Quote:
Originally Posted by BMD
That is the price you pay for free agency. Who cares if my team loses today? I have to protect my stats so I get more money from the team I play for next year.
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Yeah... my joke aside, I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that Ruth basically led baseball out of the deadball era than smarter strategizing in the olden days. Credit Huggins and Joe McCarthy with recognizing the greatness of Ruth and not pulling him out of the lineup, I guess, but he changed the game. In 1915, you might sacrifice with your "slugger" because your "slugger" was basically Mark Grace. No manager in the game today would bunt with the Babe, even if the Babe was nice and cuddly and liked puppies. There is basically no situation IRL, let alone 21 in a season, where bunting with Babe Ruth is a good idea.