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Saturday, February 06, 2010

MLB: Singer: Sultan of Swat celebrates 115th birthday

100% natural psyllium fiber-fueled Singer zingers to follow!

All the magic numbers are gone. But the magic will never fade. For decades, Americans reacted with instant recognition to 60-714, Ruth’s homer records for a season and for a career.

Quick test: What is the new career number? (762, but the hunch is you had to look it up.)

The good news is, Babe’s diminished role in the record books is safe. No one will touch his career slugging mark in an era in which normal people do not even reach .690 for a season. Similarly, an OPS of .900 any season is considered exceptional. And to put his remaining season marks into modern perspective: The most extra-base hits Albert Pujols has had in any season is 99, and the most times Ichiro Suzuki has reached base is 315.

The Bambino’s role in baseball’s evolution, of course, can never be diminished, or measured. Although some have tried: In 1919, the season prior to Ruth’s game-changing trade to New York, the 16 MLB teams drew an average of 408,277 fans; by ‘27, Ruth’s captivating 60-homer season, that average was up to 620,179.

Last season, the 30 MLB teams had an average season draw of 2,447,736.

Just part of the Bambino’s legacy.

Repoz Posted: February 06, 2010 at 12:54 PM | 9 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: hall of fame, history

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1. Morty Causa Posted: February 06, 2010 at 03:44 PM (#3455283)

I'm struck by that photo in how Ruth's resembles Williams's. Also, note that the evidence that Ruth wasn't born with a beer gut.

2. Morty Causa Posted: February 06, 2010 at 04:00 PM (#3455288)

That's "how Ruth's form"

3. Justin 'The Cespedobear' T Posted: February 06, 2010 at 04:17 PM (#3455293)

This probably makes me a bad Primate, but I did not know that Bowie Kuhn had to intervene to force the Braves to play Aaron on the road to open the 1974 season when he was sitting at 713.

Hard to fathom doing that to start the year. If it was August, and the team was 5 games under .500, okay, but come on.

4. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: February 06, 2010 at 04:28 PM (#3455296)

This probably makes me a bad Primate, but I did not know that Bowie Kuhn had to intervene to force the Braves to play Aaron on the road to open the 1974 season when he was sitting at 713.

That was a decision that Kuhn never got the proper amount of credit for, though he diluted it by letting the Braves hold out Aaron the next day, which they never, ever would have done in any other set of circumstances. It was only one game, but what the Braves did struck at the heart of the game's integrity just as surely as if Eddie Mathews had placed a bet on the game.

5. Greg Goosen at 30 Posted: February 06, 2010 at 07:33 PM (#3455355)

Bowie Kuhn = integrity? You can't say that very often.

In the 1974 Aaron case he did although he would have been a lot smarter to have the Braves open the season at home. That would have at least allowed the Braves owners to get at least one big payday and to let what there were of Braves fans a chance to cheer their hometown hero.

As far as Aaron should have played all three games at Cincinnati, the previous year he played only 105 games in the field. So allowing a 40 year old Aaron a day off in 1974 was keeping with his established playing usage.

6. Walt Davis Posted: February 06, 2010 at 11:26 PM (#3455459)

you need an extraordinary belief in the after-life and a reasonably liberal belief about who gets into heaven to think that Ruth is celebrating anything. :-)

Or maybe the headline writer thinks Ruth and Elvis are hanging out in a Bakersfield motel room.

7. My Grate Friend, Peason Posted: February 06, 2010 at 11:40 PM (#3455462)

Quick test: What is the new career number? (762, but the hunch is you had to look it up.)

No offense to Singer, but this fails.

8. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: February 07, 2010 at 12:10 AM (#3455473)

Bowie Kuhn = integrity? You can't say that very often.

But in this case you could, although I after seeing Aaron's usage in 1973 and 1974, I can agree that holding him out in one of the three games wouldn't have been out of the ordinary. But what the Braves were trying to do by holding him out on Opening Day was to compromise their best chance of winning for the sake of a spike in their home attendance. It wasn't a baseball decision, and Kuhn was absolutely correct in not allowing it.

9. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 07, 2010 at 12:27 AM (#3455476)

I didn't know what the new career HR number was. Or about Bowie Kuhn's intervention. Making me both a bad Primate and a bad MSM zombie.

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Saturday, February 06, 2010

MLB: Singer: Sultan of Swat celebrates 115th birthday

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