Up until a few years ago, these Baseball Hall of Famers were #1, #2, and #3 on MLB all-time homerun list. But they share a interesting trivial common thread about their baseball careers.
They started/ended their major league career in the same city/different team, Aaron: Milwaukee Braves/Brewers, Ruth: Boston Red Sox/Braves, and Mays New York City Giants/Mets.
I have been trying to think of another Hall of Famer (in any of the four major North America leagues) that can also claim this distinction, but I cannot think of any.
I was all set to say Duke Snider, because I thought his last season was with the woeful Mets of 1963… but he went and spent a short time with the SF Giants the next season. Sigh…
Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean both started with the Cardinals and ended with the Browns, although Dean did the latter only for a one-game publicity stunt.
I wonder if there are any Negro Leaguers who qualify. Neither Jackie Robinson (KC Monarchs to start with) nor Satchel Paige (Birmingham Black Barons) qualify but I didn’t feel like looking for the rest. (Though technically neither Aaron nor Mays would count if you consider the Negro Leagues a major league, as Aaron played for Indianapolis at the age of 18 and Mays started with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos.)
Technically correct as I didn’t specify that the player had to leave his original city. But I was looking for examples of a player who went on to continue (or establish) a hall of career at another city.
Babe Ruth’s winning percentage as a pitcher was a little over 67%, which puts him in the top 10 all time in that category. He was arguably the best pitcher of his generation. He was clearly the best all-around player of his generation.
**Jimmy Foxx **-- Started out with the Philadelphia Athletics, and played his last games for the Phillies. He played for the Red Sox and Cubs in the meantime.
Cy Young comes close – Started out in Cleveland (NL) and nearly finished up in Cleveland (AL) except he played in a few games with Boston after Cleveland released him.
And, of course, there’s always the player who played his entire career for one city – and three different teams.
Dutch Zwilling – Chicago Cubs, White Sox, and Whalers
My favorite bit of Ruth trivia is that he’s the pitcher with the best winning percentage against the Yankees, at 17-5/.773 (for pitchers with more than 20 decisions).
Oh. In that case, did you know that Felix Millan played in Japan after his career in the NL was over? Also, Jim Palmer used to model underwear. And Jackie Robinson retired rather than be traded to the Giants. And my underwear has a hole in it.
Well, if we’re talking about Ruth, Mays, and Aaron
Babe Ruth appeared in five games as a pitcher for the Yankees and was the winning pitcher in all of them (four starts, one relief effort).
Among those who Ruth hit his 60 home runs was pro football hall-of-famer Ernie Nevers.
Willie Mays appeared in the World Series in both his first and final season. His team lost both times. Yogi Berra, who played against him in his first world series, was his manager in his last.
Hank Aaron (and his brother Tommy, who hit 13) holds the record for the most home runs by any brother combination.
I think we’re talking any stupid shit that comes to mind vaguely related to Ruth, Mays, and Aaron, so I’ll go with, um,
Mays played his first world series as a teammate of Alvin Dark, and Dark was his manager in his third World Series, and his skin was kinda dark, too. Speaking of dark skin, did you know that Babe Ruth was frequently accused of being part-Negro, in part because of that flat, broad nose I mentioned above? The afore-mentioned Felix Millan was a teammate of Mays’ in his final season, and the record for lifetime HRs by siblings is actually held by Barry Bonds and his sister.