Hello Baseball Fans,
Over the last few weeks, the MLB All-Star Game and the official half-way point of the 2017 season have both come and gone. The A.L. defeated the N.L. in a pitchers’ and more pitchers’ duel by the score of 2 to 1 as Mariner Robinson Cano’s 10th inning solo shot was the non-walk-off difference in the game. It was quite a game and played at a relatively quick pace of three hours and sixteen minutes. Pretty good for 10 full innings in which 57 players appeared and the A.L. managed the unlikely combination of a Blown Save by Twin Ervin Santana, a Win by Red Sox Craig Kimbrel, and an actual Save by Indian Andrew Miller. The combo of those three things appearing in one game is not so rare, but having occurred over four innings and involving three guys seems oh-so-rare from this seat.
The All-Star Game was played on Tuesday 7/11. A fun, rhyming date for sure. During the weekend prior to the MLB showcase game, we here at VFTD came across a nice advertisement in a baseball magazine to-be-named-later (always wanted to use those words as part of some sort of actual announcement, no matter the (in)significance). It was a full-page picture that had a cool looking bronzed statue of a left-handed batter in the follow through of a mystical homer. In the background was a Hall Of Fame-like plaque that listed several most impressive stats and career accomplishments. And as you could have guessed, it was of course, a collector’s item featuring none other than George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth.
By now, you may be thinking that we’re going to proceed with another long list of the Babe’s awesome stats and what not. Well, maybe a little bit, but only so we can get to a point that, you perhaps, have yet to see or read. Among the various career titles listed were, of course, the Babe’s A.L. Home Run crowns. He led the league in long balls in 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1931. We typed out all 12 homer titles in order to NOT understate that reign of clubbing. WOW!!
So where’s the new(er) and fresh(er) part? OK, here goes (finally): When looking at this advertisement of Ruth, we have to admit that it’s not really all that tempting to get online and make out a money order of some kind in exchange for the goods. So what can we get out of it if we’re not anteing up? You have to look closely. Not at the statue, at the plaque. What’s on that plaque? Stats and numbers and dates of course.
But that’s the usual stuff. Seen it. Read it. What’s NOT on that plaque? Let’s ask, What DON’T we know about? The years 1922 and 1925 that’s what. If not for those two seasons, Ruth would have had 14 consecutive league home run crowns. That’s even more cartoon-ish than his real numbers. So our question was, who broke up the streak? And do we even hear of him on a regular basis or ever for that matter?
Since we’re going ‘back’ in time, we’ll start with the most recent HR crown interruption. 1925. Teammate, and fellow 1927 Murderer’s Row member, Bob Meusel, played 156 games (yes, that’s 2 games over the season schedule) and slugged 33 HRs and 134 RBI. Meanwhile, Ruth played just 98 games, but mustered up 25 HRs along with 67 RBI. Not bad.
And going back a few more years bring us to 1922. Ruth played in just 110 games that season and still racked up 35 dingers and 96 RBI. Impressive. However, in 153 games, left-fielder Ken Williams, of the St. Louis Browns, paced the A.L. with 39 HRs and 155 RBI while also swiping 37 bags. Legend or not, that’s a helluva campaign right there. But here’s the fun part: Williams’ 1922 season was the first 30 HR-30 SB campaign by any position player ever. To date, there’s only been 17 other such A.L. seasons, which were accomplished by 12 players. It was most recently done by Mike Trout, who had 30 HR and 49 SB in 2012.
Ken Williams played 14 big-league seasons and amassed 1,552 hits, which included 196 HRs, 916 RBI, 154 SB, and .319 BA. However, from 1923 to 1955, there were exactly zero 30-30 seasons in both of the big-leagues. Then, in 1956, Willie Mays went for 36 HR and 40 SB in 152 games. And in 1957, Mays repeated his 152 games played and amassed another consistent 30-30 season with 35 HR and 38 SB.
Later Baseball Fans.