1919 Ruth vs 2021 Ohtani

[rats60]

Originally Posted by vintagewhitesox

Well said.
Also, when Ruth played, there was a large segment of players who were not allowed to play in the majors.
If Ruth had to play against the negro league all stars of his time, would he be as dominant? He was great for his time, and Im not taking anything away from him. but I dont think it's a fair comparison given the lack of opposition Ruth had.
Ruth didnt play coast to coast or face night pitching. What Otani is doing now has never been seen.

Ruth played exhibition games against Negro League teams and he was just as dominant. Ruth played in an era with only 16 teams compared to 30 teams today. The idea that he somehow played against weaker competition is an opinion that can't be backed up by facts.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by rats60

Ruth played exhibition games against Negro League teams and he was just as dominant. Ruth played in an era with only 16 teams compared to 30 teams today. The idea that he somehow played against weaker competition is an opinion that can't be backed up by facts.

Do we have stats from these exhibition games or is this just loose anecdote? Also hard to draw any conclusions from games that didn't count. BTW a good argument you could also make might be that unlike today, the best athletes weren't funneled so much to other sports.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by rats60

Ruth played exhibition games against Negro League teams and he was just as dominant. Ruth played in an era with only 16 teams compared to 30 teams today. The idea that he somehow played against weaker competition is an opinion that can't be backed up by facts.

Of course he played against weaker competition. That's not difficult to prove. Just look at the ratio of the size of the available pool of talent that players were drawn from vs the number of players who played in the league. Baseball is an international sport today. Your talking 10-fold the talent pool today but only twice as many teams. It's not even remotely close.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Of course he played against weaker competition. That's not difficult to prove. Just look at the ratio of the size of the available pool of talent that players were drawn from vs the number of players who played in the league. Baseball is an international sport today. Your talking 10-fold the talent pool today but only twice as many teams. It's not even remotely close.

How many great athletes back then opted for football or basketball?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by rats60

Ruth played exhibition games against Negro League teams and he was just as dominant. Ruth played in an era with only 16 teams compared to 30 teams today. The idea that he somehow played against weaker competition is an opinion that can't be backed up by facts.

The US has more than 3x as many people now AND the game is integrated AND the game is worldwide. The idea he DIDN'T play against weaker competition can't be backed up by facts.

Not to mention the OBVIOUS differences in physical strength and skill development.