Ohtani or Ruth?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I could be wrong, but I suspect that if you just beamed Babe Ruth forward 100 years with his then-level of conditioning, training, nutrition, etc. and put him on the mound or in the batter's box, he would not be nearly as good as he was against his contemporaries. I know people will disagree with that. But to me it's not really the point.

My point is that it was easier for Ruth to run up more WAR against his contemporaries than it is for Shohei to do the same against his since it's a comparative stat.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

My point is that it was easier for Ruth to run up more WAR against his contemporaries than it is for Shohei to do the same against his since it's a comparative stat.

Why? Yes there is the whole overlay of baseball being white only, but at the same time with so far fewer teams, and no other major sports to siphon off great athletes, there was arguably more concentrated talent then, no?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Why? Yes there is the whole overlay of baseball being white only, but at the same time with so far fewer teams, and no other major sports to siphon off great athletes, there was arguably more concentrated talent then, no?

the whole idea that participation was not limited to the elite athletes back then. If you've read the whole thread you have seen references to common Joes that Babe played against. If you don't subscribe to that theory that's different, but I think there's a kernel of truth to it.

[samosa4u]

And FFS is Ohtani still using an interpreter ?? You Americans are paying him 600 trillion dollars !!! He has enough money to buy California, Nevada, Oregon, etc., and he still doesn't know basic English ??

[tycobb]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

And FFS is Ohtani still using an interpreter ?? You Americans are paying him 600 trillion dollars !!! He has enough money to buy California, Nevada, Oregon, etc., and he still doesn't know basic English ??

Personally i think its still an organization pr thing. Maybe next season they will ease up on that. But also personally idgaf as long as he hits moon shots and piles up K’s. Good night until mañana .


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[BioCRN]

Ohtani can speak English, but isn't very confident and is unsophisticated with it's use.

He's given enough off-the-cuff unprepared short speeches and interviews in English to tell he's got somewhat of a grasp of the language. He probably doesn't want to sound like a caveman trying to give thoughtful responses to things.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Why? Yes there is the whole overlay of baseball being white only, but at the same time with so far fewer teams, and no other major sports to siphon off great athletes, there was arguably more concentrated talent then, no?

No. 1920, there were 16 teams of 23-25 guys in a country with a population just over 100 million and no players from outside the US and no non-white players. In 2025, the population is 342 million. To have the same proportion of players, you'd need to have 46-48 teams instead of 30. And that's not even accounting for non-white and Non-American players now competing for spots.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Tabe

No. 1920, there were 16 teams of 23-25 guys in a country with a population just over 100 million and no players from outside the US and no non-white players. In 2025, the population is 342 million. To have the same proportion of players, you'd need to have 46-48 teams instead of 30. And that's not even accounting for non-white and Non-American players now competing for spots.

But ... but ... men were MEN in those days and players today are a bunch of pussies who are laid up by a hangnail.