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
6-2, 215lb (188cm, 97kg)
Born: February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, MD us
Died: August 16, 1948
Buried: Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY
Ted Williams
Position: Leftfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Right
6-3, 205lb (190cm, 92kg)
Born: August 30, 1918 in San Diego, CA us
Died: July 5, 2002
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
6-5, 246lb (196cm, 111kg)
Team: Boston Red Sox (majors)
Born: November 22, 1985
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.
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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.
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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."
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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, ...?
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.
Homered off the same pitcher:
Below are the pitchers they faced most often in their three years. Sorted by PA.
Ruth:
Williams:
Adam Ottavino, come on.
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