fun baseball fact

craig44

I just read that Walter Johnsons last game was also the same game in which Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run on Sept. 30, 1927.

Interestingly, Johnson did not pitch in that game, he came up as a pinch hitter in the 9th and flied out to end the game.

Pretty cool that the greatest dead ball pitcher lasted long enough to play in the same game that the 60th home run was hit in.

DocBenjamin

ElMagoStrikeZone

Big Train retired, then Babe boarded a train to go barnstorming across the country.

Basebal21

Only 3 teams in the AL and NL hit more HRs as a team that year than Ruth did. Not sure Id say the dead ball era was really over but Ruth sure made it look like it was lol

BLUEJAYWAY

@craig44 said:
I just read that Walter Johnsons last game was also the same game in which Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run on Sept. 30, 1927.

Interestingly, Johnson did not pitch in that game, he came up as a pinch hitter in the 9th and flied out to end the game.

Pretty cool that the greatest dead ball pitcher lasted long enough to play in the same game that the 60th home run was hit in.

Would make a fine history baseball card. In fact a series of cards with these interesting fun facts would be a great series.

1948_Swell_Robinson

@Basebal21 said:
Only 3 teams in the AL and NL hit more HRs as a team that year than Ruth did. Not sure Id say the dead ball era was really over but Ruth sure made it look like it was lol

Because they were predominately slap hitters that were hitting ground balls. A live ball doesn't turn ground balls into home runs no matter how live the ball was.

Gavvy Cravath was out homering entire teams too. Other players did as well.

It takes a greater understanding of the game and its evolution to see what was involved, other than just saying, "Ruth out homered every team therefore he is "xxxx...etc"

Basebal21

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Basebal21 said:
Only 3 teams in the AL and NL hit more HRs as a team that year than Ruth did. Not sure Id say the dead ball era was really over but Ruth sure made it look like it was lol

Because they were predominately slap hitters that were hitting ground balls. A live ball doesn't turn ground balls into home runs no matter how live the ball was.

Gavvy Cravath was out homering entire teams too. Other players did as well.

It takes a greater understanding of the game and its evolution to see what was involved, other than just saying, "Ruth out homered every team therefore he is "xxxx...etc"

There wasnt some dramatic change in the ball that all of a sudden made more homeruns. The most dramatic changes in the balls its self have happened in the modern era.

I get that a lot of the guys were slap hitters like how a lot of guys swing for the fences now. A couple players in the league at the time were able to do things no one else was doing though

1948_Swell_Robinson

@Basebal21 said:

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Basebal21 said:
Only 3 teams in the AL and NL hit more HRs as a team that year than Ruth did. Not sure Id say the dead ball era was really over but Ruth sure made it look like it was lol

Because they were predominately slap hitters that were hitting ground balls. A live ball doesn't turn ground balls into home runs no matter how live the ball was.

Gavvy Cravath was out homering entire teams too. Other players did as well.

It takes a greater understanding of the game and its evolution to see what was involved, other than just saying, "Ruth out homered every team therefore he is "xxxx...etc"

There wasnt some dramatic change in the ball that all of a sudden made more homeruns. The most dramatic changes in the balls its self have happened in the modern era.

I get that a lot of the guys were slap hitters like how a lot of guys swing for the fences now. A couple players in the league at the time were able to do things no one else was doing though

Yes, those few guys advanced the hitting game. They were pioneers.

1948_Swell_Robinson

@Basebal21 said:

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Basebal21 said:
Only 3 teams in the AL and NL hit more HRs as a team that year than Ruth did. Not sure Id say the dead ball era was really over but Ruth sure made it look like it was lol

Because they were predominately slap hitters that were hitting ground balls. A live ball doesn't turn ground balls into home runs no matter how live the ball was.

Gavvy Cravath was out homering entire teams too. Other players did as well.

It takes a greater understanding of the game and its evolution to see what was involved, other than just saying, "Ruth out homered every team therefore he is "xxxx...etc"

There wasnt some dramatic change in the ball that all of a sudden made more homeruns. The most dramatic changes in the balls its self have happened in the modern era.

I get that a lot of the guys were slap hitters like how a lot of guys swing for the fences now. A couple players in the league at the time were able to do things no one else was doing though

One hitter who doesn't get enough credit is Jimmie Foxx. He hit 58 home runs as a right handed hitter when the parks were bigger in left field compared to right field in the league. and in some instances monumentally bigger(like Yankee stadium, Griffith, and league park).

They were so astronimically bigger in LF that the impact is really only obvious by simply looking at them...so here they are:

Fenway was the lone park in the AL that bucked that trend.

Basebal21

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Basebal21 said:

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Basebal21 said:
Only 3 teams in the AL and NL hit more HRs as a team that year than Ruth did. Not sure Id say the dead ball era was really over but Ruth sure made it look like it was lol

Because they were predominately slap hitters that were hitting ground balls. A live ball doesn't turn ground balls into home runs no matter how live the ball was.

Gavvy Cravath was out homering entire teams too. Other players did as well.

It takes a greater understanding of the game and its evolution to see what was involved, other than just saying, "Ruth out homered every team therefore he is "xxxx...etc"

There wasnt some dramatic change in the ball that all of a sudden made more homeruns. The most dramatic changes in the balls its self have happened in the modern era.

I get that a lot of the guys were slap hitters like how a lot of guys swing for the fences now. A couple players in the league at the time were able to do things no one else was doing though

One hitter who doesn't get enough credit is Jimmie Foxx. He hit 58 home runs as a right handed hitter when the parks were bigger in left field compared to right field in the league. and in some instances monumentally bigger(like Yankee stadium, Griffith, and league park).

They were so astronimically bigger in LF that the impact is really only obvious by simply looking at them...so here they are:

Fenway was the lone park in the AL that bucked that trend.

Theres definitely been some absolutely wild park designs in baseball history. The Boston Braves was like 520 feet to right center before they moved the fences in, the Yankees having some of the monuments on the field for a couple decades, even more recently the Astros had a flag poll in the field of play in center field. How that ever got approved blows my mind lol.

Foxx without question would have more HRs not playing with such absurd dimensions. He probably got a couple back later on in Fenway but certainly got robbed of a lot more than that in his career. He should probably be in at least the 600 HR club.

I get why some of the stadiums like Fenway have a real short part from a road and space restrictions, Ill never understand why people though putting 500 foot parts on a field was a good idea