Quote:
Incorporating my entire previous post herein as though fully set forth, I can only truthfully and accurately say once more, "case closed." Games are won by determining who scored the most runs--hence, run production irrefutably, indisputably rises to the forefront.
Regards,
Larry
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On the surface that is correct. But stats alone do not quantify that. Tony Lazzeri hitting in front of the Babe scores a lot more runs than he would if he were hitting in front of John Milner who was cleanup often on the '73 Mets. He also drives in more runs because people pitch to him instead of Ruth whereas they could pitch to Milner if they chose.
Also, the object of productive outs is not really quantified. A guy getting 25 of his RBIs on sacrifice flies matters. A guy hitting a groundball to second with less than two outs and a guy on third matters. A guy pushing a runner up from first to second or from second to third matters as well. A guy moving a runner over by a base on ball matters.
Setting the table for scoring all matters. Likewise so does defense.
When Mays played, guys were not prone to start running on a gapper. They would take a few steps and freeze to make sure the ball wasn't caught. Pretty much the same way a guy freezes on a line drive. Hence, on a double in the gap and a man on first, the guy on first just might not have scored as often if Mays were manning centerfield. All of those things are not quantified.