# Babe Ruth's pitching career **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 1, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610 "2009-07-01T19:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/1 "2009-07-01T19:21:43Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/2 "2009-07-01T19:24:27Z")
> **[Babe Ruth Pitching Stats | Baseball-Reference.com](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruthba01-pitch.shtml)** > > Check out the latest Pitching Stats of Babe Ruth. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/3 "2009-07-01T19:25:34Z")
[VERY good](http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruthba01-pitch.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/4 "2009-07-01T19:38:24Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/5 "2009-07-01T20:20:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/6 "2009-07-01T20:38:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/7 "2009-07-01T20:52:17Z")
> [@](#): > > So why isn’t Babe Ruth as famous for his pitching as for his hitting? Because he played in 2503 games as a hitter, and 163 as a pitcher. > [@](#): > > Also, how were his skills as an outfielder? About average. His range was below average, obviously. > [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > 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. 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). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/8 "2009-07-01T21:03:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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. 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.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babe-ruths-pitching-career/501610/9 "2009-07-01T21:50:40Z")
Moving to the Game Room. **samclem** Moderator, General Questions