Ruth and Mantle played more than Ohtani and Judge.

Yesterday on MLB Network Angels announcer and former pitcher Mark Gubicza was commenting on how amazing Shohei Ohtani is for both pitching and hitting. Gubicza said that the day after pitching he could hardly move. I wondered about, who else: Babe Ruth. Check Ruth's 1919 game logs yourself but as an example ... 

He played the day before and after this doubleheader: Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Athletics, May 30, 1919. He played all ten innings in game two and pitched a complete game victory in game one. Ruth batted fourth in both games. There was no DH in 1919. Ruth broke the season home run record in 1919, his last Red Sox season. It was his final season with more than a couple of games pitching: 133 innings in 17 (15 starts) games. This season, for the first time in MLB, Ohtani played the outfield: 5 games, 6 innings. Ohtani just passed his career high: 51 innings pitched in 2018, his rookie season. Ohtani has pitched 53 innings in 2021.

In 1919 Ruth played in 130 of the Red Sox 137 games (66-71-1). Ruth had 543 plate appearances (PA), 58 SO, 101 BB. Ruth led the American League (AL) in Runs, HR, RBI, OPB, SLG, OPS, OPS+ (217), TB. Pitching: 9-5, ERA+ 102. In 1916 Ruth pitched 323 innings and led the AL in ERA+ with 158.

Ohtani has played in 67 (62 as a starter; 52 as DH) of the Angels 69 games (34-35), including 10 pitching. Ohtani has 257 PA, 19 HR, 157 OPS+. Ohtani does not lead the AL in anything. Pitching: 3-1, ERA+ 167.

Ruth and Ohtani: hitters who could pitch, not pitchers who could hit. Aaron Judge could, too. Monday, December 31, 2018

Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani, one hundred years apart, excelled at both hitting and pitching. Conventional wisdom in 2018 was that Ohtani was amazing. I'm guessing that in 1918 Ruth was not viewed with quite so much amazement.

So why don't others excel or even do both? Because if you can hit, you hit. If you cannot hit, you pitch. It's pretty basic. Pitchers do not need good eyesight or hand-eye coordination. They need only one of the five traditional skills and are not rated on the others...

How much did Babe Ruth pitch and bat at the same time? Monday, April 9, 2018

Babe Ruth batting order position when pitching. Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Ruth and Ohtani work loads at age 23 one hundred years apart. Thursday, June 7, 2018

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Aaron Judge age 29: many fewer PA than Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Jeter through birthday 29. Monday, April 26, 2021

Happy 29th birthday, Aaron Judge. 29? Really? He was just a rookie. How does Judge's amount of play, measured by plate appearances (PA), compare to Yankee legendary Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter? Judge succeeded Jeter as the New York Yankees home grown big deal...

Judge has many fewer PA for two basic reasons:

Judge started when he was older.

Judge has missed many games because of injury, even more than injury prone DiMaggio and Mantle. And DiMaggio lost time in military service. Judge has gotten the 502 PA to qualify for the lead in an average in a season only once.

This means that Judge is already at his peak, if not past it. His value is much less because of that.

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Aaron Judge 502 PA once. Mickey Mantle 14 times. Career: Judge 1,923; Mantle 9,910. Wednesday, April 28, 2021

2017 is the only season in which Aaron Judge led the AL in any batting stat: Runs, HR (52), BB, SO (208)...

Through his 29th birthday April 26, 2021 Aaron Judge had 1,918 PA. Mickey Mantle age 29: 6,054.

An ac hoc query of players in their 20s for seasons 2015-2020 showed players such as Mike Trout (2014, 2016, 2019 AL MVP) and Christian Yelich (2018 NL MVP) with at least 502 PA in all five 2015-2019 and also qualified in the short 2020 season, which Judge did not...

Mickey Mantle (playing 154, not 162 through 1960) had at least 502 PA 1952-1962, 1964, 1967, 1968.

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