02 Dec 06
Originally posted by richfeetGood list. You forgot to add Pete Rose, Schmidt, Ryan, Griffey Junior unless of course you were trying to make a all Black team.
Willie Mays or Barry Bonds or Josh Gibson or Jackie Robinson or Hank Aaron or Bob Gibson or Roberto Clemete or Frank Robinson or Satchmo Paige or Reggie Jackson.
03 Dec 06
Originally posted by Dr StrangeloveIn 1874 a group of American baseball players toured England playing exhibition baseball games and charitably accepting challenges from the best Cricketeers in England and Ireland. The Americans, playing the game for the first time, won every match, including the one against Grace and his lads.
Haha, yeah righto Red.
Spalding had also arranged for the Americans to play cricket matches which the Americans won handily, astonishing the English with their hitting and fielding prowess. What the American players did wasn't "quite cricket"—whaling away at pitches and driving the ball incredible distances compared to the more scientific strategy of cricket play favored by the English—but it was successful. The Americans won all their cricket matches but one. Wright worried that the American brand of play would alienate the English by its ungentlemanly roughness, especially as he concerned to show them that America had developed a game worth imitating.
03 Dec 06
Originally posted by Red NightThe only one of the seven teams Grace ever played for was the Marylebone Cricket Club. The game was played on the 3rd & 4th August at Lords, on both of those days Grace was playing for a combined Gloucestershire/Kent team against England at Canterbury.
But for this site, I wouldn't even know who Grace was. He was one of the Cricketeers who lost to the American team of baseball players who humiliated various English teams in 1874!
03 Dec 06
1 edit
Originally posted by Ian68We should really research this some more. This would make a great movie.
The only one of the seven teams Grace ever played for was the Marylebone Cricket Club. The game was played on the 3rd & 4th August at Lords, on both of those days Grace was playing for a combined Gloucestershire/Kent team against England at Canterbury.
You may be right that Grace didn't play. I knew that I had seen the name and when I found the reference again he was apparently only a spectator.
The Prince of Wales was also a spectator. (Do you have Prince Albert in a can? Well, you should let him out then.)
We should use that joke in the film script. I'm telling you it's a great movie.
I can visualize a scene: two stuffy Englishmen in white pants, blue blazers,and bowlers stiing in lawn chairs sipping tea.
1. "Perhaps we should just call the whole match off, Chauncey."
2. "Yes Miles. The Americans keep hitting in the ball so far it get's lost."
1. "Hear, hear Chaunce, The Yanks are costing us a bloody fortune in Cricket balls."
2. "It's just not cricket, my good man. It's just not cricket."
03 Dec 06
1 edit
Originally posted by Red NightOnly reason Ruth missed 3,000 hits is because he walked so much (2,000+ times)... well, that and the fact that he pitched for a few years at the beginning of his career...
...The only number he (Babe Ruth) doesn't have is 3000 hits. Which sort of makes his home run total all the more impressive.
03 Dec 06
2 edits
Originally posted by poundleeRuth's career record (regular season) was 94-46, in addition to being 3-0 in World Series play. He stole 123 bases.
Babe Ruth won over 100 games as a pitcher. He out homered teams. He revolutionized the game. Even stole a significant number of bases and had a great arm in the outfield. His numbers are mindboogling.
At one time, Ruth simultaneously held the record for (1) Most HR hit in World Series play, with 15 and (2) most consecutive scoreless innings pitched in world series play with 29...
Mantle broke his home run record in 1964, and Whitey Ford broke his consecutive scoreless innings record in 1961. But the thought that one man could hold both records for that long is mind-boggling.
03 Dec 06
Originally posted by TheBloopRuth was great. His record is amazing. My biggest argument against Ruth is that his .342 lifetime average is impressive compared to modern day players, but it isn't that impressive when compared to his peers: Gehrig .340, Hornsby .356, Foxx .332, Al Simmons .325, etc.
Ruth's career record (regular season) was 94-46, in addition to being 3-0 in World Series play. He stole 123 bases.
At one time, Ruth simultaneously held the record for (1) Most HR hit in World Series play, with 15 and (2) most consecutive scoreless innings pitched in world series play with 29...
Mantle broke his home run record in 1964, and Whitey ...[text shortened]... d in 1961. But the thought that one man could hold both records for that long is mind-boggling.
Still, you may be right that Ruth was the best ever. But, I still vote for Mays.
03 Dec 06
Originally posted by Red NightRuth played in the 20s and 30s, and at that time there were a lot of run-of-the-mill players who hit .320... the offensive totals in the 20s and 30s were inflated quite a bit...
Ruth was great. His record is amazing. My biggest argument against Ruth is that his .342 lifetime average is impressive compared to modern day players, but it isn't that impressive when compared to his peers: Gehrig .340, Hornsby .356, Foxx .332, Al Simmons .325, etc.
Still, you may be right that Ruth was the best ever. But, I still vote for Mays.
Lefty O'Doul had a .349 career average in a short career (970 games, 3,264 AB)... Riggs Stephenson hit .336 for his career (1,310 games, 4,508 AB)... and neither of them ever came close to making the Hall of Fame (nor should they have)....
While it was true that batting averges were at all time highs in the 20s and (particularly) the '30s, it's obvious that Ruth and Gehrig did a lot of other things besides compile great batting averages...
Ruth's .690 slugging pct, for example, is still comfotably in first place, all time... Ted Williams is 2nd at .634.
1. Babe Ruth .6898
2. Ted Williams .6338
3. Lou Gehrig .6324
4. Albert Pujols .6286
5. Jimmie Foxx .6093
6. Barry Bonds .6084
Bonds did recently shatter Ruth's single-seaon slugging pct record, by slugging .863 in 2001...he and Ruth are the only players ever to slug .800 for a season:
1. Barry Bonds .8630 2001
2. Babe Ruth .8490 1920
3. Babe Ruth .8460 1921
4. Barry Bonds .8120 2004
5. Barry Bonds .7990 2002
6. Babe Ruth .7720 1927
7. Lou Gehrig .7650 1927
8. Babe Ruth .7640 1923
You're right about Mays though...he was incredible...