Doubles vs. homers: who says Manny has to choose?

[SpinJr]

The Polo Grounds wasn't an extreme hitter's park but was probably a good HR park.

Ruth predated relievers as decent pitchers. In the first half of his career relievers were almost exclusively old/broken starters and actual starters on their off days. In the mid-20s Firpo Marberry was basically the first good pitcher to be used as a weapon out of the pen, but the idea of a relief ace didn't really catch on until the 1940s. Probably 90%+ of the time the Babe was facing a tired starter or a TJ McFarland in the late innings of close games.

I'd assume essentially none. There were very few quality LH relievers during his career, and while the idea of platooning goes back to the 1800s it was still controversial even on offense. Hitters hated it, even after the 1914 Miracle Braves won the Series with it. 60 years later you still didn't have LOOGYs.

You could probably find cases where a good LH starter was brought into a game to face Ruth/Gehrig and the rest of the Yanks on his off day. But nothing like today.

This post = YOU HATE BABE RUTH AND BASEBALL