Today’s guest writer, James Potocki, spent 25 years creating content for Major League Baseball as a cinematographer, editor and producer. If you’ve been a baseball fan over that time, you might have seen some of his work – This Week in Baseball, Prime 9, The World Series Film and the documentary series, MLB Network Presents, to name a few.
To begin, I’d like to thank Roger Schlueter for inviting me to contribute to this space. The nature of the extraordinary baseball content here was often discussed, in one way or another (yes, often over coffee) in the offices of MLB Productions and MLB Network, but even more frequently over a few beers; maybe listening to the Yankees on the radio (while watching the broadcast on mute), playing some wiffle ball, during a road trip to Cooperstown, or a spontaneously texted trivia challenge. This last example is the genesis of this particular piece. See, I was simply trying to stump the unstumpable with a stat-based question and one thing led to another. The process revealed yet another measure of dominance from an all-time great: Babe Ruth.
The search began with a slash line. In today’s era of WAR, FIP and whatever, there’s still incredible value to be found in perusing a player’s good ole’ AVG/OBP/SLG. In contrast, OPS and OPS+ (which is better as it adjusts for ballpark and league) fail to offer the juicy ratio where all the nuanced personality lies.
Player A has a career OPS of .977
Player B also owns a career OPS of .977
Who are they? What kind of hitters are they? I wouldn’t know offhand.
Player A’s career slash line: .325/.398/.579
Player B’s career slash line: .298/.421/.557
Now we’re talking! You can start taking some guesses and have an idea of their respective profiles at the plate.
WAR is more encompassing of a player’s worth but is even colder, and I think that’s the general fan’s problem with it. Nothing is better at measuring a player’s overall value, but for the fan it takes all the fun out of looking at numbers. It’s the equivalent of getting a full Topps baseball card set on Christmas morning – it erases the engagement and wonder found when unwrapping packs one by one. Don’t get me wrong, I willingly hopped on the baseball statistical revolution train long ago. In fact, I’ve relished my seat here in the dining car for quite some time, sipping the statistical libations Bill James, Tom Tango and the like have craftily mixed. Having a better understanding of the game and the context behind the numbers is both nourishing and satisfying. But sometimes, as we steam along destinations unknown, I can’t help but open up the window, pop my head out, and look back at the dusty tracks we’ve long powered over. Much that was once coveted has been left behind on this journey.
I’m pretty stunned how much Babe Ruth’s star has fallen in recent years. In a short span of time, we went from the idea of challenging his status as the greatest player ever as being laughable to today questioning if he could even make a modern big league roster. This has little to do with sabermetrics, because by any modern measure Ruth still shines statistically. Rather, it’s the understanding that the level of play in the game has continued to increase to the point that numbers from generations ago have completely lost meaning. Rightfully so, it’s accepted that baseball is just as much subject to the laws of evolution that affect every other sport. The nuance and beauty of the effect was perfectly captured in one of my favorite videos ever posted on YouTube, the evolution of the 100m dash in the Olympics. Most astonishing is the revelation that the 15-16 year-old dash times from a decade ago would have won a Bronze Medal as recently as 1980.
But in its close, we’re reminded that the times from 1896 to 2012 are only separated by a few seconds. In other words, athletes have progressed over time, but the distance between them is subtle.
Which brings me back to the Bambino. Sure, he played in a time before integration, West Coast expansion, night ball, international scouting, fully developed Minor League systems, the explosion of the super reliever and half a dozen new pitches, but George Herman Ruth put up some serious numbers as a hitter. While the 60 and 714 home run markers have long been ceremoniously surpassed, they never really captured his full essence as a hitter. For that, and for any hitter really, go to the slash line. Ruth was an on-base machine, eclipsing the .500 mark a record five times. There are 34 seasons where a player reached a .700 slugging percentage in at least 500 plate appearances. Ruth accomplished it a Ferris-like nine times, again a record. And while not thought of for his batting average, he did hit over .370 six times, with a single-season high of .393 in 1923, the inaugural season of Yankee Stadium. It all adds up to the ridiculous career slash line of .342/.474/.690.
Just how amazing is that? To accomplish that even in just a single season would be historic. But how historic? And so a trivia question was born: how many players ever reached Babe Ruth’s career slash line in a single season? The answer, to me, was stunning. Incredibly, in baseball history (not counting the National Association, which existed from 1871-1875 or any of the Negro Leagues), only nine other players (aside from Ruth himself) were able to reach the Bambino’s career slash line in a single season (with a minimum of 100 plate appearances). Again, what Ruth averaged for his entire career over 10,628 trips to the dish.
The mind races to double-check the signature all-time single seasons, the ones that explode in memory. Mickey Mantle in 1956? Nope, his OBP is short by ten points. How about 1997 Larry Walker? Even in peak conditions at Coors Field, his OBP is more than twenty points short. Jimmie Foxx came awfully close in his monstrous 1932, but also falls short in OBP, by five points. 1930 Hack Wilson? Also short on OBP. Stan the Man in 1948, short on OBP. Hmm, maybe then 2001 Jason Giambi? He hit .342, his OBP was .477, but alas the .660 slugging is thirty points short.
So what is the answer to this trivia question? Who accomplished this rare feat, the sultan slash line? It’s worth going one by one, starting with perhaps some obvious guesses. You’d be smart to begin with Barry Bonds. He did it twice, in 2002 and then 2004, when he had the greatest single season slash line in history: .362/.609/.812. He just missed Babe’s benchmark a third time, when he hit .341/.529/.749 in 2003. If you ever wondered what it might have been like to see Babe Ruth hit, you pretty much did when Barry was at the plate from 2001-2004. Over those four seasons, he produced an unparalleled .349/.559/.809.
“The greatest hitter who ever lived” matched Babe, too. Teddy MF Ballgame did it the most, four times (aside from Ruth, who hit these parameters in eight seasons). First was in his iconic .406 season of 1941, then also in 1955 after somehow missing the first month due to a divorce settlement. He again hit all of the bars in 1957, as he made another run at .400 at age 38, but perhaps most impressive was 1953. After flying 39 combat missions during the Korean War, Ted returned to the Red Sox in August and went .407/.509/.901. Granted it was in only 110 plate appearances, but I hope you laughed out loud at those numbers.
When Ted Williams was asked who he thought were the greatest hitters ever, his response was Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. It’s a tough argument to have the Iron Horse ranked ahead of Williams (unless ballpark and postseason are added into the equation, wink wink to the above-mentioned founder), but he’s unquestionably on the short list. The man who played in Ruth’s shadow larruped the sultan slash line twice, in his MVP seasons of 1927 and 1936, missing a third campaign by one point of OBP in 1930.
For some reason or another, the accomplishments of Rogers Hornsby seem to have been shrugged off, if not forgotten altogether. If Ruth gets a pass because of his sheer dominance, why doesn’t the second baseman with the .358 career batting average? You know, the one who famously hit .402 over a five year span? The only player to have three seasons hitting over .400 with at least 20 home runs? His 127 career WAR ranks ninth among position players, and in the ultimate recognition of accomplishment, his Baseball Reference page is littered with black. But I digress. No matter his current place in history, The Rajah accomplished the sultan slash line in back-to-back seasons, 1924 and 1925, when he hit .424 and .403, respectively.
It’s hard to shake from the mind the hitter he was the second half of his career, but for his first, Frank Thomas hit like a right-handed Ted Williams. And he was the first to reach the sultan slash line since Ted did it in 1957. The Big Hurt went .353/.487/.729 in 517 plate appearances, winning the AL MVP in the strike-shortened season of 1994.
The rest of the qualifiers now become more difficult, and with some explanation. If you’ve ever dabbled in MicroLeague Baseball, or more recently whatifsports.com (you’ll find me on there as jpccr) you’ll know these two legendary campaigns from the 19th century well. In the season of unimaginable hitting fun that is 1894, Hugh Duffy had the most funnest (does that get past the editor, I wonder (ed: sure, why not?)) The pride of the Boston Beaneaters produced a .440 batting average, .502 on-base percentage, and in spite of having only 18 home runs, his 51 doubles and 16 triples netted him a .694 slugging percentage.
Pete Browning with his famed Louisville Slugger may have been the most impactful player to come from the American Association, a league that ran from 1882 to 1891, but the league’s greatest single season line came from a Canadian named Tip O’Neill. Tip delivered a Clu Haywood-esque performance in 1887, leading the league in nearly every offensive category possible, save nose hair: runs, RBI, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, and slash line: .435 AVG, .490 OBP, and .691 SLG. Has that feat of preeminence ever been replicated?
Another column perhaps.
Lastly, we jump from the 19th century into the 21st. The current record contract holder, Juan Soto, gave Mets fans a glimpse of what his ceiling could be in Queens with his age-21 campaign for Washington. During the Covid-shortened 2020 season in which he played 47 games and amassed 196 plate appearances, Soto slashed .351/.490/.695. Soto’s career slash line currently sits at .285/.421/.532. Perhaps to the Met fan’s delight, I’ll take the over for him in all categories there moving forward.
One additional, and special inclusion is necessary. Manny Ramírez came awfully close to the line in 2000, but it was his fun-loving introduction to LA in 2008, after running his own version of Operation Shutdown in Boston, where he accomplished the feat. In 53 games and 229 plate appearances for the Dodgers in 2008, Manny went .396/.489/.743. His combined slash line for the season was .332/.430/.601, far short of the Ruthian standard.
In all, a player has reached Ruth’s career slash line in at least 100 plate appearances only 23 times. As mentioned, Ruth has eight boasts, his last coming in 1931. Now, let’s look at the list since Ruth, and remove partial seasons, pandemic-shortened years, and seasons where the player failed to qualify for the batting title:
Lou Gehrig, 1936
Ted Williams, 1941
Ted Williams, 1957
Frank Thomas, 1994
Barry Bonds, 2002
Barry Bonds, 2004
So what can we make of all this? Quite simply, the Babe was one of a kind. He played in an era more kind to hitters, but that was largely his own making. There’s still much to learn and enjoy from the black-littered page of numbers he produced.
Earlier, I mentioned Negro League performers were not a part of the trivia question. When extending invites to all the batters in those associations, Hall of Famers Buck Leonard, Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Mule Suttles, Martín Dihigo and Jud Wilson join the group (as do non-immortals Rap Dixon, George Scales and Charlie Smith).
One last thought experiment to – one last time – marvel at the Sultan’s career rate stats: is Ruth’s career slash line the most exclusive, with 23 total seasons? It is. Here’s a quick survey of how Ruth’s number of matches compares with a few of the other batting gods:
Ted Williams .344/.482/.634 – 26 seasons
Lou Gehrig .340/.447/.632 – 70 seasons
Rogers Hornsby .358/.434/.577 – 103 seasons
Ty Cobb – .366/.433/.515 – 139 seasons
In so many ways, through so many exercises and orienteering, so much of baseball has Babe Ruth at its epicenter – an undeniable and still awe-inspiring benchmark, a gold standard by which all preceding and subsequent heights are measured.
Oh yeah, here’s the answer to the .977 OPS question:
Player A: Joe DiMaggio
Player B: Mickey Mantle
Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece, as well as WhatIfSports.