Mantle and Bunting in the World Series

Just as Turkey Stearns and Oscar Charleston would not hit .420 against today's competition neither would Ruth. But if Miguel Cabrera went back to the 1920s and they let him play (a big "IF") he would easily hit .400 with 60 plus homeruns.

The size of the player pool is more than a 1000 times greater today. Today's MLB player faces pitchers from all over the World that start playing when they can walk. Babe Ruth faced the same couple dozen pitchers year in and year out.

I agree that Ted Williams would be a great hitter in any era (maybe Ruth would as well,..maybe). Ted Williams had incredible eye sight.... But many of the players of Ruth's era simply would not make Major League teams of today. The numbers bear that out.

How many premier closers did Ruth hit homeruns against? The pitching staffs of Ruth's era were small, overworked and underpaid.

If Babe Ruth would have similar numbers against today's competition as he did in the 1920s does that mean Ty Cobb would hit .420 against today's competition? Would Hugh Duffy be able to hit .440 against today's competition? How would Miguel Cabrera do against 1920s pitching? How would Cabrera do against the pitching of the 1880s and 1890s?

What was the size of the white population of the U.S. that was eligible to play baseball in the 1920s? What were high school teams of the era doing in the 1920s? Were there little league programs all over the U.S., Japan, Korea and Central America in the 1920s? Today's MLB player has to face larger specialized pitching staffs with premium setup guys and closers from all over the world.

So Babe Ruth 60 HRs a year in the 1920s but that alone only tells a fraction of the story. Even the profession players of that era did not play ball year round. Nowadays kids are playing baseball year round the world over.

There are just so many factors that do not favor Ruth. Maybe number 20 on the list would be, how many players with Ruth's build are all-stars in MLB of today?

How many premier closers did Ruth hit homeruns against? The pitching staffs of Ruth's era were small, overworked and underpaid.

So if they had paid the pitchers more Ruth would have had more difficulty hitting them? Maybe only 40 HRs?

If the pitchers had been able to work full time on their craft they would have been better. I believe Bill James compared 1920s baseball to triple A baseball of today (though I could be wrong about that). However, I am not convinced 1920s baseball was as good as triple A ball of today. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinions. No one can dispute that the pool of players has exploded exponentially.

Again, Ruth did not have to face Mario Riveria or the great Asian pitchers of today.

Radagast Brown you keep making these nonsensical statements that players of the past were not as good as today's minor leaguers playing class A ball. You just flat out don't know what your talking about and your ridiculous statements prove it. This is just like the prejudice that people have against ancient peoples. Oh those stupid Egyptians couldn't have built those pyramids it must have been space aliens. Well it wasn't space aliens it was ancient Egyptians. Ancient people were extremely intelligent and resourceful. In fact they were more resourceful than we so called "modern" humans because they were able to build the pyramids and other wonders with only copper and stone tools. And to think that pitchers and managers of the 20s couldn't adjust to a Cabrera within a season Or two is ridiculous. They would be able leassen the threat as they learned to deal with the threat. Yes some modern players would feast on the not so deep pitching staffs for a while. They would adjust and the pitching staffs would get deep real fast. And they would adjust just as Major Leaguers adjusted to the influx of Black and Latin players in the 50s and 60s. By the same token if pitchers from the 20s were transported to today they would start to adjust by learning the new pitches and pitching and bullpen techniques. They would adjust. Many modern players would put up great numbers for a long time in years past but their effect would lessen a little each year as the old time pitchers, managers, and owners would adjust to mitigate the new threat. The same is true if you transported old time pitchers to the modern era. A lot of them might get bombed for a while but if allowed to stay they start to adjust. I'm not saying all of them would dominate but many would learn and adjust. They weren't stupid. People adjust. Nothing remains static.

Mister Valen:


I hear you about the MLB Tonight crowd, but, in their defense (something I would not usually do - except for Harold they often act/speak like a bunch of tools, my opinion) there is a big difference between the Mick, who could FLY, bunting with a Yankee lineup behind him and Rizzo, who is not gonna make anyone forget even Cavarettta, Grace or Durham on the bases

but even saying that, I have seen Rizz bunt a few times and I like it; what we (Cubs and their fans) need is a true #4 or a number 5 that is dangerous enough to get Castro as many strike in reality as eh thinks he is getting now...