Big Six wrote:
> Will Pat remain close enough to his
> peak to feast on the lively ball a
> little bit? We shall see... he celebrated
> his 33rd birthday on September 16, 1920.
While he might not remain at his peak, staying strong combined with the lively ball should give him more years of excellent numbers. These are his peers to check out (date of birth given):
12/18/86 - Cobb
05/02/87 - Collins
09/16/87 - O'Farrell
04/04/88 - Speaker
Collins:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/collied01.shtml
1923-.909-7
1924-.896-8
1926-.900-9
Speaker
http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/speaktr01.shtml
1921-.977-5
1922-1.080-2
1923-1.079-3
1924-.943-4
1925-1.057-2
Cobb
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cobbty01.shtml
1921-1.048-3
1922-1.026-6
1923-.882-9
1925-1.066-1
1927-.921-8
They weren't as "strong" in the lively era as they had been prior to it. Not a suprise since they were older. But they remained among the best in the league for several years into the decade, and since offense went up so much, that led them to put up numbers that fit in with their earlier "peak".
Pat probably should do the same - he might fall back into the middle and lower end of the Top 10 in OPS, but those OPS might also be among the best of his career. Relative to league he declines, but the different envorinments between the 10s and 20s give the look of not declining for a while.
OOTP does have the feature of cutting down power in the 33-34 age range. There are several threads on this, and someone like Carlton could probably explain it better than me. The thing is, HR are going through the roof in this period, and Pat (as opposed to Cobb) might be one of the old timers who when watching teammate Ruth decide the more HR would be a good thing. I don't know how one would adjust him for that.
Pat is three year older than Ken Williams. He almost certainly is a much, much, much better hitter than Ken.
Ken hit 10 HR in 1920 (with very good 34/13/10 EBH numbers).
Ken followed Ruth's path and hit 24 in 1921. Then 39 and 29 the following two years. He was 32 when he hit 39. He actually hit for average those three years: 8-6-5 in the league in BA from 1921-23.
If Ken Williams can go from 34/13/10 with a .307 BA to 31/7/24 and 34/11/39 with a .347 and .332 BA, what could Pat with a 33/23/11 and a .367 BA do if he put his mind at it?
Something to think about, Six. I know Pat is very much of the Cobb and Tris model as a batter, and terrific at it. They largely stuck to their guns on the "right way" to play the game. It would be interesting to see if Pat goes in the other direction from his peers - a willingness to take a poke at the outfield wall. And also be able to read his thoughts (via the letters) on how the game is changing.
John