Who is the greatest player of the Pre-War Era?

[tedzan]

Hey guys,

Specifically, those of you who favor Cobb over Ruth. Cobb was about the same height as Ruth, but he didn't have the weight to generate the power in his swing that Ruth had.
Besides, if I recall correctly, Cobb held his bat with sort of a "choked-up" grip. No-way, with that kind of grip, could match the long-distance drives that Ruth hit.

Furthermore, Cobb's impressive Batting Average would not be the topps in the Majors if Ted Williams had not been so "stubborn" by constantly pulling his drives to Right-Field.
With the "Williams' O-F shift", Ted could have sliced the ball into the gap in Left-Field 440 times instead of taking a Walk. Then Ted would have hit an amazing .400 career BA.
And, Cobb would not be the leader in that stat.

In 1919, Ruth hit 29 HR's (the last year of the "Dead Ball" era). Then followed that up in 1920 with 54 HR's, and 59 HR's in 1921.

Me thinks that Cobb is overrated

Whatever, there is an excellent book by Tom Stanton titled "Ty and the Babe".
I highly recommend it. In the Appendix you'll find all the At-Bats of Ty Cobb versus Babe Ruth pitching to him.



1949 LEAF

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TED Z

T206 Reference
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