Quote:
Originally Posted by the 'stache
An interesting stat. For the 40 year period of 1950 to 1995, there were 276 Major League players with at least 5,000 at bats. Mickey Mantle had the highest OPS of all of them. Only Wade Boggs had a higher OBP, and nobody had a higher slugging percentage than Mantle.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...=1&submitter=1
When you consider the sheer number of injuries Mantle dealt with during his career, what he was able to accomplish is pretty spectacular.
I don't think the gap between Ruth and Mantle is as big as some would lead you to believe. When you consider that Ruth didn't have to travel as much (he never had to fly cross country), he didn't face the best black players of his era, and he didn't play night games (Major League Baseball's first night game was in 1935), the advantage that he had might be diminished somewhat.
There's no doubt Ruth was a spectacular player, and I still think he's the greatest player of all-time, especially when you consider how dominant he was as a pitcher, too. And he clearly revolutionized the game.
But Mantle was the best pure power hitter for half a century. If he'd have been healthy, he'd have hit 800 home runs. |
Bill,
I agree with virtually all of your Mantle related comments except one. Injuries are NOT the sole reason Mantle feel short of his incredible potential, but rather his fondness of alcoholic beverages. Let's be honest here...we are talking about someone who spent most of his playing career in a seemingly infinite number of bars as late as 3:00/4:00 AM. Obviously playing many games with little to no sleep at all, Mickey unquestionably wasted a myriad of at-bats in a 'comatose-like' state, and we can only wonder how truly great he would have been had he not chose to drink his life away. In retrospect, I find Mantle's accomplishments absolutely amazing considering his rather loose lifestyle, justifying Ted Williams comment that Mantle was the most athletically gifted ballplayer he ever saw.
Joe