Statistical Transcendence #1: Babe Ruth

[Mr. Friscus]

I’ll be starting a series looking at instances where a player is so shockingly above all others within their era that it simply makes you shake your head in disbelief. People often try to compare people from completely different generations/eras, but what is more telling to me is how much better a player was than all the others of their generation.

The first entry goes to the Bambino.. the king of Crash, the Sultan of Swat. Considered by many to be the GOAT. However, let’s look at the list of career home runs in the year 1936 *see attached

1. Babe Ruth 714
2. Lou Gherig 383
3. Jimmy Foxx 307
4. Rogers Hornsby 300

Now, to be fair, Gherig ended up hitting 493 in his career, but even if you cede that.. 714 to 493. That’s Ruth amassing 31% more HR’s than anyone else in history up to that point…

Talk about dominant.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Going by memory, but I think it is his single season HR records that were most impressive. I updated as I had confused his personal records with league records. He broke the old HR record 27 when he hit 29 in 1919, then decimates his own record with 54 in 1920! and never looks back until he hit 61. Also don't forget he was a very good pitcher also before he went to the Yankees. Within a few short years the leagues season HR record is increased over 200%! Not even Gretzky comes close to that in his dominant 200+ point seasons. In team sports, his destruction of season HR records changed the game forever. He reinvented the game really.

 

[JoeMoma]

Ruth was the greatest of his era (for home runs). Although his record has been broken, it was under different eras of baseball under different conditions.

 

[Mr. Friscus]

Going by memory, but I think it is his single season HR records that were most impressive. I updated as I had confused his personal records with league records. He broke the old HR record 27 when he hit 29 in 1919, then decimates his own record with 54 in 1920! and never looks back until he hit 61. Also don't forget he was a very good pitcher also before he went to the Yankees. Within a few short years the leagues season HR record is increased over 200%! Not even Gretzky comes close to that in his dominant 200+ point seasons. In team sports, his destruction of season HR records changed the game forever. He reinvented the game really.

in 1927 Ruth hit 60, Gherig 47, and 2 others with 30.

Now for the whopper…

In 1920, Ruth hit 54, 2nd place was 19. Ruth was almost 300% over 2nd place LOL

 

[okfine]

The up and coming GOAT is #17 Ohtani

 

[DGS49]

There can be no real determination of the best of all time. Everyone plays in their own era, so you can only compare them to their contemporaries. Ruth personally changed the game. He changed the strategy of the game, induced others to adopt his hitting philosophy, and made the game more popular than it had ever been before. Wilt Chamberlain had a similar impact in basketball. RULES were changed because of Wilt, which is saying something.

But it is difficult to deny that players in all sports are getting better all the time. Kids start to specialize when they are 6-7 years old, and are taught skills at an early age that are incredibly-well developed by the time they are ready to play at the top level.

One thing that holds the top American athletes back is our practice of arranging competition by age group (or grade in school). In other countries, competition is according to skill level, regardless of age, and the top players develop more quickly and more thoroughly when challenged.

It is almost a statistical certainty that the best players of all time in every sport are playing today, and not sometime in the past.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Ruth was the greatest of his era (for home runs). Although his record has been broken, it was under different eras of baseball under different conditions.

for runs scored too as well ......the guy was a scoring machine....Gehrig may have been more dominate with rbi's...having 3 of the top ten marks...

 

[Mr. Friscus]

It is almost a statistical certainty that the best players of all time in every sport are playing today, and not sometime in the past.

To me that’s just a pointless thing to say as far as comparing players. It’s like saying “power lifters today are better powerlifters than 100 years ago”. Well, yeah.. they have one hundred years of science, steroids, strategies, diet knowledge, lifting techniques, etc. However, IMO, that doesnt make them “better”.

If you’re going to compare Babe Ruth to todays players, you either have to:

A. Imagine Babe playing travel ball from youth with todays training techniques/specialization, using todays strength/conditioning techniques, diet knowledge, supplements, and 100 years of game strategy and wisdom for players/coaches.

Or…

B. Take all that away from todays players, have them play sparingly only in season, have them not workout, probably being active smokers, not care much about diet, no supplements, minimal knowledge of any advanced techniques..

You can’t just rip people out of time and compare a player from 2023 to a player from 1923. It’s a waste of time, and proves nothing

What you can do is see how Babe was so far above everyone when he played, and see that even Bonds, McGwire, etc weren’t as far above their contemporaries as Ruth was of his.

That’s at least an argument to have that has an ounce of context

 

[Mr. Friscus]

Going by memory, but I think it is his single season HR records that were most impressive. I updated as I had confused his personal records with league records. He broke the old HR record 27 when he hit 29 in 1919, then decimates his own record with 54 in 1920! and never looks back until he hit 61. Also don't forget he was a very good pitcher also before he went to the Yankees. Within a few short years the leagues season HR record is increased over 200%! Not even Gretzky comes close to that in his dominant 200+ point seasons. In team sports, his destruction of season HR records changed the game forever. He reinvented the game really.

He led the league in HR’s 11 times

Here’s Ruth’s hr total - 2nd (% he was ahead)
1918: 11-11 (tie)
1919: 29-12 (+141%)
1920: 54-19 (+184%)
1921: 59-24 (+145%)
1923: 41-41 (tie)
1924: 46-27 (+70%)
1926: 47-21 (+124%)
1927: 60-47 (+28%)
1928: 54-27 (+50%)
1929: 46-43 (+7%)
1931: 46-46 (tie)

Insane. Absolutely on a completely different level than all others.

You could call it.. statistical transcendence!

 

[Slade3200]

I’ll be starting a series looking at instances where a player is so shockingly above all others within their era that it simply makes you shake your head in disbelief. People often try to compare people from completely different generations/eras, but what is more telling to me is how much better a player was than all the others of their generation.

The first entry goes to the Bambino.. the king of Crash, the Sultan of Swat. Considered by many to be the GOAT. However, let’s look at the list of career home runs in the year 1936 *see attached

1. Babe Ruth 714
2. Lou Gherig 383
3. Jimmy Foxx 307
4. Rogers Hornsby 300

Now, to be fair, Gherig ended up hitting 493 in his career, but even if you cede that.. 714 to 493. That’s Ruth amassing 31% more HR’s than anyone else in history up to that point…

Talk about dominant.

Cool idea. Check out golf in that time 1934 and 1935. There is one player that soars above all but nobody knows of….

 

[shockedcanadian]

He led the league in HR’s 11 times

Here’s Ruth’s hr total - 2nd (% he was ahead)
1918: 11-11 (tie)
1919: 29-12 (+141%)
1920: 54-19 (+184%)
1921: 59-24 (+145%)
1923: 41-41 (tie)
1924: 46-27 (+70%)
1926: 47-21 (+124%)
1927: 60-47 (+28%)
1928: 54-27 (+50%)
1929: 46-43 (+7%)
1931: 46-46 (tie)

Insane. Absolutely on a completely different level than all others.

You could call it.. statistical transcendence!

I don't mean to be critical but your math is way off. You need to include the denominator, which means adding 100% to each value. For instance, 54 is 284% of 19 not 184%. Think of it this way, 3x 19 (or 300%) is 57. I know how you are calculating it, I just believe it is inaccurate in this context.

 

[Mr. Friscus]

I don't mean to be critical but your math is way off. You need to include the denominator, which means adding 100% to each value. For instance, 54 is 284% of 19 not 184%. Think of it this way, 3x 19 (or 300%) is 57. I know how you are calculating it, I just believe it is inaccurate in this context.

Yes but 54 is 184% higher than 19.. I’m doing % higher. He was 35 HRs ahead of 2nd, which is 184% as 38 ahead (19x2) would be 200%

 

[DGS49]

Babe Ruth used a 42 ounce bat for most of his career. That simply would not have been possible at today's pitch velocities. He would have had to start swinging as soon as the pitcher started his windup.

 

[Mr. Friscus]

Babe Ruth used a 42 ounce bat for most of his career. That simply would not have been possible at today's pitch velocities. He would have had to start swinging as soon as the pitcher started his windup.

Okay.. and? I’m sure a babe would have adapted easily to the modern game if he lived in modern times.Batters didn’t perform year round advanced strength training techniques with protein/supplements and improved bats that have more pop back then like they do today… if Babe had access to all that.. it’s safe to say he’d maul todays pitchers like he did then