I wonder if there is some real data on that?

John- I'm guessing that there's no research on that. It is what it is. Trout has it, Miggy Cabrera has it, all of the great ones have it. Ruth had it. Ted Wiliams had it.

Funny, I would say anyone who makes it to AAA has amazing, one in a million, hand eye coordination. I've often though what separates the good from the truly great is more a matter of mental disposition and temperament.

I agree. I ain't got it. You could get me out with a 55 mph curve. I was watching a special on Connor Mac Gregor and all sort of reaction stats were being quoted. Again I don't deny Ruth was a near god in his time. I just am looking for some empirical argument beside, "today's players are wimps" and "players of old were so much more fundamentally sound". Always fun. I'll keep looking

Not with today's media
 

Throughout his career and post-career Ruth was known for his bombast, overeating, drinking and womanizing today's media would have ate him alive

Pitchers today throw a LOT harder than in past generations. You've got the occasional outlier - Bob Feller, Nolan Ryan, Dazzy Vance, etc - but overall? Not even close. In the 1920s, there was probably 2-4 guys who threw much above 92. In 2006, the Detroit Tigers alone had something like 10.

To the point of the article, that is Jane Leavy's forthcoming biography of Ruth, do we really need another? I kinda feel like "The Big Bam" was a pretty good last word on Ruth. I haven't been impressed with either of Leavy's previous books, not sure she's up to the task of the definitive bio of Ruth. Maybe Tim Hornbaker can take it on instead.

And part of a batters power comes from the pitcher. So Maybe Ruth hits a few more HR today than before.

Steve B

That's part of it too, and that drive to be better like coordination is something you either have or don't.


As far as the hand/eye coordination and reaction times go, there was an article in Sports Illustrated a while back about reaction times vs perception. They mainly focused on Pujols, who surprisingly has a very average reaction time. Like almost dead on average compared to random people you can find anywhere. What he does have is a TON more information available. The test was flashing a picture of a pitcher who'd just thrown a ball. for a very brief time. In the time shown, he was able to tell pitch and location as well as other info like who the pitcher was. The average person? The better ones could tell the pitcher wasn't still holding the ball. They had a bunch of examples from other sports including a volleyball player who didn't know the balls trajectory, but identified the player and what game it was in a space of time when most of us would see nothing more than a flash of light. Simply astounding.

Steve B

Would the Legendary Babe Ruth Still Be a Star if He Played Today?

Yes, he would still be a star, but he would have been called George Ruth, not Babe Ruth. 'Babe' is so turn of the 20th century.

Brian