A "Historical" Romp (1871-2015)

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Trebro

While brother Babe's pitching is winding down a bit as a result of livelier bats, Herman Ruth is flourishing under the new regime of baseball. Not only did he get his second triple crown in 4 years, he set a new home run record with 44, a new WAR record of 11.9, and was Best Batter, Steady Heads in RF and Big Stick in RF.

What a year! What a career! How far can Ruth go?

Attachment 416569

Good to see Ruth's power numbers increase. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does from this point on!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Trebro

The New York Giants absolutely ruled the past decade with an iron fist, going to the world series 6 times between 1913 and 1919, with only the St. Louis Cardinals sneaking in in 1916. They won twice in a row in each set of three straight appearances, too. Meanwhile the American League saw the White Sox go 5 times, winning on 3 occasions. Both teams were just powerhouses, with no signs of slowing down (they both finished 2nd in 1920).

The Giants are led by superstar Ty Cobb, who now has 2529 hits and a shot at making 3000. Though slowed by injuries of late, he's been a model of consistency, averaging .308 for his career, with 444 doubles, 633 stolen bases, and 946 runs batted in.

Eddie Collins is Cobb's teammate, and he's no less formidable. He's got 784 steals, 2296 hits, and a career average of .286. It's no wonder these two have the Giants at the top of the heap more often than not.

The White Sox are built as a team. No one really stands out, but they are either 2nd or 3rd in almost every category, both offensively an defensively. It's not a team of stars, but it's one where only one regular is batting under .260 and only the little-used 5th starter has an ERA over 3.00.

A look at some other notable bits from the last decade:

• Ty Cobb set the record for hits with 228, in 1911.
• Rogers Hornsby's 49 doubles in 1920 is a new record.
• Yam Yaryan hits 34 home runs in 1920, to establish a new bar, edging Ed Breckenridge by 1. The all-time record is not even close to in danger, the next person active has only 121.
• Eddie Collins also set the stolen base record for one year with 85, in 1912.

I missed this originally, but Cobb and Collins is a heck of a duo.

[Trebro]

Baseball fans had been clamoring for this match-up ever since the New York Yankees stopped being a joke of a team. What would happen if Babe Ruth's Yankees faced off against Herman Ruth's Reds?

Well, the results weren't in a lot of doubt, as Cincinnati had won 14 games and looked unstoppable. The Yanks slowed 'em down, but not by much, as the Reds took their third championship in four years, as part of a new era of National League dominance.

The brother vs brother storyline was muted, as it happened. Herman Ruth hit only one home run, and not against his twin, either. He battled only .286, finding the new pitchers much harder for him to tee off on.

Meanwhile, the Babe was pulled early in both of his starts, pitching only 9 innings and giving up 4 earned runs (and 8 runs total) in two games.

Given that in the regular season, Herman once again led the NL with 23 HR and Babe had 18 wins and a 2.58 ERA, this series really took the wind out of a lot of fans' sails.

Will the two square off again? Who knows...

[Trebro]

After being traded by the New York Giants to the Washington Senators, many had lost track of Ty Cobb, thinking that at 33, he didn't have much to give. Yet Cobb, while absolutely angry at the reduced playing time given to him by his new team, hasn't let that stop him. He's still hitting when given the chance, and in 1924 finally became the player to topple Buster Burrell and take over the all-time hits category. Cobb has 2842 now, and if he can hold on for another 2-3 years, even at current levels, would become the first--and perhaps, at this rate, ONLY--player to make it to 3000 hits.

Here's a look at Cobb's career so far:

[MarkInCincy]

I love this dynasty (had not checked it in a while but have been following since OD, 1871

[Trebro]

Originally Posted by MarkInCincy

I love this dynasty (had not checked it in a while but have been following since OD, 1871

Thank you! I'm having fun with it, especially watching the Ruths play things out and compete to be best in the family. I'm thinking about who else I might clone to watch their paths. Williams? Mantle? Maybe Kofax?

There'll be more for this dynasty soon, since it's a long weekend and my "playing in" game is at the off-season.

[Trebro]

I honestly thought we'd never have another 400 game winner. It just barely happened, but Lou Schlettler notched wins 400 and 401 in 1926, wrecking his other stats in the process but showing amazing heart and determination.



A three-time world Champion with those amazing White Sox teams of the 1910s (and one-time World Series MVP), Schletter was pretty good even up to 1925, but the push to come back one last year seemed to have been too much for him. Still, he's a sure-fire Hall of Famer, and who knows? Maybe there'll be a bit more in the tank.

[Trebro]

Ty Cobb isn't ready to hang 'em up just yet. He'd been out of Major League Baseball in 1925, sold to a West Coast team, where he hit .320 in limited duty.

Well, Cobb came back in 1926 to the Senators for a brief stint, getting 5 hits in 14 at bats across 4 games, and showing the world HE and only he would say he was done playing baseball.

The rest of the year was spent on the West Coast, hitting .279 for the West Coast team, and even playing 8 games for a lower-tier club, just to keep fresh.

Cobb's probably done, but it's impossible to count him out in 1927.

[Trebro]

Lefty Grove won his 200th game in 1927, and given we have players with 400 wins, that doesn't sound like much. Heck, even with 300 being hit a little less often given the use of more starting pitchers, 200 is more of a "whatever" moment. (Unlike now, where relief specialists are making even getting to 200 wins seem less and less possible.)

But here's the thing. Grove plays for the Pirates, who are in a terrible funk. Here's Grove's career marks so far:



And here are the Pirates' win-loss record in his career:



In most years, Grove is single-handedly keeping them from being some of the worst teams of all time. Pay particular attention to 1925, where Grove won 29 of Pittsburgh's paltry 56 wins. I'm not sure any player not on the real-life Cleveland Spiders has been that responsible for so many of his team's wins in the post-1900 era!

Poor Lefty. If only there were free agency, eh?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Trebro

Lefty Grove won his 200th game in 1927, and given we have players with 400 wins, that doesn't sound like much. Heck, even with 300 being hit a little less often given the use of more starting pitchers, 200 is more of a "whatever" moment. (Unlike now, where relief specialists are making even getting to 200 wins seem less and less possible.)

But here's the thing. Grove plays for the Pirates, who are in a terrible funk. Here's Grove's career marks so far:

Attachment 417857

And here are the Pirates' win-loss record in his career:

Attachment 417858

In most years, Grove is single-handedly keeping them from being some of the worst teams of all time. Pay particular attention to 1925, where Grove won 29 of Pittsburgh's paltry 56 wins. I'm not sure any player not on the real-life Cleveland Spiders has been that responsible for so many of his team's wins in the post-1900 era!

Poor Lefty. If only there were free agency, eh?

Poor Lefty is right, he has to be rooting for a trade to get away from the Pirates!

[Trebro]

It was only a matter of time, and while injuries limited his playing time, Herman Ruth became the all-time home run leader in this world in which offense definitely has taken a back seat to defense.

Here's Ruth's career numbers. Despite the lack of playing time, he still dominated the league in 1927. But will he suffer the fate of so many who go over the age of 30 and end their leading ways?

[Trebro]

I remember talking about Dutch Leonard at 25 and how he could go on to big things. Well, he has--he's now got 401 wins at age 35, only the 4th pitcher to do so. And given his ERA was only 3.20 with a WHIP of 1.28, which are high for this league but not beyond "keeping as the sometimes starter" level, there's a very good chance he'll break the record and reach 419 wins, which he can easily do if he plays 2-4 more seasons.

Here's Leonard's career numbers:



The 14-time (FOURTEEN TIME) Best Pitcher, 22 time Player of the Week winner is an all-time great, no matter when he finishes.

[Trebro]

While things in the real world went to crap in 1929, long-suffering Lefty Grove finally got his due. Having one of the all-time best seasons for a pitcher, Grove single-handedly took the Pittsburgh Pirates to their first World Series since 1911, winning a pitching triple crown along the way.

Grove was 41-7 with 18 saves, appearing in 84 games overall, or more than half of the team's contests. He was an eye-popping 17-1 in relief! Overall ERA of 2.02 and Ks of 300 rounded out the awards.

The only blemish was an absolutely horrendous World Series. It was clear Grove was out of gas--he lost both of his starts, including an embarassing 4 inning affair in which he gave up 7 runs.

Still, what a performance!

[CatKnight]

How often do you see a pitcher lead in wins AND saves? Probably never.

Also that 15.0 WAR is better than what Herman Ruth put together in 1921. Best season ever? I think so!

[Trebro]

Originally Posted by CatKnight

How often do you see a pitcher lead in wins AND saves? Probably never.

Also that 15.0 WAR is better than what Herman Ruth put together in 1921. Best season ever? I think so!

It's absolutely unbelievable. When I update this weekend, I'll see what the season records for WAR are. I'm guessing 15 might be best.

Still, all Pittsburgh fans can see are those Washington Senators gleefully running the bases off him in the World Series...

[italyprof]

A lot of fun and very interesting. Keep it going and keep us posted !