Quote:
Originally Posted by Shoele$$
What always struck me about Ruth was when he was pitching, he had a fairly slender athletic body that was better suited for being an all around baseball player with base running and stealing in mind. Then when he became a hitter and switched to the outfield, his body turned into a slow, sloppy, overweight pitcher's body. That extra weight did probably help with power behind his swing, but I just wonder how good he could have been had he possessed the body and speed to be an all around ball player like Cobb and Wagner. Hmmm....
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He would have been a BEAST. He clearly had superhuman hand eye coordination and ridiculous upper body strength. He hit 714 and over .340, while basically walking toward the mound as the pitch approached and swinging a 40+ oz bat. I could maybe do that in a batting cage, but facing different pitchers/pitches, different speeds and still making those moving parts work?!? That said, there's no doubt in my mind he'd have outdone himself had be maintained a more athletic body type. He'd still have that ridiculous hand/eye but would also be fast enough to leg out some more soft infield grounds (imagine how deep infields must have played him).. maybe turn some 450 ft gappers into triples/HR's... probably been a bette outfielder with an already great arm... and maybe extended his career and peak production a little longer (even though there was little drop off until the very end).