses plate SMALL.jpg No wonder he had a rep for swinging outside of the strike zone. Even some BB that were not intentional, they often never gave him anything to hit. I wonder what his career OBA would have been if he stayed in the zone swinging. Sure more career walks would have lowered his cumulative stats but what an OBA, .500 possibility. Babe Walks.jpg

Ruth walked 2,062 times in his career, leading the league in that category 11 times. No doubt he would have led the league in walks 13 times if he had played full seasons in 1922 and 1925. That's taking the bat out of his hands the equivalent of three full seasons. No wonder he got antsy going for pitches out of the strike zone. Yet, he still managed a .342 lifetime batting average. Staggering stuff.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Ruth walked 2,062 times in his career, leading the league in that category 11 times. No doubt he would have led the league in walks 13 times if he had played full seasons in 1922 and 1925. That's taking the bat out of his hands the equivalent of three full seasons. No wonder he got antsy going for pitches out of the strike zone. Yet, he still managed a .342 lifetime batting average. Staggering stuff.

Some place in my files newspaper account of a game, had to be pure frustration, the Bam called out crossing the plate on a wide, wide outside pitch.

[willshad]

Worth another look:

Video of the Babe busting a home run ". . . a 500-foot shot. . . longer by far than any other drive in city history" as a Boston Brave in an exhibition game in Newark, NJ in 1935. (Sources: Boston Post, April 8, 1935 & Newark Evening News, April 8, 1935.)

Another source states: "It cleared the fence in deep right center field by some 50 feet and landed outside the park about 500 feet from where it began." This was his second of the day. He was 40 years old. Those reflexes, that sound! Listen to the crack of the bat on contact, the celestial music of ash hitting horsehide.

Listen close at the 15 second mark and you can hear a guy exclaiming "Jesus!" As he approaches third base I also heard "He really teed off on that one."

Also note the fans running to top of bleachers in right center to see where ball landed. The fence was 365 feet away in right center, 410 feet dead center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIcLVVuU-Ig

Yeah I love that video. In some other videos of Ruth hitting, it kind of looks like he has a bad swing, awkward, doesn't get a good piece of the ball. I think that may have to do as much with the film quality as anything else. In the 1935 video you can really see and almost feel the power in his swing. And that was age 40 on his last legs. After watching that you really can believe he hit the ball 500+ feet with consistency. Imagine that kind of bat speed with that heavy of a bat.

This guy was a freak, even by today's standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIcLVVuU-Ig

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Yeah I love that video. In some other videos of Ruth hitting, it kind of looks like he has a bad swing, awkward, doesn't get a good piece of the ball. I think that may have to do as much with the film quality as anything else. In the 1935 video you can really see and almost feel the power in his swing. And that was age 40 on his last legs. After watching that you really can believe he hit the ball 500+ feet with consistency. Imagine that kind of bat speed with that heavy of a bat.

This guy was a freak, even by today's standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIcLVVuU-Ig

This is by far the best swing of any video of Babe, I've seen them all. Check the bat speed, the sharp crack of the bat meeting the ball. It was hit out of the park, you can see spectators looking over the wall into the street. You must listen close as he rounds second base. You can hear a voice say something like.............."he really got a hold of that one, didn't he" That voice comes in around 18 to 21 seconds

He hit that on the sweet spot, you can tell by the crack of the bat, so short in time and so solid.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

You may already be aware, at Youtube you can slow down videos to 50 or 25 percent click here, then take a good look at the swing. babe swing.JPG

[SHOELESSJOE3]

This is by far the best swing of any video of Babe, I've seen them all. Check the bat speed, the sharp crack of the bat meeting the ball. It was hit out of the park, you can see spectators looking over the wall into the street. You must listen close as he rounds second base. You can hear a voice say something like.............."he really got a hold of that one, didn't he" That voice comes in around 18 to 21 seconds

He hit that on the sweet spot, you can tell by the crack of the bat, so short in time and so solid.

Right as you said, 40 years old here, imagine his swing in his prime.

[pheasant]

Ruth's power/average combo was something special. We all know about Ruth's pursuit of .400 in 1923. He was at .400+ on 9/1/1923, which is very late in the season. But he had another season that was nearly as impressive. However, that year, he fell off of a cliff.

On 9/1/1923, Ruth had played 122 games(missed 0 games at this point) and had .402/.556/.765 line with 32 HRS, 105 RBI, 139 BB, and 121 runs
On 8/16/24, Ruth had played 115 games(missed 0 games at this point) and had a .401/.535/.799 line with 38 HRS, 100 RBI, 110 BB, and 115 runs

From 5/31/1923 until 8/16/1924, Ruth played 229 games, had 782 AB with 68 HRS, 197 RBI, 234 BB, 229 runs while batting .408 and slugging .792.

[willshad]

Ruth walked 2,062 times in his career, leading the league in that category 11 times. No doubt he would have led the league in walks 13 times if he had played full seasons in 1922 and 1925. That's taking the bat out of his hands the equivalent of three full seasons. No wonder he got antsy going for pitches out of the strike zone. Yet, he still managed a .342 lifetime batting average. Staggering stuff.

I'm shocked that they included 'OPS' in the box score in the papers in 1926!

[Badge714]

You may already be aware, at Youtube you can slow down videos to 50 or 25 percent click here, then take a good look at the swing. babe swing.JPG

Sheer poetry. Check out that locked front leg and the extension of the swing. No doubt about it, he gave this one a ride.

Grantland Rice:

"In lashing at the ball, Ruth put his big body back of the smash with as perfect timing as we have ever seen. There was no hurried motion, no quick swinging, no overanxiety to connect. It all happened with the concentrated serenity of great power under perfect control."

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Julia Ruth Stephens has passed away at age 102.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...?event=event25

[elmer]

CONTACT: Tim Reid: Member of Babe Ruth’s Historic Home Runs Research Team

[email protected] (754-368-1295) www.homerunintampa.jimdofree.com

[elmer]

100 years ago today!
https://www.mlb.com/cut4/babe-ruth-s-longest-home-run