Times Facing Opponent in Game for Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle.

Babe Ruth: Bats: Left, Throws: Left, 6-2, 215, Born: Feb. 6, 1895 1914-1935

Lou Gehrig: Bats: Left, Throws: Left, 6-0, 200 Born: June 19, 1903 1923-1939

Joe DiMaggio: Bats: Right , Throws: Right, 6-2, 193 Born: Nov. 25, 1914 1936-1951

Mickey Mantle: Bats: Both, Throws: Right, 5-11, 195, Born: Oct. 20, 1931 1951-1968

The big four of the Yankees. Two recent posts examined how well left handed starting pitchers CC Sabathia and Whitey Ford did the third time through lineups.

Detailed data does not exists for seasons before 1925. This impacts Ruth's data a lot and Gehrig, too, but so little for Gehrig that his 1923 and 1924 seasons are ignored. The data is only for batting against starting pitchers.

Note 8/10/2018: Ruth and Gehrig may be missing data for about 350 games, so their career percent PA v. SP is low.

	start	1925	1925	1936	1951
	end	1935	1939	1951	1968
		Ruth	Gehrig	DiMaggio	Mantle		Ruth	Gehrig	DiMaggio	Mantle
	time	PA v. SP	PA v. SP	PA v. SP	PA v. SP	time	Pct	Pct	Pct	Pct
	1	1,162	1,793	1,642	2,324	1	30.39%	29.30%	30.54%	32.06%
	2	1,070	1,671	1,523	2,111	2	27.98%	27.30%	28.33%	29.12%
	3	925	1,439	1,307	1,733	3	24.19%	23.51%	24.31%	23.91%
	4+	667	1,217	904	1,081	4+	17.44%	19.89%	16.82%	14.91%
		3,824	6,120	5,376	7,249
career	PA	10,623	9,665	7,672	9,907
career	%PA v. SP		63.32%	70.07%	73.17%
1914-1924	PA v. SP	4,515
1925-1935	PA v. SP	6,108
1925-1935	%PA v. SP	62.61%

OPS:

time	Ruth	Gehrig	DiMaggio	Mantle
1	1.068	1.064	.912	.908
2	1.091	1.156	.991	.953
3	1.188	1.049	.971	.980
4+	1.201	1.075	1.009	1.064

Ruth and, especially, Mantle improve with each plate appearance (PA) against a starting pitcher. Gehrig surges in PA two but his other three numbers are astonishingly consistent. DiMaggio, like Ruth and Mantle, does best in PA four or more. But DiMaggio slips back in PA three.

Mantle's numbers are closest to supporting the current notion that starting pitchers get worse as they progress through the lineup.

These four great Yankees cover years 1925-1968, ancient history to be sure, but still interesting because all four are so compelling.

Percent of PA against starting pitchers:
Ruth 62.6%  Low because data is missing.
Gehrig 63.3%  Low because data is missing.
DiMaggio 70.1%
Mantle 73.2%

Next up: how Mantle compares in this context with his only contemporary peers: Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/onbase_plus_slugging_career.shtml

Rank	Player (yrs, age)	On-Base Plus Slugging	Bats
1.	Babe Ruth+ (22)	1.1636	L
2.	Ted Williams+ (19)	1.1155	L
3.	Lou Gehrig+ (17)	1.0798	L
4.	Barry Bonds (22)	1.0512	L
5.	Jimmie Foxx+ (20)	1.0376	R
6.	Hank Greenberg+ (13)	1.0169	R
7.	Rogers Hornsby+ (23)	1.0103	R
8.	Manny Ramirez (19)	.9960	R
9.	Mike Trout (8, 26)	.9866	R
10.	Mark McGwire (16)	.9823	R
11.	Mickey Mantle+ (18)	.9773	B
12.	Joe DiMaggio+ (13)	.9771	R

Which is why I prefer OPS+ but the pitching thing recently has used OPS, not OPS+.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/onbase_plus_slugging_plus_career.shtml

Rank	Player (yrs, age)	Adjusted OPS+	Bats
1.	Babe Ruth+ (22)	206	L
2.	Ted Williams+ (19)	190	L
3.	Barry Bonds (22)	182	L
4.	Lou Gehrig+ (17)	179	L
5.	Rogers Hornsby+ (23)	175	R
6.	Mike Trout (8, 26)	174	R
7.	Mickey Mantle+ (18)	172	B

19.	Dick Allen (15)	156	R
	Willie Mays+ (22)	156	R
	Frank Thomas+ (19)	156	R
	Joey Votto (12, 34)	156	L
23.	Hank Aaron+ (23)	155	R
	Joe DiMaggio+ (13)	155	R
	Mel Ott+ (22)	155	L