Just some "musings" on ML Baseball. I thought I knew alot about baseball, being an old man, (I was 1 year old when Sports Illustrated was first published on August 16, 1954 with Eddie Mathews on the cover).
Little facts like during the 1880's walks were counted as hits, so .400 batting averages were much more comon. But I was suprised when I read the following.
Ruth Almost Got Extra HR in 1968
New York Daily News
San Fransisco – Barry Bonds' effort to overtake Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list could have been more difficult.
If an ad hoc Major League Baseball committee had had its way in 1968, Ruth's career total would have been one higher, at 715.
Researchers at the National Baseball Hall of Fame dug up old news clips last week about a ball Ruth hit into the stands that wasn't counted as a homer.
On July 8,1918, while playing left field for the Red Sox, Ruth hit a ball into the Fenway Park seats with Amos (Lightning) Strunk on first base in the bottom of the 10th inning against Cleveland. Under baseball's rules at the time, once Strunk scored from first the game was over, the Red Sox won 1-0, and Ruth was credited with a triple.
The rule was changed in 1920 so that a home run is a home run no matter when you hit it - unless you pass a base runner ahead of you or you don't actually round the bases.
In 1968, a "special records committee” reviewing data for a new encyclopedia decided Ruth should be credited with another home run, which would give him 715. Baseball was ready to recognize that total, but MLB public relations director Joe Reichle was in Japan when the vote was taken.
When Reichler returned, he argued against the 715 total and persuaded a couple of panelists to change their minds. Thus his total remained at 714.
That deprived Ruth of a homer, but another little-remembered quirk of the rules may have benefited him. Before 1931, balls that bounced over outfield fences were scored as homers, not doubles. Ruth played all but five of his big-league seasons before 1931, but there is no estimate of how many of his homers were bouncers.
Also, before 1920 umpires made fair or-foul rulings based on where the ball landed in the stands, not where it left the field. Ruth probably lost homers on balls that left the field fair but hooked so much they landed foul
The Milwaukee Jounal Sentinel staff contributed to this report
Little facts like during the 1880's walks were counted as hits, so .400 batting averages were much more comon. But I was suprised when I read the following.
Ruth Almost Got Extra HR in 1968
New York Daily News
San Fransisco – Barry Bonds' effort to overtake Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list could have been more difficult.
If an ad hoc Major League Baseball committee had had its way in 1968, Ruth's career total would have been one higher, at 715.
Researchers at the National Baseball Hall of Fame dug up old news clips last week about a ball Ruth hit into the stands that wasn't counted as a homer.
On July 8,1918, while playing left field for the Red Sox, Ruth hit a ball into the Fenway Park seats with Amos (Lightning) Strunk on first base in the bottom of the 10th inning against Cleveland. Under baseball's rules at the time, once Strunk scored from first the game was over, the Red Sox won 1-0, and Ruth was credited with a triple.
The rule was changed in 1920 so that a home run is a home run no matter when you hit it - unless you pass a base runner ahead of you or you don't actually round the bases.
In 1968, a "special records committee” reviewing data for a new encyclopedia decided Ruth should be credited with another home run, which would give him 715. Baseball was ready to recognize that total, but MLB public relations director Joe Reichle was in Japan when the vote was taken.
When Reichler returned, he argued against the 715 total and persuaded a couple of panelists to change their minds. Thus his total remained at 714.
That deprived Ruth of a homer, but another little-remembered quirk of the rules may have benefited him. Before 1931, balls that bounced over outfield fences were scored as homers, not doubles. Ruth played all but five of his big-league seasons before 1931, but there is no estimate of how many of his homers were bouncers.
Also, before 1920 umpires made fair or-foul rulings based on where the ball landed in the stands, not where it left the field. Ruth probably lost homers on balls that left the field fair but hooked so much they landed foul
The Milwaukee Jounal Sentinel staff contributed to this report
