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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.
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true, which is why stats like weighted runs created and weighted on base avg (wRC+ and wOBA) don't concern themselves with those things. They only focus on the things that the batter can control directly. Mantle has an edge in hitting. But as a total player Mays was better because base running and defense matter, But with the bat? Mantle was a fair bit better.