Ohtani vs. Babe Ruth. Is this like comparing Godzilla to King Kong?
Saw a show comparing Ohtani to Babe Ruth, and decided the Bambino was greater, at this point in history. Kinda surprised me. Made me think. Ohtani is a similar case as Ichiro, who collected more hits in his career than any other player. What about Ohtani?
Surprisingly, Ohtani has hit far more homers in the US than he did in Japan. From 2013-2017 he hit only 52 HR, compared to the 280 MLB HR from 2018-2026 (this includes WBC HR). A total of 332 HR in his first 13 seasons - 280 MLB HR in 8 seasons, an average of 35 HR/year from the ages of 23-30.
After a cup of coffee at the age of 19, Ruth then hit 309 HR by the age of 30. In his first 8 years in the majors Ruth had only hit 197 HR. After the age of 30, the Bambino slugged another 377 HR in his next 8 seasons, then added 28 more to finish with 714.
Could Ohtani match Ruth's output in his 30's? That will be the question.
avg.OBP.SLG.OPS
342 474 690 1.164 Ruth
282 374 582 0.957 Ohtani
Including Japan, Ohtani has pitched in 32 more games than Ruth and has about three times the strikeouts as the Babe - but these days batters are swinging from the heels much more than in Ruth's era, when making contact was much more valued. Ruth completed over 60% of his games while Ohtani less than 10%.
W - L win% ERA G CG SHO IP BB K WHIP
83-37 .692 2.76 195 014 08 1103.1 397 1332 1.083 SO
94-46 .671 2.28 163 107 17 1221.1 441 0488 1.159 BR
One thing to note: when Ohtani doesn't pitch, he is the DH. When Ruth didn't pitch, he played outfield.
Drove down to play golf this morning. Was a few minutes earlier than what I'd set for myself (better than late). My playing partner, the Georgia State professor, was already there. Usually I arrive 15-20 minutes before him. He had just landed back from China last night. I played okay, mostly hitting just one shot.
1. Pretty good 6 iron off the tee. Not so good after that.
2. Six irons faded left. A nice chip that was knocked down by a tree branch.
3. Eight iron stayed left. Only one good chip out of three.
4. Six iron stayed left. No good chips.
5. Hit a nice straight 4 iron. Too low but it rolled to the front fringe. Hit two lag putts, one too hard and one too soft.
6. Pulled two drives left, then a third right. From the fairway I hit a great 4 iron, then a second low 4 iron that rolled past the green. One good chips out of three.
7. Hit a nice hybrid off the tee. Went just as far as most of my driver shots. Couldn't find it. Dropped a ball and hit an even better 4 iron, but a tree branch knocked it down. Pulled a 9 iron right. One good chips out of three. But a pretty good lag putt.
8. Hit a good, straight hybrid. Stayed low, under the trees, and got a good roll. Approach was decent, but not quite to the front fringe. But a nice chip onto the green.
9. Stuck with the hybrid and hit another straight tee shot. Flubbed one chip, then hit a great chip that was all set to roll up on the green, until it hit a root or something and stopped short of the green. But a great two putt.
I wanted to drive home via 400, and my directions took me on a slow route. Stopped at the Hardees on Abernathy for a deal, but their app wasn't taking orders. I gave up and headed home.
Stopped at the Catholic church at the end of our street, St Ann. They're having their annual yard sale. It was the first morning, and there was a crowd. Saw a neighbor. Bought a nice Eddie Bauer puffer jacket, a long sleeve tee, a brown belt that I needed, and a pair of Timberland hiking boots. I'd sold off my old hiking boots, not thinking that I may need them some day. Four items = $10.00.
Got home to find a crew on the street working to repair a water leak near the street. We have a culvert on the street next to our driveway. Water flows from there down an underground pipe down to the end of our driveway, then it flows down the hill to the creek behind our house. Water only flows when it rains, but it hasn't rained in a while, but the water is still flowing. I called the Water Department and they sent out someone yesterday to check. Nice guy. He found the leak. So water was off in our house for several hours.
Had a zoom call at 6 pm. For the soccer World Cup they're going to dig big holes in at Candler Park golf course so people can play "Foot Golf" - kicking soccer balls down the fairways, then rolling them into big holes on the greens. Great. The greens at Candler Park are terrible already. The hills are going to be a challenge for the soccer balls, both up and down. More on this Foot Golf" to come.
NOLAN RYAN [SABR Bio] his nickname was derived from the title of a popular motion picture involving daring action during World War II? The “Von Ryan’s Express” starred Frank Sinatra, and was released in 1965. Nolan Ryan debuted in the majors in 1966. “The Ryan Express” or variations thereof, were soon attached to Ryan, not the least because of his fastball. The only teams he played for were the first four teams of major league expansion. He played for:
NYM 1966, 1968-1971; First season 1962
CAL 1972-1979; first season 1961 as the Los Angeles Angels
HOU 1980-1988; began as the Houston Colt .45’s in 1962
TEX 1989-1993; began as the Washington Senators in 1961. Moved to Arlington, Texas as the Rangers in 1972. Ryan is the only player who played for all four, and only these four. He was the national spokesman for Athletes Through with Chew. Ryan had more credibility as a spokesman for ATWC because he had been a user of smokeless tobacco early in his career. He quit for good while still pitching & became known as an advocate of a healthy approach to an athletic profession. His record 27 years as a major leaguer further added to his credibility.
Denison: is social media the new tobacco? An interesting court case says yes. "A court ruled that Facebook and YouTube were liable for damages of $6 million after the companies were sued by a 20-year-old woman for creating products that led to anxiety, depression, and other problems. Attorneys showed the jury internal company documents that demonstrated that executives were not only aware of the negative effects and addictive tendencies that their products had on children, but designed them to hook young users as quickly as they could. "These companies hired the best engineers in the country to make their products as addictive as possible—to the point that some of these engineers began to regret what they had created." Aza Raskin came up with the infinite scroll mechanic, said that watching young people get trapped by his invention created "a deep, hard, sick place in the pit of my stomach."
