Thanks to Carl for bringing out the baseball fans on MarketForum.
Everybody has opinions on incredible records in Major League Baseball. I'd like to hear yours and will post some.
We should all be able to agree that Babe Ruth was the most incredible baseball player of his time and of any time if the comparison is with the player to the other players in the league at the time.
What statistic comparing Ruth to other players and other teams, that he accomplished in 2 different seasons, stands out as the most eye popping of all for any era?
eye popping to me.....he hit more home runs than the total of the entire opposing teams a couple times...and his batting average......just incredible lifetime average....Don Mattingly was an incredible hitter from mike's town of Evansville. Much smaller guy, less homeruns by far and hit the other way really well but he was about 40 points lower in average than the Babe
You nailed it mcfarm!
This site may have more potential for baseball fanatics than traders(-:
Thank you Carl for getting us going.
1. Babe Ruth Hit More Homers than Any Other Team...Twice
When people think of eye-popping statistics, Babe Ruth is usually the first athlete who comes to mind. Heck, to this day big numbers in all sports are often referred to as “Ruthian.”
Everybody knows about his jaw-dropping career and single-season numbers, with 60, 714, 177, 170, 2213, 457 and .690 ranking among the most famous numbers in all of sports even after some of them were eclipsed.
Ruth’s most impressive feat, however, occurred in 1920 when he smacked a jaw-dropping 54 homers, nearly twice as many as he had hit (29) to break the record the previous season (for perspective, Albert Pujols would have to hit 136 homers to match this feat in modern times).
This number was ridiculous; it was more home runs than any other team in the American League hit during that season—and only the Philadelphia Phillies (with 64) managed to clear Ruth in the National League!
Then, as an added bonus, he did it again when he hit 60 homers in 1927. This one wasn’t quite as impressive, as the rest of the Yankees would have out-homered him on the season, but it was still amazing nonetheless.
We’d be hard-pressed to find another example in sports where one player so out-distanced his competition like Ruth did with home runs in 1920 and 1927.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/666554-five-impossible-mlb-statistics-that-actually-happened
Thanks for mentioning Donny Baseball mcfarm,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Mattingly
I had just moved here to be chief meteorologist for WEHT-TV Evansville in Sept 1982 and worked out at the same gym that he did....."The Pit Barbell Club". The Pit has earned numerous National Powerlifting Championships and we had some really strong dudes working out.
He was just starting his MLB career but after he started putting up some big homerun totals, I was sort of shocked that such a little guy, that didn't seem that strong by our local gym standards could do this.
I'm a little guy myself but bench pressed 345 lbs at a body weight of 175 lbs.
Unfortunately, he wore his little body out with a degenerative spine issue from wear and tear and this ended his career early and ended his power hitting even earlier.
I coached my son Quinn and his teams for 9 years and when he was in 2nd grade, we played the team that Mattingly's son Preston was on(Highland) in a baseball tournament.
This was 1996, the year after Don was retired(early) in June, so it was probably the first time that he was able to come to Prestons games vs playing himself all Summer. Of course every one flocked to him, asking for autographs.
I didn't want to harass him like his other fans but he was nice enough to come up to me and say hi and tell me that he remembered me(from the gym and I had been on Evansville TV for 11 years).
He built a house worth millions north of Evansville(Darmstadt), where they had a law against having a fence on the property taller than 5 feet, I think it was. The city council met and approved making an exception for him but it wasn't easy.
He has a massive, gorgeous brick wall surrounding his entire property.
very cool story about one of my favorites Donny baseball...thanks mike...great read