Sheepdawg wrote: ↑18 Sep 2025 11:01 am
According to Buck O'Neil Paige did face Ruth in an exhibition at the end of his career and that Ruth hit a monstrous HR to dead centerfield. O'Neil continued that Paige was waiting for Ruth at homeplate with a ball asking for an autograph. The story is backed up by Ruth's daughter Julia.
I'm sure Paige, with his ego, gave his all facing Ruth and probably registered several outs against him too.
Paige said he never faced Ruth.
Also, O’Neill’s story was NOT back up by Ruth’s daughter Julia. She said Paige held Ruth hitless… however, both stories appear to be apocryphal.
Believe what you want but to think any pro ballplayer given the chance to pitch to Ruth would purposely throw him a big meatball is really stretching things.
Again believe what you want.
The Washington Generals were doing their best.
It’s an observation… call it a stretch, and it might be. Lost in all this is the fact Ruth was in favor of integration, and recognized that many stars of the Negro Leagues were equal to those of the majors. He was ordered by Landis to stop organizing his exhibition games. It’s believed that his association with black players may have cost him a shot to manage.
cardiological wrote: ↑16 Sep 2025 23:53 pm
Hit number 50 tonight. Also pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 hits.
Baseball fans, we may very well be witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport.
There was this guy named George Herman Ruth. Might ought to look at his numbers. Compare them to Ohtani's
Ruth played in a time when there was no diversity, guys ate pasta more than lifting weights and pitchers were throwing 80 mph tops. He stole home ten times in his career. That shows you how mediocre the athletes were in his day.
Walter Johnson would be laughing, he likely topped 98+ mph.
Bill Jenkinson has documented 16 exhibition games in which Ruth played against black pitchers. He also mentions 3 other games for which there isn't any contemporary primary sources. Below is a summary of how he performed in the documented games per Jenkinson:
AB - 55
1B - 11
2B - 2
3B - 0
HR - 12
BA - .455
SA - 1.145
This includes his 3 jacks in one game off "Cannonball" Dick Redding in 1927.
cardiological wrote: ↑16 Sep 2025 23:53 pm
Hit number 50 tonight. Also pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 hits.
Baseball fans, we may very well be witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport.
There was this guy named George Herman Ruth. Might ought to look at his numbers. Compare them to Ohtani's
Ruth played in a time when there was no diversity, guys ate pasta more than lifting weights and pitchers were throwing 80 mph tops. He stole home ten times in his career. That shows you how mediocre the athletes were in his day.
Walter Johnson would be laughing, he likely topped 98+ mph.
And pitchers were NOT throwing 80 MPH.
The only semi-scientific study done of Johnson’s fastball clocked him around 91. Other estimates claim he could have touched the mid-90s. It’s generally accepted that pitchers in the 20s were mostly topping out in the mid-80s, but I’m sure you’ll provide a lot of bull[shirt] evidence to the contrary.
cardiological wrote: ↑16 Sep 2025 23:53 pm
Hit number 50 tonight. Also pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 hits.
Baseball fans, we may very well be witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport.
There was this guy named George Herman Ruth. Might ought to look at his numbers. Compare them to Ohtani's
Ruth played in a time when there was no diversity, guys ate pasta more than lifting weights and pitchers were throwing 80 mph tops. He stole home ten times in his career. That shows you how mediocre the athletes were in his day.
Ohtani would’ve dominated that level of competition even way more than he is now. He’d have set records that could never be surpassed with the evolution of the modern athlete over the last 90 years.
If it's and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas.
Ohtani is great, probably the greatest of the 21st Century but Ruth last picked up a bat in the ML 90 plus years ago. He's been dead 77 years yet we are still talking about him and the majority of people still consider him the GOAT.
Lol that’s fair, but you said compare!
Did you? Check out career WAR.
I checked their WAWO-PIP
Wins Above White Only Physically Inferior Peers.
I love the players of old. But if you think Ohtani and Judge and the like would not all out dominate then you greatly underestimating the evolutionary nature of sports and athletes. Ever see those old videos of those white dudes playing basketball?
Yes, I saw Jerry West, John Havlicek, Rick Barry, Pete Maravich, and John Stockton play basketball.
Sheepdawg wrote: ↑18 Sep 2025 11:01 am
According to Buck O'Neil Paige did face Ruth in an exhibition at the end of his career and that Ruth hit a monstrous HR to dead centerfield. O'Neil continued that Paige was waiting for Ruth at homeplate with a ball asking for an autograph. The story is backed up by Ruth's daughter Julia.
I'm sure Paige, with his ego, gave his all facing Ruth and probably registered several outs against him too.
Paige said he never faced Ruth.
Also, O’Neill’s story was NOT back up by Ruth’s daughter Julia. She said Paige held Ruth hitless… however, both stories appear to be apocryphal.
Believe what you want but to think any pro ballplayer given the chance to pitch to Ruth would purposely throw him a big meatball is really stretching things.
Again believe what you want.
The Washington Generals were doing their best.
It’s an observation… call it a stretch, and it might be. Lost in all this is the fact Ruth was in favor of integration, and recognized that many stars of the Negro Leagues were equal to those of the majors. He was ordered by Landis to stop organizing his exhibition games. It’s believed that his association with black players may have cost him a shot to manage.
Ruth was known to go to Negro League games and sit on a team's bench. Ruth, after mass quantities of alcohol, was probably a loud, lewd, life of the party type that used words that would definitely offend folks but deep down I don’t believe he had a problem with race.
Sheepdawg wrote: ↑18 Sep 2025 11:01 am
According to Buck O'Neil Paige did face Ruth in an exhibition at the end of his career and that Ruth hit a monstrous HR to dead centerfield. O'Neil continued that Paige was waiting for Ruth at homeplate with a ball asking for an autograph. The story is backed up by Ruth's daughter Julia.
I'm sure Paige, with his ego, gave his all facing Ruth and probably registered several outs against him too.
Paige said he never faced Ruth.
Also, O’Neill’s story was NOT back up by Ruth’s daughter Julia. She said Paige held Ruth hitless… however, both stories appear to be apocryphal.
Believe what you want but to think any pro ballplayer given the chance to pitch to Ruth would purposely throw him a big meatball is really stretching things.
Again believe what you want.
The Washington Generals were doing their best.
It’s an observation… call it a stretch, and it might be. Lost in all this is the fact Ruth was in favor of integration, and recognized that many stars of the Negro Leagues were equal to those of the majors. He was ordered by Landis to stop organizing his exhibition games. It’s believed that his association with black players may have cost him a shot to manage.
Ruth was known to go to Negro League games and sit on a team's bench. Ruth, after mass quantities of alcohol, was probably a loud, lewd, life of the party type that used words that would definitely offend folks but deep down I don’t believe he had a problem with race.
cardiological wrote: ↑16 Sep 2025 23:53 pm
Hit number 50 tonight. Also pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 hits.
Baseball fans, we may very well be witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport.
Babe Ruth
NOT EVEN CLOSE
Agreed. To me, the best measure is how well a player compared to others during his career. Ohtani is amazing and has been robbed of an MVP in my opinion, and he is the best player right now. That said, Ruth was not only the best player, almost every year he played, he was head and shoulders above his contemporaries for a majority of his career. He's almost 15 WAR ahead of the 2nd highest career war. I don't think there's a gap bigger than 10 anywhere else in the top 100 and only 1 of those. No other player has been so dominant during their career in my opinion.
cardiological wrote: ↑16 Sep 2025 23:53 pm
Hit number 50 tonight. Also pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 hits.
Baseball fans, we may very well be witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport.
There was this guy named George Herman Ruth. Might ought to look at his numbers. Compare them to Ohtani's
Ruth played in a time when there was no diversity, guys ate pasta more than lifting weights and pitchers were throwing 80 mph tops. He stole home ten times in his career. That shows you how mediocre the athletes were in his day.
Ohtani would’ve dominated that level of competition even way more than he is now. He’d have set records that could never be surpassed with the evolution of the modern athlete over the last 90 years.
If it's and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas.
Ohtani is great, probably the greatest of the 21st Century but Ruth last picked up a bat in the ML 90 plus years ago. He's been dead 77 years yet we are still talking about him and the majority of people still consider him the GOAT.
Lol that’s fair, but you said compare!
Did you? Check out career WAR.
I checked their WAWO-PIP
Wins Above White Only Physically Inferior Peers.
I love the players of old. But if you think Ohtani and Judge and the like would not all out dominate then you greatly underestimating the evolutionary nature of sports and athletes. Ever see those old videos of those white dudes playing basketball?
Yes, I saw Jerry West, John Havlicek, Rick Barry, Pete Maravich, and John Stockton play basketball.
All great players that competed against the other best players with no barriers. You know I was going way back before their eras. I never said white dudes couldn’t play. I inferred competition in early baseball had “restrictions” that greatly skewed the level of competition. And no, I’m not a liberal, by any means.
cardiological wrote: ↑16 Sep 2025 23:53 pm
Hit number 50 tonight. Also pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 hits.
Baseball fans, we may very well be witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport.
There was this guy named George Herman Ruth. Might ought to look at his numbers. Compare them to Ohtani's
Pete Rose agrees with you. His simple explanation was Ruth was hitting rocks. In other words the baseballs back then weren't as well made as they are today.
cardiological wrote: ↑16 Sep 2025 23:53 pm
Hit number 50 tonight. Also pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 hits.
Baseball fans, we may very well be witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport.
Babe Ruth
NOT EVEN CLOSE
Agreed. To me, the best measure is how well a player compared to others during his career. Ohtani is amazing and has been robbed of an MVP in my opinion, and he is the best player right now. That said, Ruth was not only the best player, almost every year he played, he was head and shoulders above his contemporaries for a majority of his career. He's almost 15 WAR ahead of the 2nd highest career war. I don't think there's a gap bigger than 10 anywhere else in the top 100 and only 1 of those. No other player has been so dominant during their career in my opinion.
