by SSTN Admin
December 21, 2022
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Recently, the people at BaseballScouter, asked us to share some of the good work they're doing over on their site. We looked their site over, saw some quality material, and a nice in-depth article on Babe Ruth.
We agreed to share an excerpt from the Babe Ruth article here.
Take a look and enjoy!
1926 to 1928: The 1927 ‘Murder’s Row,’ and the Magical 60
Apparently learning his lesson to take better care of himself, Ruth returned in 1926 with a vengeance. Very few major leaguers enjoyed the level of success of Babe Ruth from 1926 to 1928. Consider:
In 1927, his 60 home runs extended his own single-season record and established a threshold for greatness that lasts to this day.
He missed only 5 games total over the 3 seasons!
He amazingly stroked 47, 60, and 54 home runs those seasons, respectively.
His totals for runs batted in and base on balls are astronomical even to this day: he averaged over 154 RBIs per season, and 139 walks ~ seasonal totals that any ballplayer today would be proud of.
During the period, he never struck out more than 89 times, despite sticking with a powerful home run swing that often produces strikeout totals deep into triple digits in today’s game.
Compare today’s league leaders to the .372, .356, and .323 he hit those years.
He headlined a 1927 Yankees team deemed “Murder’s Row” and ranked by many as the best MLB team ever.
Ruth returned to the championship ranks, with New York sweeping both the 1927 and 1928 World Series contests.
1929 to 1934: Maintained Excellence, and the Called Shot
Ruth continued to produce superior numbers through the early years of the Great Depression, before his numbers began to decline in 1933 and 1934.
Still, in the 1932 World Series versus the Chicago Cubs, in the 5th inning of Game 3 at Wrigley Field, Ruth legend has it that the aging slugger pointed to the outfield stands and “called his shot” before sending a homer over the fence.
The called shot remains in dispute to this day ~ some say he was merely gesturing in anger at Cubs players ~ but the story remains a huge part of the Ruth lore.
In his 15 years with the Yankees, Ruth helped the team win 7 American League (AL) pennants, and 4 World Series championships.
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