If we had a time machine and went back to 1927 would our 2024 Orioles dominate the 27 Yankees?

[Hank Scorpio]

20 minutes ago, NashLumber said:

Our oldest kid used to do this to me all the time when I first adopted her. Always with the hypotheticals:

"Hey Papa, would your aunt be your uncle if she had balls?"

Not really, that but you get the idea. 

It was more of, "Papa, if you could be dinosaur, which one would you be?"

Shonisaurus

 

[ExileAngelos]

Any team today would likely dominate the 1927 Yankees.  And that doesn't take anything at all away from how great they were.  

[NashLumber]

5 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Shonisaurus

 

That looks like a prehistoric narwhal, something I didn't know existed until I joined their family. 

[Hank Scorpio]

8 minutes ago, NashLumber said:

That looks like a prehistoric narwhal, something I didn't know existed until I joined their family. 

I just tried to pick something that had little or no natural predators. 

[Morgan423]

You have developed the ability to send 26 men up to a century back in time...  and you're not going to take any opportunity that presents, except to send our baseball team back for an exhibition game?

If any of you know Gurgi outside the board, please visit him and take his time machine keys away. 

[yark14]

Equipment is an important factor.  Are we playing with 1927 equipment? (same dirty and scuffed up ball for multiple innings, 50oz bats, crappy gloves). Do both teams have to endure 15+ double headers in a season and travel from city to city on trains?  Even with the primitive sports science and training methods of his day, Lou Gehrig would be the most jacked person on either team.  Imagine him at his peak if he had modern strength & conditioning, nutrition, and medicine. (he still would have died from ALS, but at least he'd likely live longer after being diagnosed)

Sure, pitchers back then maaaaybe topped out at 85-90mph, but if Babe and Lou dropped down from their 50oz bats to 33oz, they'd have no problem catching up to 100mph.  Austin Hays struck out 25% of the time last season, I wonder what the percentage would be if he was facing a pitcher throwing a dirty scuffed up ball?  

If training methods and equipment are equal, the '27 Yankees beat us 4-2 in a 7 game series.

[Just Regular]

4 hours ago, jabba72 said:

Of course the Orioles would dominate the 27 Yankees. It's very possible 2023 Oakland pitching staff could overpower them.

This makes me wonder what walk rate Ruth and Gehrig would work off Shintaro Fujinami.

[jabba72]

22 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

This makes me wonder what walk rate Ruth and Gehrig would work off Shintaro Fujinami.

I think Ruth and Gehrig could possibly adjust to todays game, alot more-so than others from that era.

That would be a sight to behold though.

[baltfan]

6 hours ago, jabba72 said:

Really, that seems to be the #1 priority for most GM's when evaluating a pitcher. Its a different game velocity wise when compared to the 1980's. Those teams are probably a lot closer to the 1927 era than teams of today are. 

I mean it’s overrated the difference between the eras.  On average there are huge differences.  But I bet the top end guys they faced had formidable fastballs. 

[drdelaware]

I found a discussion on the average speed of the fastball in the Ruth era that might be of interest.

https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-average-speed-of-a-fastball-during-Babe-Ruth-era

 

[Can_of_corn]

16 minutes ago, drdelaware said:

I found a discussion on the average speed of the fastball in the Ruth era that might be of interest.

https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-average-speed-of-a-fastball-during-Babe-Ruth-era

 

I'm a fan of Johnson but I've seen video of his delivery.  He wasn't throwing 98.

It does look like he'd be really easy to steal on.

 

[yark14]

20 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm a fan of Johnson but I've seen video of his delivery.  He wasn't throwing 98.

It does look like he'd be really easy to steal on.

 

Look where he is standing in all the clips.  He's in foul territory near the dugout warming up.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, yark14 said:

Look where he is standing in all the clips.  He's in foul territory near the dugout warming up.

Obviously.

But that was his delivery, that whippy side arm action was how he threw. 

You ain't getting 98 with that.  You also ain't getting 98 with his workload.

[Just Regular]

This winter I learned how the rWAR delta between Walter Johnson and Lefty Grove is on its surface misleading regarding their spots in the pitcher pantheon as Johnson was a strong hitter and Grove the bottom of the barrel during long careers.

Johnson beat Grove by 200 points of OPS and together they had 4000 PA.    Total rWAR goes Johnson 165-108, +54%.    Near 20 WAR of that though is hitting; pitching WAR only its 152-113, +34%.      Grove (-6.5) is I believe the farthest below replacement of any Bat in MLB history.

Johnson posted 40-ish of his WAR by the end of his Age-24 season, and Grove didn't join the Show until his Age-25 seasons after dominating in Baltimore.    He was basically Roki Sasaki (sorry, Yoshinobu Yamamoto).

Johnson and Grove had the highest career achievement of anyone born between Cy Young in 1867 and Roger Clemens born in 1962.     Grove's SABR bio is a good read - it tells how after his MLB rookie year, he chalked a barn door, spent the winter doing that, and started a Year 2 run of dominance including beating the late '20's/early 30's Yankees a bunch.     The last game of his career was the doubleheader day Ted Williams took his hacks to secure that .400 season, so "end of Lefty Grove's career" got a little bit eclipsed.

[yark14]

8 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Obviously.

But that was his delivery, that whippy side arm action was how he threw. 

You ain't getting 98 with that.  You also ain't getting 98 with his workload.

You're right, he wasn't hitting 98 with that.

He was hitting 99.