*Babe Ruth Thread*

[SHOELESSJOE3]

That is an incredible picture, Shoeless. This may be my favorite picture of them all. You can see that the ball has travelled less than 4 feet after he made contact. And you can see where the ball hit the ground after the bunt. Based on the angle of his bat and the position of his body, Ruth bunted a ball that was a couple of inches below the knees and about 4-6 inches inside. It is incredibly tough to bunt balls that are thrown to this area of the plate. This was just another junk pitch that was thrown to Ruth to contain him. I think it's possible that Ruth could have walked 200+ times had he laid off more pitches. But he was paid to hit HRs, so he swung at more pitches outside the zone.

It was all fun and games for the Bam, even under pressure in the World Series 1926 "quick pitch" game and the 1932 World Series, Cubs/Yanks. Cardinal team and Babe sparring with words before he homered in the 1926 WS and the battle of the insults, Cub bench and Babe before he homered in 1932. On the biggest stage, he's just having fun, 1926 and 1932 two strikes down and he's still shooting off his mouth at the opposing team.

On the bunts, some where I have an article, with the shift on he bunts down third base and the ball rolls into the outfield, a double. Standing on second he flashes that big grin at the shortstop and third basemen who were playing him on the right side of the infield, then points to the vacated left side of the infield where he bunted.
It's only a game, lets have fun. I doubt he knew the meaning of the word pressure.

[Nimrod]

I remember reading the Babe`s statement that "I could hit .600 if I wanted to hit those crummy singles all day"!One source has the Babe making the comment loud enough for Cobb to hear as Ty was taking batting practice.Cobb would generally drop a couple of bunts and then bang out 6 liners as his batting practice(unless he was in the middle of a rare slump)and then call it quits,in order to avoid any temptation to try an start swinging for the fences.In Cobb`s book,Ty names Ruth on his all-time team.The caption that Cobb gives a picture of Ruth was something like "The Babe hitting a single..something he did quite well".From Cobb`s perspective he was paying Ruth a great compliment.After all,Ruth hit over 1,000 singles and did hit .342 lifetime.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I guess Harry changed his mind. Then tried to cover his rear end with Bosox fans claiming that the poor showing by the Bosox in 1919 was the fault of the Babe, who in 1919 led both leagues in so many offensive stats, also 9-5 pitching. Claiming it was because Babe was a bad boy, which he was at times and also because the Boston Red Sox were now a one man team, Babe Ruth's team. And the team would be better off without having just one super player, dump him and replace him with a few other good players. As we know he didn't follow up on that, after sending Babe packing he followed with sending some other very good ball players to the Yanks.

In another attempt to further calm down some angry Bosox fans he made the statement that in future years Babe could become a cripple as the result of a serious knee injury suffered while with the Bosox, even before the sale. Makes no sense to me, like trying to sell a car but putting out the word............this car may have a bad transmission, wanna but it.

I should add, all of the above appeared in the newspapers at that time, not hand me down stories.
Every so often on this board there are attempts to justify or play down what Harry did. There is none, it was the bone head move of all time in the game. The cream of the American League was now headed downhill, the Yanks on the way up, for decades to come. It wasn't just Ruth, Harry made more foolish moves after that one.

[Dude Paskert]

I guess Harry changed his mind. Then tried to cover his rear end with Bosox fans claiming that the poor showing by the Bosox in 1919 was the fault of the Babe, who in 1919 led both leagues in so many offensive stats, also 9-5 pitching. Claiming it was because Babe was a bad boy, which he was at times and also because the Boston Red Sox were now a one man team, Babe Ruth's team. And the team would be better off without having just one super player, dump him and replace him with a few other good players. As we know he didn't follow up on that, after sending Babe packing he followed with sending some other very good ball players to the Yanks.

In another attempt to further calm down some angry Bosox fans he made the statement that in future years Babe could become a cripple as the result of a serious knee injury suffered while with the Bosox, even before the sale. Makes no sense to me, like trying to sell a car but putting out the word............this car may have a bad transmission, wanna but it.

I should add, all of the above appeared in the newspapers at that time, not hand me down stories.
Every so often on this board there are attempts to justify or play down what Harry did. There is none, it was the bone head move of all time in the game. The cream of the American League was now headed downhill, the Yanks on the way up, for decades to come. It wasn't just Ruth, Harry made more foolish moves after that one.

I guess the big loan from Ruppert in addition to the $100k was what changed Harry's mind.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I guess the big loan from Ruppert in addition to the $100k was what changed Harry's mind.

Probably, just think Harry put up Fenway Park as collateral on that loan.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

This must be another Babe Ruth. Since many believe he was just a big guy that ate lots of hot dogs, hit lots of home runs but was not much in the outfield.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Maybe he could do more than hit................and pitch.

[csh19792001]

Wouldn`t be surprising if he got maybe 7 bunt singles for 1923,which would give him 50 for his career.

That's something, considering Bonds had 8 bunt hits and 4 sacrifice hits in 3000 career games. Babe had 113 sacrifice hits in 400 fewer career games..

Man, how times have changed....

[SHOELESSJOE3]

This was the 1932 World Series. Well, lemons not as bad as the Card fans in the 1926 World Series, throwing bottles at Babe in left field.
Certainly no reflection on Card fans overall. A Yankee fan here but consider Card fans some of the best in the game.

[Nimrod]

That's something, considering Bonds had 8 bunt hits and 4 sacrifice hits in 3000 career games. Babe had 113 sacrifice hits in 400 fewer career games..

Man, how times have changed....

The biggest gap you can imagine in regards to sacrifice hits would be between two American League HOF.Eddie Collins has the all time record of 512-Harmon Killebrew has the lowest of any position player at 0!I stumbled upon what might be the most per season when I was looking at Ray Chapman`s stats.Chapman,as you know,had his career and life ended with a pitch from Carl Mays,but he had 334 SH in only 1,051 games!Whole different ballgame-literally.

[pheasant]

The biggest gap you can imagine in regards to sacrifice hits would be between two American League HOF.Eddie Collins has the all time record of 512-Harmon Killebrew has the lowest of any position player at 0!I stumbled upon what might be the most per season when I was looking at Ray Chapman`s stats.Chapman,as you know,had his career and life ended with a pitch from Carl Mays,but he had 334 SH in only 1,051 games!Whole different ballgame-literally.

Eddie Collins handled a bat with similar precision that a Minnesota Fats player handled a pool cue. So that one doesn't surprise me. And I believe that Killebrew, a great HR hitter and person(I'm slightly biased, being a lifetime Twins' fan) holds the Guiness Book of World Records for being the slowest man ever.

[csh19792001]

Eddie Collins handled a bat with similar precision that a Minnesota Fats player handled a pool cue. So that one doesn't surprise me. And I believe that Killebrew, a great HR hitter and person(I'm slightly biased, being a lifetime Twins' fan) holds the Guiness Book of World Records for being the slowest man ever.

"Lou Boudreau is easily the slowest ballplayer since Ernie Lombardi was thrown out at first base trying to stretch a double into a single." -Stanley Frank (1908-1979)

(Lombardi grounded into a double play less than 1/20 of his AB's, which has to be far and away the worst rate of anyone with a long career in MLB history.)

David Ortiz is probably the slowest baserunner I've ever seen. And I mainly watched him when he was young! Before he was 35, at that...at very least 10 games/year on TV and many times in person between visits to Fenway, YS, and Camden.

[pheasant]

"Lou Boudreau is easily the slowest ballplayer since Ernie Lombardi was thrown out at first base trying to stretch a double into a single." -Stanley Frank (1908-1979)

(Lombardi grounded into a double play less than 1/20 of his AB's, which has to be far and away the worst rate of anyone with a long career in MLB history.)

David Ortiz is probably the slowest baserunner I've ever seen. And I mainly watched him when he was young! Before he was 35, at that...at very least 10 games/year on TV and many times in person between visits to Fenway, YS, and Camden.

That first quote is hilarious. Ok, he wins! Anybody that gets thrown out like that is slower than Killebrew :cap:

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I have noticed, looking over some of Ty's letters, a fair number written in green.
For those who are not aware, Christy Walsh was Babe's agent in Babe's playing days.

Error in my text.............left out words "he could."

[Dude Paskert]

Eddie Collins handled a bat with similar precision that a Minnesota Fats player handled a pool cue. So that one doesn't surprise me. And I believe that Killebrew, a great HR hitter and person(I'm slightly biased, being a lifetime Twins' fan) holds the Guiness Book of World Records for being the slowest man ever.

The slowest baserunner I've ever seen was Calvin Pickering, who had to be well over three bills. I am ashamed to say that I laughed when this man tried to slide into 2nd at Fenway, came up a few feet short, and had to be taken off the field with an injury that effectively ended his career. I'm sure Killer could have run rings around Calvin.