Stat of the day...
 

From Harvey Frommer's terrific book entitled "Five O'Clock Lightning" (which is where I got my ebay user name) comes this surprising nugget...

Babe Ruth stole home TEN TIMES in his unequaled and amazing career.

Who would've thunk it? ;)

Mr Magoo was catching those games. Amazing stat.

I always found this interesting...

During 1916 and 1917, Ruth compiled won-lost records of 23-12 and 24-13 with ERAs of 1.75 and 2.01. In 1916, Ruth led the league in ERA and shut outs (9) and in 1917, in complete games (35).

Yeah, but that's still 5 fewer than Gehrig had :)

Here's a list of the career leaders. It looks like the T206 era was a good time to steal home. The art of stealing home apparently was replaced by the art of hitting home runs when the live ball was introduced in 1920 ...

Ty Cobb 1905-28 54
Max Carey 1910-29 33
George Burns 1911-25 28
Honus Wagner 1897-17 27
Sherry Magee 1904-19 23
Frank Schulte 1904-18 23
Johnny Evers 1902-29 21
George Sisler 1915-30 20
Frankie Frisch 1919-37 19
Jackie Robinson 1947-56 19
Jimmy Sheckard 1897-13 18
Tris Speaker 1907-28 18
Joe Tinker 1902-16 18
Eddie Collins 1906-30 17
Larry Doyle 1907-20 17
Rod Carew 1967-85 17

Tyrus with 54. That's a record that will NEVER be broken... NEVER.

home
 

i thnk steve is right about Mr Magoo!!!
very interesting stat.


best,
barry

Agreed Barry.
Cool stat. Had no idea.

Frank

Only 2 people who played after 1940 are on that list

It can be done even in today's game. Just finished up (for the second time) reading Billy Martin's autobiography "#1" and he goes into it several times with all the clubs he managed. He taught Carew as well.

It's a tremendous weapon that done right can be the difference of 3 or 4 wins over the course of the season. It also never hurts to keep the other guys guessing. Jackie, like Cobb, were the best at disrupting the oppositions rhythm.

I'd like to see Mike Scioscia doing it. It's a perfect fit for him and his team.

Seems like I remember the Angels pulling it off this past season... not sure though.

I just found out that Babe Ruth's grave is 6.3 miles from my new home. I'm freaking delighted.

Cool. Billy Martin, too. And James Cagney and Dutch Schultz.
My condolences to all their families and loved ones.

PS. Per Google Maps Ossining checks out at about 6-1/2 miles +/- from Gates of Heaven Cemetery. Just sayin'.

The Babe stole 123 bases in his career. Ok, he got caught stealing 117 times. There will never be another Babe Ruth...

94 Wins as a pitcher, 123 SBs, 714 HRs, a career 2.28 ERA and a lifetime BA of .342 That's about as diverse as a player can be.

You think it is nice living close to Ruth's gravesite now but wait until his ghost starts pestering you for hot dogs and beer at 2 in the morning!

LOL. Looks like I'm going to have at least one perverse Saturday afternoon soon.

Martin is very close to the Babe--20-30 feet.

Lou Gehrig's grave (his ashes are in an urn in his headstone) is also in Valhalla--at Kensico Cemetery. Jacob Ruppert's mausoleum, and Ed Barrow's grave are there as well.

Is the relative proximity to the Bronx the reason why they are all buried here?