Is Ottavino right about the Babe?

[Northern Star]

That in today's game he'd hit a buck 80 with 8 HRs?

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25853053/adam-ottavino-says-no-disrespect-intended-swipe-babe-ruth

[jacksonianmarch]

If you transplanted the Babe from 1925 to now and make no caveats for nutrition exercise, etc, yeah he probably would have. That being said, if he was born in 1990 or so and had access to nutritionists, gyms, analytics, etc he’d be amazing

[Bellhorn04]

It's silly. Babe was a beast compared to his contemporaries and that's all that matters. The rest is time travel fantasy s***...entertaining in books by H G Wells and Vonnegut and Stephen King, but useless in reality.

[moonslav59]

Nice start.

 

Welcome back to your old hometown.

[Youk Of The Nation]

It's impossible to know for sure, but given that pitchers are throwing way, way harder than they were back then and balls aren't being reused all game until they're brown and spongy, I'd say he might have a point. Baseball is a hell of a lot different than it was back then.

[Northern Star]

It's impossible to know for sure, but given that pitchers are throwing way, way harder than they were back then and balls aren't being reused all game until they're brown and spongy, I'd say he might have a point. Baseball is a hell of a lot different than it was back then.

 

But he would have grown up with the new baseball, and therefore, I think he would have been better than Ottavino thinks.

[notin]

He’s certainly wrong about Babe in how he describes him, which, while consistent with the footage and pictures from his later career, is apparently inaccurate with how he looked i his heyday...

[dgalehouse]

What with Pedro drilling him in the ass and Ottavino blowing him away on three pitches ; the Bambino must be choking on his hot dogs in heaven.

[notin]

But he would have grown up with the new baseball, and therefore, I think he would have been better than Ottavino thinks.

 

The trade off is he’d be about 125 years old....

[Jasonbay44]

It’s impossible to know for sure, but I think I would bet on one of the greatest players of all time would hit a little better than .180 in today’s game.

[Kimmi]

On the flip side of things, could our current superstars, like Mookie and Trout, go back to Babe's era and be as good as they are today?

 

You can't be too sure about that either.

[Bellhorn04]

Seriously, Ottavino has to be a pinhead to make a statement like that.

[Bellhorn04]

As a PITCHER for the Boston Red Sox, Babe won 89 games with a 2.19 ERA.

 

So maybe, just maybe, he was a pretty decent all-around athlete, huh, Ottavino, you f'king clown?

[notin]

As a PITCHER for the Boston Red Sox, Babe won 89 games with a 2.19 ERA.

 

So maybe, just maybe, he was a pretty decent all-around athlete, huh, Ottavino, you f'king clown?

 

One thing is for certain regardless of the differences in the game today vs a century ago. Ruth would do a better job hitting against Ottavino than Ottavino would do against Ruth...

[BillyWilliams]

Pujols aces scientists' tests -- just like The Babe

Aug 22, 2006

Associated Press

 

ST. LOUIS -- How does El Hombre match up against the Sultan

of Swat?

 

This spring, Washington University scientists, at the request of

GQ magazine, put Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols through a series

of tests similar to those given to Babe Ruth 85 years ago -- tests

ranging from finger tapping, to visual responses, to bat speed.

 

The results? Both men aced the tests, and their performances

were strikingly similar.

 

In 1921, psychologists at Columbia University put Ruth through

tests to try to determine what made him great. He had faster than

average reflexes, steady nerves, and superior sight and hearing.

 

The same holds true for Pujols. At Washington University,

clinical neuropsychologist Desiree White and cognitive psychologist

Richard Abrams and their colleagues gave Pujols tests resembling

the ones Ruth took. Both men were 26 and top hitters when they were

tested.

 

GQ features some of the results of the Pujols tests in its

September issue.

 

For one test, White put a piece of paper in front of Pujols.

Capital letters were strewn about the page. White told Pujols to

locate and cross out all of the As.

 

White realized she'd never seen anyone scan the page the way

Pujols did. Most people scan a page left to right, the way they do

when they read. Pujols visually divided the page into sectors and

searched each one briefly for the letters before moving on to the

next sector. When he'd searched all sectors, he returned to the

first and started over. It took him four rounds and a minute to

complete the task.

 

"I've never seen anyone scan that way, but it would be

important on the baseball field," White said, noting the skill

would allow Pujols to scan the field and know where everyone is

without missing any action.

 

In another test, Pujols replicated 133 symbols in a minute -- a

testament to his hand-eye coordination. The test makers don't even

list a score that high.

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2557786

[dgalehouse]

Comparing athletes of different generations, while fun , is really meaningless. So many things change over time. If someone is the best , or one of the best , in their own era , that is all you can ask . Babe Ruth 's accomplishments speak for themselves. Ottavino was probably just fooling around. Much ado over nothing. I would guess that , if the Sox had signed Ottavino ( I think they should have) , and he said the same thing , we would be applauding.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Pujols aces scientists' tests -- just like The Babe

Aug 22, 2006

Associated Press

 

ST. LOUIS -- How does El Hombre match up against the Sultan

of Swat?

 

This spring, Washington University scientists, at the request of

GQ magazine, put Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols through a series

of tests similar to those given to Babe Ruth 85 years ago -- tests

ranging from finger tapping, to visual responses, to bat speed.

 

The results? Both men aced the tests, and their performances

were strikingly similar.

 

In 1921, psychologists at Columbia University put Ruth through

tests to try to determine what made him great. He had faster than

average reflexes, steady nerves, and superior sight and hearing.

 

The same holds true for Pujols. At Washington University,

clinical neuropsychologist Desiree White and cognitive psychologist

Richard Abrams and their colleagues gave Pujols tests resembling

the ones Ruth took. Both men were 26 and top hitters when they were

tested.

 

GQ features some of the results of the Pujols tests in its

September issue.

 

For one test, White put a piece of paper in front of Pujols.

Capital letters were strewn about the page. White told Pujols to

locate and cross out all of the As.

 

White realized she'd never seen anyone scan the page the way

Pujols did. Most people scan a page left to right, the way they do

when they read. Pujols visually divided the page into sectors and

searched each one briefly for the letters before moving on to the

next sector. When he'd searched all sectors, he returned to the

first and started over. It took him four rounds and a minute to

complete the task.

 

"I've never seen anyone scan that way, but it would be

important on the baseball field," White said, noting the skill

would allow Pujols to scan the field and know where everyone is

without missing any action.

 

In another test, Pujols replicated 133 symbols in a minute -- a

testament to his hand-eye coordination. The test makers don't even

list a score that high.

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2557786

 

That's pretty cool, I'd never heard about that before. I wonder if any of the other greats from the first half of the century ever took any of those tests?

[BillyWilliams]

That's pretty cool, I'd never heard about that before. I wonder if any of the other greats from the first half of the century ever took any of those tests?

 

I thought it was pretty cool, too. I first read about this a few years back but I am not aware of anyone else that took these tests.

 

Here's another cool article about how the game has changed:

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25869018/how-much-baseball-really-changed-years

[iortiz]

Putting Ottavino and the Babe in the same sentence makes me puke. Ottavino is a bum.

 

Quoting a recent twit of Bill James "What people don't get is that the difference between TEAMS is much less than the diff between PLAYERS, & the diff between LEAGUES is less than teams. So there is enormous improvement since 1927, but on the scale of LEAGUES. On the scale of PLAYERS it isn't nearly as large"