Sunday, February 28, 2021

Hey, Adam Ottavino, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams each played three seasons in the same decade: 1932-1941.

A decade is ten years. The years don't have to have the same first three digits: 1930s, 1940s, ... The ten just have to be consecutive, like 1932-1941.

So why pick those years? Because they include a sort of almost overlap of two of the top hitters whom most people don't think of as having played anywhere close to the same time.

Final three American League seasons of Babe Ruth: 1932, 1933, 1934.

First three American League seasons of Ted Williams: 1939, 1940, 1941.

Babe Ruth

Positions: Outfielder and Pitcher

Bats: Left  •  Throws: Left

6-2215lb (188cm, 97kg)

Born: February 61895 in Baltimore, MD us

Died: August 161948 (Aged 53-192d) in New York, NY

Buried: Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY




Ted Williams

Position: Leftfielder

Bats: Left  •  Throws: Right

6-3205lb (190cm, 92kg)

Born: August 301918 in San Diego, CA us

Died: July 52002 (Aged 83-309d) in Inverness, FL

Buried: Frozen








If we look at Ruth's first and Williams final games, they don't look so close.

Ruth: Debut: July 11, 1914 (Age 19-155d, 4,204th in MLB history)

Williams: Last Game: September 28, 1960 (Age 42-029d) vs. BAL 3 AB, 1 H, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB

Even using Ruth's first Yankee season of 1920 yields a 40 year gap.

So, what's this about? Every Yankee fan's favorite knucklehead in recent years has been relief pitcher Adam Ottavino.

Adam Ottavino

Position: Pitcher

Bats: Both  •  Throws: Right

6-5246lb (196cm, 111kg)

Team: Boston Red Sox (majors)

Born: November 221985 (Age: 35-098d) in New York, NY us




October 29, 2018: Granted Free Agency.

January 24, 2019: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Yankees.

January 25, 2021: Traded by the New York Yankees with Frank German (minors) to the Boston Red Sox for unknown compensation.

In his 10 year MLB career Ottavino has pitched 497 innings, so he must know stuff.

Hey, Adam Ottavino, how about facing Babe Ruth FOUR times in a game, not one? Thursday, December 13, 2018

One of the ironies is that 33 year old relief pitcher Adam Ottavino is both mature and intelligent, at least as far as baseball players go. After recently running his mouth about how he would strike out Babe Ruth EVERY time, he wound up with a condescending "shout out" to the Babe. I can only imagine that the Babe would tell Ottavino to insert his "shout out" where the sun don't shine...

So let's look at how often and how well Ottavino does based on facing batters the first, second and third time in a game. Spoiler alert: in his entire career, Ottavino has NEVER faced a batter four times in a game. Data from baseball-reference.com ...

Maybe Ottavino forgot that he strikes out lefties much less frequently than righties ... about 36% less frequently...

Ruth often faced starting pitchers for the third or fourth time as the pitcher tired. Advantage Ruth. Ottavino faces batters only once about 92% of the time. Advantage Ottavino. Somewhere in between would be a fair meeting place. What might happen then is for you to decide.

_______________________


Adam Ottavino better visit Babe Ruth in monument park. Thursday, January 17, 2019

Adam Ottavino has signed with the Yankees according to reports. Who? Oh, the one inning wonder relief pitcher who said he he would strike out Babe Ruth EVERY time...

Originally three cemetery like stones were on the playing field. They commemorated the deaths (in parentheses) of manager Miller Huggins (1929), Lou Gehrig (1941) and Babe Ruth (1948). Decades later monuments were added for Mickey Mantle (1995) and Joe DiMaggio (1997). Many plaques have been added for others, mostly former Yankees.

_______________________

Red Sox's Adam Ottavino on facing Ted Williams: 'I feel like I would do just fine' https://www.radio.com/ KFH RADIO WEEI 93.7 February 27, 2021, 11:06 am

"Oh geez, I don’t know," he told D&K. "It’s a different era. He played after the Babe so he probably saw a little better pitching than Babe Ruth did. It’s hypothetical at this point. I guess it’s not worth weighing in. But I feel like I would do just fine."

_______________________

Adam Ottavino on facing:

Babe Ruth: "strike out every time"

Ted Williams: "do just fine"

Ottavino learned some humility and/or would be more intimidated by the more modern Williams who "probably saw a little better pitching than Babe Ruth did".

But using our baseball common sense, how different would hitting conditions be in a decade: pitchers, parks, ...?

YearAgeTmLgOPS+GPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSTBGDPHBPSH
Ruth193237NYYAL201133589457120156135411372213062.341.489.6611.15030220
Ruth193338NYYAL17613757645997138213341044511490.301.442.5821.02326720
Ruth193439NYYAL1601254723657810517422841310463.288.448.537.98519620
1935
1936
1937
1938
Williams193920BOSAL1601496775651311854411311452110764.327.436.6091.0453441023
Williams194021BOSAL162144661561134193431423113449654.344.442.5941.0363331331
Williams194122BOSAL235143606456135185333371202414727.406.553.7351.2873351030
YearAgeTmLgOPS+GPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSTBGDPHBPSH

Obviously, even at his advanced baseball age Babe Ruth was hitting very well. His three OPS+ are fairly comparable to those of Williams. 1941 contains Williams legendary .406 BA, the most recent .400 BA by any qualifying hitter. Look at OPS+ for last two of Ruth and first two of Williams.

The following data is for pitchers Ruth and Williams faced in their respective three years in this post. Both Ruth and Williams may have faced some of these pitchers in other years but that data is not included here. Also, some of the data is missing from https://www.baseball-reference.com

Both had at least 10 plate appearances (PA) total against  these pitchers in their three years in the decade 1932-1941.

missG: games with missing data.

years days: the pitcher's age when first facing Ruth 1932-1934, Williams last 1939-1941. It shows the age range. Ruth and Williams may have faced these same pitchers in other years but that data is not included here.

NamePAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSmissGPit birthdayYearsDaysPit datePitcherfacedSHSFIBBHBPGDP
RuthAl Benton13101000030.100.308.100.408Sat, Mar 18, 191123314/18/1934BentonfirstRuth00000
WilliamsAl Benton15126201331.500.600.9171.5173Sat, Mar 18, 191130615/18/1941BentonlastWilliams00000
RuthTommy Bridges41325003699.156.341.438.7792Fri, Dec 28, 1906251305/7/1932BridgesfirstRuth00000
WilliamsTommy Bridges282510000634.400.464.400.8642Fri, Dec 28, 1906342178/2/1941BridgeslastWilliams00100
RuthBill Dietrich1685102480.625.8131.5002.313Tue, Mar 29, 191023164/14/1933DietrichfirstRuth00000
WilliamsBill Dietrich4232110126102.344.500.5941.094Tue, Mar 29, 1910311458/21/1941DietrichlastWilliams00201
RuthBump Hadley332331003109.130.394.174.5682Tue, Jul 5, 1904273095/10/1932HadleyfirstRuth00000
WilliamsBump Hadley261781051382.471.6541.4122.0661Tue, Jul 5, 190437568/30/1941HadleylastWilliams00010
RuthMel Harder292711302624.407.448.7411.189Fri, Oct 15, 1909222145/17/1932HarderfirstRuth00000
WilliamsMel Harder443811103857.289.386.553.939Fri, Oct 15, 1909312837/25/1941HarderlastWilliams00110
RuthWillis Hudlin20166110241.375.500.5631.063Wed, May 23, 1906253585/16/1932HudlinfirstRuth00101
WilliamsWillis Hudlin32277300641.259.375.370.7452Wed, May 23, 190634948/25/1940HudlinlastWilliams00211
RuthTed Lyons50418101696.195.340.293.6332Fri, Dec 28, 1900311726/18/1932LyonsfirstRuth00001
WilliamsTed Lyons292611221331.423.483.7691.2522Fri, Dec 28, 1900402609/14/1941LyonslastWilliams00100
RuthJohnny Marcum1193000021.333.455.333.788Thu, Sep 9, 190924189/27/1933MarcumfirstRuth00000
WilliamsJohnny Marcum1093000011.333.400.333.7332Thu, Sep 9, 1909293217/27/1939MarcumlastWilliams00100
RuthBobo Newsom17144000131.286.412.286.697Sun, Aug 11, 1907262715/8/1934NewsomfirstRuth00001
WilliamsBobo Newsom39368201736.222.282.361.6434Sun, Aug 11, 190734309/10/1941NewsomlastWilliams00001
NamePAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSmissGPit birthdayYearsDaysPit datePitcherfacedSHSFIBBHBPGDP

Homered off the same pitcher:

NamePitcherCar HRYearNamePitcherCar HRYear
RuthClint Brown6181932WilliamsClint Brown151939
RuthClint Brown6371932
RuthClint Brown6401932
RuthMel Harder6301932WilliamsMel Harder201939
RuthMel Harder6821933WilliamsMel Harder271939
WilliamsMel Harder731941
RuthTed Lyons6491932WilliamsTed Lyons381940
RuthTed Lyons7021934
RuthSchoolboy Rowe6721933WilliamsSchoolboy Rowe621941
RuthSchoolboy Rowe6731933
RuthSchoolboy Rowe6921934
RuthMonte Pearson6811933WilliamsMonte Pearson81939
RuthElden Auker6911934WilliamsElden Auker811941
RuthElden Auker7011934
RuthJack Knott6941934WilliamsJack Knott611941
WilliamsJack Knott851941
RuthBill Dietrich7041934WilliamsBill Dietrich371940
RuthBill Dietrich7071934WilliamsBill Dietrich431940
NamePitcherCar HRYearNamePitcherCar HRYear
Tot816Tot812

Below are the pitchers they faced most often in their three years.  Sorted by PA.

Ruth:

NamePAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSSHSFIBBHBPGDPmissG
Earl Whitehill5439911261410.231.444.462.90600013
Lefty Stewart5336121159176.333.547.8331.381000012
Ted Lyons50418101696.195.340.293.633000012
Bob Weiland47401430512710.350.447.8001.247000001
Sad Sam Jones473790137106.243.404.541.945000021
General Crowder453911111865.282.378.436.814000001
Wes Ferrell4438133031065.342.432.6581.09000001
Monte Weaver413810121538.263.317.474.791000014
Rube Walberg412870026138.250.488.464.95200000
Roy Mahaffey413181008105.258.439.290.72900001
Tommy Bridges41325003699.156.341.438.779000002
Lloyd Brown39309102799.300.462.533.995000022
Vic Sorrell37328101354.250.351.375.72600000
Sugar Cain372570139122.280.514.7201.23400003
Lefty Grove3431100039312.323.382.613.99500000
Monte Pearson332372016107.304.515.5221.03700001
Bump Hadley332331003109.130.394.174.568000002
Mel Harder292711302624.407.448.7411.18900000
Ed Wells28216100475.286.464.333.798000002
Clint Brown282313213552.565.6431.1301.77300100
Gordon Rhodes27201000074.050.296.050.346000011
Firpo Marberry26226200045.273.385.364.748000001
NamePAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSSHSFIBBHBPGDPmissG

Williams:

NamePAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSSHSFIBBHBPGDPmissG
Bob Feller625315230695.283.387.434.82100000
Johnny Rigney5344156161584.341.453.9321.385000121
Bob Harris45351521211102.429.556.7141.270001001
Mel Harder443811103857.289.386.553.93900110
Dutch Leonard433813511750.342.419.6051.02400001
Bill Dietrich4232110126102.344.500.5941.09400201
Marius Russo393816112615.421.436.6581.09400000
Bobo Newsom39368201736.222.282.361.643000014
Jack Knott393611021530.306.359.500.859000003
Johnny Gorsica3423124028100.522.676.9571.633000103
Spud Chandler3323103004102.435.606.5651.17100100
Willis Hudlin32277300641.259.375.370.745002112
Jack Kramer31288101733.286.355.429.783000003
Chubby Dean3128144031131.500.548.9641.51300000
Buck Ross29254100641.160.276.200.476000011
Johnny Niggeling29216013883.286.483.8101.292002001
Ted Lyons292611221331.423.483.7691.252001002
Lefty Gomez292413202851.542.621.8751.49600000
Al Milnar28225001463.227.393.364.75600001
Tommy Bridges282510000634.400.464.400.864001002
Red Ruffing272310202544.435.519.7831.30100001
Elden Auker27218301562.381.519.6671.18500200
Nels Potter262010311563.500.615.9001.51500000
Bump Hadley261781051382.471.6541.4122.066000101
Sid Hudson23197211541.368.478.7371.21500001
Johnny Allen232110300422.476.522.6191.14100100
NamePAABH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSSHSFIBBHBPGDPmissG

Adam Ottavino, come on.

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