Bonds begins HOF campaign

hey, he's the one who said it was "bloody obvious." ; P

 

Okay, Bonds got bigger. He was 6-2, 228 toward the end of his career. Kemp is 6-4, 225. Not exactly a small guy either.

 

TH - matt kemp's rookie baseball card reads 6-4, 230.

 

Okay. He's listed as 6-4, 225 on the Dodgers' 40-man roster.

 

right. which means kemp has taken off five pounds since 2005 instead of adding weight.
bonds came into the league at 185.

 

You think Barry Bonds weighed 228 pounds in 2005?

I have a bridge to sell you in Arizona.

 

The London Bridge?

 

Oh boy. Here we go with assumptions.

 

The only thing I agree with is that you are talking out of the wrong end of your anatomy, fanboy. As far as I'm concerned, you are reaching Manky levels of fanboyishness now.

 

So much for the "But he got bigger!" photos, please.

 

I did find a small number of articles dealing on this subject.

In one game in 1922 Ruth batted 4 times and was struck out 3 times. No info on what Ruth did in that 4th at bat.That pitcher was Dick Redding, the Cannonball. Ruth was impressed and commented to Redding how far he would go in baseball if he was white.

Oct 12, 1920 in 4 a bats, two strikeouts, one fly out and one walk. No info on the black pitcher.

In Havana 1920.
First game Ruth hit a single and a triple.
Second game he was struck out 3 times.
No info on the black pitcher.

Ruth and "Cannonball" Redding meet again.
First at bat, Ruth grounds out to Redding.
Second at bat, Ruth strikes out.
Third at bat, Ruth hits one over the RF fence.
Fourth at bat, 9th inning, Ruth hits another one over the RF fence, described a deep over that fence.
All at bats against Redding.

A game played in 1923, no info on the pitcher.
Ruth 4 for 5, two singles, two home runs one ground out.

A game played in 1921 with little info. Only note that the crowd went home happy after seeing Ruth hit one into the next county.

One game played in 1920 Ruth played first base. Took the mound in the 5th inning. First batter he faced, the great Cuban hitter, Cristobal Torriente who smashed a line drive double. Ruth struck out the next three hitters.

On some of the great blacks he saw, Ruth thought that John Henry Lloyd was one of the greatest he ever saw, white or black. Connie Mack said you could put the two shortstops in a bag, Honus Wagner and Lloyd and you could not lose, no matter which one you pulled out.

I am aware of only one at bat that Ruth faced Stachel Paige. He most likely had more than one at bat that game but only one was commented on.

The words of black star Buck O'Neil. In one game Ruth hit a long home run off of Satch, one of the longest I had ever seen. Satch called time and the game was held up for some time while a young boy retrieved the ball. Satch took the ball to Babe Ruth and had Ruth autograph the ball.

I can't recall if this portion of an interview with Buck was from the Ken Burn's baseball special or from a CD the "All Century Team" positive it was one of these, maybe both.

Also, regarding Ruth not being better than Bonds, I think that's false, too.

Career OPS+

Ruth 206
Bonds 181

Certainly Bonds was a better fielder and runner but an outfielders worth is easily 75% with the bat. So, this goes to the Babe pretty easily and I'm not even considering steroids here.

Ruth played in one of the most feared lineups ever while Bonds played in a bad lineup (thus was pitched around much more). But still of course Ruth was a lot better.

Important factor above. Also, Babe hitting 40 points higher lifetime means, per at bat obviously he was hitting safely more often per at bat, with men on he's going to cash in on the RBI.

Also Ruth's BABIP at .340 is 55 points higher than Barry's .285, so he also gains more on balls in play when runners are on base.

 

Also, you have to take into account expansion. There were only 16 teams in Ruth's time, and he only played against half of them, except for the World Series. There are 32 teams now, meaning, with relief, more than twice as many pitchers.

While there would be more star-caliber pitchers that he would have had to face if blacks had been allowed to play in his time, there also would have been plenty of Triple-A caliber pitchers that he could have feasted on if there had been 32 teams back then.