Babe Ruth and David Ortiz

[Celtsfan1980]

When Ruth went to the Yankees his home runs saw a huge increase. Most Yankees were not hitting home runs yet. He was rarely pitching at this point. His home run total dropped with old age. I've read the fences were moved in after going to the Yankees.

Ortiz saw a big increase in his home run totals when he went to Boston. At 40 he is still hitting a lot of home runs.

Is either player suspicious of needing help to get their home run totals up?

[RavenMad31]

When Ruth went to the Yankees his home runs saw a huge increase. Most Yankees were not hitting home runs yet. He was rarely pitching at this point. His home run total dropped with old age. I've read the fences were moved in after going to the Yankees.

Ortiz saw a big increase in his home run totals when he went to Boston. At 40 he is still hitting a lot of home runs.

Is either player suspicious of needing help to get their home run totals up?

Anyone who thinks David Ortiz is clean is freaking delusional. Look at the trajectory of his career. First, he flounders around with the Twins as a below average player with minimal power. Then, he heads to Boston in 2003, teams up with Manny Ramirez, much like Clemens acquainting with Canseco in Toronto or Sosa going to the Cubs, and suddenly, he is hitting like a beast.
Now let's look at 2016. He is 40 years old and as we sit, he is on pace to hit in the neighborhood of 60-70 doubles. We are just past the All Star break and he already has the all time lead for doubles ever hit by someone over 40. He has 25 HRs, only 9 shy of the all time mark for a player over 40 and 3 shy of the most Barry Bonds ever hit over 40. He is beating the all time mark for slugging by 110 points and he has the highest batting average of anyone over 40 that one would consider to be a power hitter. .320 is a ridiculous BA for a 40 year old power hitter, btw. To go back to that doubles number, Barry Bonds, the king of the steroid era, hit 38 doubles total after his 40th b-day. (he played to 42). Ortiz has 35 in just over half a season. So if anyone has any explanation for these numbers or for how some guy can be hitting like this at 40 when he didn't even crack 30 HRs until his 7th major league season, I'd love to hear it. The reason I get so riled up about it is that this has largely gone unnoticed while A-rod has been publicly crucified, simply because Ortiz is more at ease in the public eye.

[RavenMad31]

When Ruth went to the Yankees his home runs saw a huge increase. Most Yankees were not hitting home runs yet. He was rarely pitching at this point. His home run total dropped with old age. I've read the fences were moved in after going to the Yankees.

Ortiz saw a big increase in his home run totals when he went to Boston. At 40 he is still hitting a lot of home runs.

Is either player suspicious of needing help to get their home run totals up?

I forgot to touch on Ruth. He was a big, fat, powerful guy whose skill set and approach were a little ahead of their time. Swinging for the fences back then was not considered smart baseball. As for help, I'm guessing it was mostly beer and hot dogs, but if you told me he was popping greenies or doing blow, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

[OrangeBlueSkies]

When Ruth went to the Yankees his home runs saw a huge increase. Most Yankees were not hitting home runs yet. He was rarely pitching at this point. His home run total dropped with old age. I've read the fences were moved in after going to the Yankees.

Ortiz saw a big increase in his home run totals when he went to Boston. At 40 he is still hitting a lot of home runs.

Is either player suspicious of needing help to get their home run totals up?

Anyone who thinks David Ortiz is clean is freaking delusional. Look at the trajectory of his career. First, he flounders around with the Twins as a below average player with minimal power. Then, he heads to Boston in 2003, teams up with Manny Ramirez, much like Clemens acquainting with Canseco in Toronto or Sosa going to the Cubs, and suddenly, he is hitting like a beast.
Now let's look at 2016. He is 40 years old and as we sit, he is on pace to hit in the neighborhood of 60-70 doubles. We are just past the All Star break and he already has the all time lead for doubles ever hit by someone over 40. He has 25 HRs, only 9 shy of the all time mark for a player over 40 and 3 shy of the most Barry Bonds ever hit over 40. He is beating the all time mark for slugging by 110 points and he has the highest batting average of anyone over 40 that one would consider to be a power hitter. .320 is a ridiculous BA for a 40 year old power hitter, btw. To go back to that doubles number, Barry Bonds, the king of the steroid era, hit 38 doubles total after his 40th b-day. (he played to 42). Ortiz has 35 in just over half a season. So if anyone has any explanation for these numbers or for how some guy can be hitting like this at 40 when he didn't even crack 30 HRs until his 7th major league season, I'd love to hear it. The reason I get so riled up about it is that this has largely gone unnoticed while A-rod has been publicly crucified, simply because Ortiz is more at ease in the public eye.

http://sports.cbslocal.com/2016/05/27/david-ortiz-ped-steroid-red-sox/

[RavenMad31]

When Ruth went to the Yankees his home runs saw a huge increase. Most Yankees were not hitting home runs yet. He was rarely pitching at this point. His home run total dropped with old age. I've read the fences were moved in after going to the Yankees.

Ortiz saw a big increase in his home run totals when he went to Boston. At 40 he is still hitting a lot of home runs.

Is either player suspicious of needing help to get their home run totals up?

Anyone who thinks David Ortiz is clean is freaking delusional. Look at the trajectory of his career. First, he flounders around with the Twins as a below average player with minimal power. Then, he heads to Boston in 2003, teams up with Manny Ramirez, much like Clemens acquainting with Canseco in Toronto or Sosa going to the Cubs, and suddenly, he is hitting like a beast.
Now let's look at 2016. He is 40 years old and as we sit, he is on pace to hit in the neighborhood of 60-70 doubles. We are just past the All Star break and he already has the all time lead for doubles ever hit by someone over 40. He has 25 HRs, only 9 shy of the all time mark for a player over 40 and 3 shy of the most Barry Bonds ever hit over 40. He is beating the all time mark for slugging by 110 points and he has the highest batting average of anyone over 40 that one would consider to be a power hitter. .320 is a ridiculous BA for a 40 year old power hitter, btw. To go back to that doubles number, Barry Bonds, the king of the steroid era, hit 38 doubles total after his 40th b-day. (he played to 42). Ortiz has 35 in just over half a season. So if anyone has any explanation for these numbers or for how some guy can be hitting like this at 40 when he didn't even crack 30 HRs until his 7th major league season, I'd love to hear it. The reason I get so riled up about it is that this has largely gone unnoticed while A-rod has been publicly crucified, simply because Ortiz is more at ease in the public eye.

http://sports.cbslocal.com/2016/05/27/david-ortiz-ped-steroid-red-sox/

Ha! After finishing my rant, that's the exact article I found and read while reaching for some affirmation. Thanks for posting that.

[Johnlac1]

When Ruth went to the Yankees his home runs saw a huge increase. Most Yankees were not hitting home runs yet. He was rarely pitching at this point. His home run total dropped with old age. I've read the fences were moved in after going to the Yankees.

Ortiz saw a big increase in his home run totals when he went to Boston. At 40 he is still hitting a lot of home runs.

Is either player suspicious of needing help to get their home run totals up?

I forgot to touch on Ruth. He was a big, fat, powerful guy whose skill set and approach were a little ahead of their time. Swinging for the fences back then was not considered smart baseball. As for help, I'm guessing it was mostly beer and hot dogs, but if you told me he was popping greenies or doing blow, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

Ruth wasn't any fatter than someone like Prince Fielder. In fact until the second half of his career he was usually in pretty good shape. At least pretty good for someone who is in the top five of sports greatest rounders. To be sure, if he played today, there's a good chance he'd have sampled everything.
But don't forget, as yet no one has hit baseballs as far as Ruth. That has been documented by a baseball writer named Bill Jenkinson who wrote a book "The Year Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs." He wasn't just a little ahead of his time....he was way ahead. For a number of years when the Yankees played in the Polo Grounds Ruth had to hit in a park with the center field fence 490 feet away. So most of the pitchers pitched him outside or walked him. IN 1921 the year he hit 59 home runs he had a lot of 450+outs. Jenkinson analyzed that season and concluded that if Ruth had played in a park with the average dimensions of today's ballparks, he would have hit 104 homers.
Ruth had a great swing and incredible reflexes. In a test of reactions and other physical stuff taken at Columbia U. in 1921 out of 500 young males taking the test Ruth came in at No. One.

[JordansBulls]

Babe Ruth was clean.

[jwise44]

In the words of Daniel tosh, "id love to know how many homers the babe would have hit if cc sabathia were throwing him 92 mile per hour sliders"

[Johnlac1]

In the words of Daniel tosh, "id love to know how many homers the babe would have hit if cc sabathia were throwing him 92 mile per hour sliders"

Ruth would most likely have struck out more, but might have actually hit more homers. He had tremendous reflexes, a great swing, and still so far unequaled power. One modern swing analyst rated him having the greatest swing he's ever seen.
Remember, balls traveling faster go further when hit. Ruth would have missed his share of 92 mph sliders, but he would have knocked many out of the park.

[ChiCityHoops34]

When Ruth went to the Yankees his home runs saw a huge increase. Most Yankees were not hitting home runs yet. He was rarely pitching at this point. His home run total dropped with old age. I've read the fences were moved in after going to the Yankees.

Ortiz saw a big increase in his home run totals when he went to Boston. At 40 he is still hitting a lot of home runs.

Is either player suspicious of needing help to get their home run totals up?

I forgot to touch on Ruth. He was a big, fat, powerful guy whose skill set and approach were a little ahead of their time. Swinging for the fences back then was not considered smart baseball. As for help, I'm guessing it was mostly beer and hot dogs, but if you told me he was popping greenies or doing blow, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

I have always heard about Babe Ruth being a major player in the greenies/blow/"uppers", part of the game. Weird thing is his size as those things are appetite cutters, never made sense to me.

[Stannis]

In the words of Daniel tosh, "id love to know how many homers the babe would have hit if cc sabathia were throwing him 92 mile per hour sliders"

Nobody was throwing 92 miles sliders back in his day, but in today's game having all these tapes and scouting reports would do wonders for a guy like Ruth.

[Johnlac1]

In the words of Daniel tosh, "id love to know how many homers the babe would have hit if cc sabathia were throwing him 92 mile per hour sliders"

Nobody was throwing 92 miles sliders back in his day, but in today's game having all these tapes and scouting reports would do wonders for a guy like Ruth.

They did grandfather in spitball pitchers like Burleigh Grimes after they banned illegal pitches in 1920. I don't know how many of them were in the league after they banned the spitter and other illegal substance pitches, but I'm sure even back then pitchers were well acquainted with methods to do stuff with the ball.
What you have to remember about Ruth is that while he didn't face the slider or the velocity of the pitchers today, that means he could not generate the power off balls that players can today.
Nobody as yet has hit pitched balls as far as Ruth hit them. With the added five mph or whatever of today's pitchers, Ruth would have hit balls further than he did back then.
And he would not be hitting in parks like the old Polo Grounds with a 490 foot center field fence where he played for the Yankees before Yankee Stadium was built.
And even though Yankee Stadium had a short right field porch, it was still over 460 to dead center and 420 to right center. Most pitchers Ruth faced pitched him outside forcing him to try and hit to center or right center. He still connected with a lot of those pitches, but many of those clouts were just long outs......long outs which would be well over the fence in most parks today.

[jwise44]

Guys, I was honestly making a joke because I had seen that tosh standup like 2 days before I saw this topic posted whenever the hell it was...