Best Switch Hitter?
LarkinCollector
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in Sports Talk
Most lists will put Mantle at the top, arguments for Rose or Chipper taking the crown?
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Mantle
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
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How can Pete Rose be considered?
He wasn't even good enough to get into the Hall of Fame.
I can only bump and set, counting on someone else to spike it. I was going to make reference to long-distance running fans, but couldn't leave it that obvious.
Correction: The HOF wasn't good enough for him.
Mantle because of his power
Rose because he is the All Time Hit Leader
Eddie Murray
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Chipper MUCH better hitter than Rose. Mantle the best!
Agreed. Rose kept penciling himself into the lineup and played long enough to get to the all time hit mark, but his career batting average is still just a shade above .300 with little power. Great player, but also an overrated one.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Rose would pencil himself in because he would have a bet through a friend he would strike out on his first at bat or second or third.
Because he was a degenerate gambler
LOL, clever way to make book on a prop bet!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Joe says, Hey Bruno, what are the odds on a prop bet on Pete Rose striking out four times in tonight's game.
Bruno the bookie replies, Chit that will never happen with that lousy pitcher, i'll give ya 100 to 1 odds on it.
Okay Bruno, I'll take that bet for a dime.
Ten minutes later this phone conversation occurs, Hi Pete, I got the bet in.
Good job Joe, bring me my 50k as soon as you collect.
Mantle was the best switch hitter, but I wonder about the switch hitter thing. Mantle’s batting average was .330 right handed and .281 left handed. He hit the famed 565 foot home run right handed. His homerun percentage per at bats was higher left handed, but that was with the short right field at Yankee Stadium. My point is did being a switch hitter really improve his stats?
There were some guys, like Jimmy Rollins, who really had me asking, why are you doing this? When you are hitting less than .200 on you unnatural side, is this really working?
Mantle is so far in front on this list everybody else is playing for 3rd place.
He's in the HOF. They have the base in there that he set the record on. A pair of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's shoes are in the HOF too, so he is in there. Hypocrites.
Good question. Mantle was better from the right side, especially after he hurt his shoulder in 1957, he was shown a video of himself hitting left handed and was told he had changed his way of holding the bat. He replied that his shoulder kept him from being able to hold it the way he used to. He also quit bunting as much as he did when he first came up, that hurt his average batting lefty.
One of his teammates said if he would have just hit right handed he would have been better than Ted Williams!
Mantle far and away the best, but give me steady Eddie for my #2
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Of course we will never know how well Mantle would have done batting righty vs a righty. Odds are batting righty vs a righty would not be anywhere near what he did batting right handed vs LEFTY pitchers.
Anyway, his splits as they stand are not far apart at all. Compare his splits to some contemporary NON switch hitters and they have far greater splits.
Mantle OPS vs RH was .966
Mantle OPS vs LH was .998
Mays OPS vs RH was .915........compare that to Mantle's .966 switching to left side to face the RH
Mays OPS vs LH was 1.005
Aaron OPS vs RH was .900.....compare that to Mantle's .966 switching to the left side to face the RH
Aaron OPS vs LH was .1008
WIlliams OPS vs RH was 1.156
Williams OPS vs LH was .931
Musial OPS vs RH .995
Musial OPS vs LH .917
Seems, compared to his elite contemporaries, that Mantle was better served switching to the other side rather than facing same side pitcher, as the others all fared much worse facing same side pitcher.
I don't see any way how batting right handed exclusively would make Mantle a better hitter than Ted Williams. Players don't perform better facing the same side pitcher...they perform worse, and Manlte batting RH vs a lefty was a .998. THat would be much lower if he were to bat right handed vs a right hander.
Mantle Mays and Aaron retired before I was born I think. No way to ever know. Gotta see them actually swing stats aint going to cut it.
Of course some of you guys are in your 90's so you probably saw them play . Maybe went to 1 game a year and then sat around a giant wooden radio and listened to the other games. Oh there was 4 hours of TV a day on 2 channels I almost forgot about that.
Speaking of that I'd rather watch 8 hours of off the air TV station test pattern than some old black and white crazy legs fast motion baseball footage.
Yes, I saw Mays play in 1964 in Philadelphia against the Phillies. I remember two plays. One, he got cut down at second trying to stretch a single into a double. The fans had a lot fun giving hin the needle for that. The second, one of the Phillies hit a screaming line drive to center that looked like it would be in the gap. Mays, looking like he was running on rails, caught up with it easily.
The player was not talking about OPS but about the fact that he perceived Mantle's stance and swing right handed nearly "perfect", while batting lefty he was "an uppercutter" who was more prone to striking out. Mantle had a higher BA right handed. I can't remember if it was Bobby Richardson who made the comment, but the opinion was that Mantle was a natural right handed hitter and might have been even better if he focused on that. We'll never know. I thought it was an interesting comment.
I saw some interesting diagrams in a book that showed Mantle's mechanics both ways and his right handed swing was "better" than his left handed.
Mantle did bat right handed against a right handed pitcher on one occasion. He was trying to hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium but he flied out to center field, so his stats ARE bad righty against righty ;-)
I think that had Mantle devoted all of his BP time to batting right he surely could have been a better hitter. He really only devoted half of his practice time to hitting righty as he would have been using BP to also hit left. Imagine if Williams had only used half of his lifetime BP opportunities. I would imagine his stats would have taken a hit.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.