It’s fairly well known that Babe Ruth was a pitcher before he became a home run hitter. Just how good of a pitcher was he? Any stats available? ERA? I was just curious.
Ruth probably would have made the Hall of Fame as a pitcher alone. He actually held the record for the most consecutive shut out innings in a World Series until Whitey Ford broke it in the 1960s.
He also started five games for the Yankees after he stopped being a full-time pitcher and won them all.
He might not have been one of the first players inducted into the Hall, but he’d be there.
To be fair, Babe Ruth pitched about 5 full seasons. Yes, he was very good. But he also played for really good teams in the dead ball era. Teammates Dutch Leonard and Carl Mays appear to have been about as effective, and they’re not in the Hall of Fame. Numbers from that era are *vastly *different.
Wow. I just read Ruth’s page on Wikipedia, and it says he beat Walter Johnson four times in 1916, including a 13 inning 1-0 shutout. Later, he would hit 10 home runs off of Johnson. Walter Johnson was considered one of the greatest pitchers of the era.
So why isn’t Babe Ruth as famous for his pitching as for his hitting? Also, how were his skills as an outfielder? I wondered about stuff like this because I’ve noticed that although Albert Pujols is famous as a hitter, he’s also an outstanding first baseman (he won a Gold Glove), but it hardly is mentioned.
Because he played in 2503 games as a hitter, and 163 as a pitcher.
About average. His range was below average, obviously.
And this is another great example of why Wins is a worthless statistic. Walter Johnson played for the 6th place Washington Senators in 1916 (76-77), and Ruth played for first place Boston (91-63).
Classic baseball trivia question: “What record held by Babe Ruth was broken by a Yankee in 1961?” Since the infamous Roger Maris asterisk, the cirrect answer was “Whitey Ford broke his most consecutive scoreless World Series innings pitched record.”
Moving to the Game Room.
samclem Moderator, General Questions