[Mick]

Mick: If your Ruthian factoids aren't in Bob Creamer's estimable biography, you should strongly consider writing at least a long essay on the Babe, and how he might fare in today's MLB.

Ruthian Factoids:

He was the best baseball player ever.  Why?  Because he could hit AND pitch.  He was the best lefthanded pitcher in the American league in the 1910s.  His ERA was 2.19, he won 23 and 24 games in two successive seasons, he led the league in ERA in 1916 with a 1.75.  He led the Red Sox to three World Series titles in his six years with them.  In the other 104 years of the franchise, the Red Sox have won four World Series titles.  Ruth won the Triple Crown in part as a pitcher.  His winning percentage as a pitcher was .671.  Only four Hall of Fame pitchers have a better winning percentage.

Ruth pitched five times for the Yankees.  Two of them were complete game victories over the Red Sox.

BTW, the owner of the Red Sox, Harry Frazee didn't just sell Ruth to the Yankees.  He sold 17 other players to the Yanks between 1918 and 1923.  When the Yanks won the 1923 World Series, six of their seven core pitchers and half of their starting players in the field came from the Red Sox.

Ruth first broke the home run record of 27 set by the White Sox' Ned Williamson with 29 HRs in 1919.  Williamson had set his record in a park where the fence was 196 feet away.

I'm fairly certain you never heard this oddity: Ruth had real trouble with balls hit in the sun.  He lost a ball in the sun in the Polo Grounds in 1922; thereafter, he would only play the outfield where the sun least came into play.  For the rest of his career, Ruth played exclusively in right field in only the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium and Washington and Cleveland, but played left field in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Ruth won only one MVP award, in 1923.  But the award wasn't given out from 1915 to 1921, and repeat winners weren't allowed until 1933.

Ruth never actually visited Johnny Sylvester in the hospital.  A friend of Sylvester's father gave him the autographed baseball and told him Ruth would hit a home run for him.

Last oddball trivia: Ruth wore the famous #3, but the Yankees weren't the first team to wear numbers.  The Indians did in 1916 and 1917, the Cardinals did for a while in 1923, and the Indians made them a permanent addition in 1929, one game before the Yankees added numbers permanently.

Ruth's last home run for the Boston Braves, the last of three he hit against the Pirates in one game, was the longest HR ever hit in Pittsburgh's stadium from 1909 to 1970 when it was torn down.

Ruth never struck out 100 times in a season.

Did Ruth actually call his shot in game 3 of the 1932 world series against the Cubs?  Here's the video and commentary, judge for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkEX0eb2eBo

Ruth never wore the famous Yankee interlocking logo.  That didn't show up until 1936.  Ruth's last year was 1934.
Ruth didn't actually say that he deserved more money than President Herbert Hoover "because I had a better year than he did."  Urban legend.

Ruth appeared as himself in "Pride of the Yankees."  He lost 40 pounds to play that role.

[Mick]

Mick: If your Ruthian factoids aren't in Bob Creamer's estimable biography, you should strongly consider writing at least a long essay on the Babe, and how he might fare in today's MLB.

Ruthian Factoids:

He was the best baseball player ever.  Why?  Because he could hit AND pitch.  He was the best lefthanded pitcher in the American league in the 1910s.  His ERA was 2.19, he won 23 and 24 games in two successive seasons, he led the league in ERA in 1916 with a 1.75.  He led the Red Sox to three World Series titles in his six years with them.  In the other 104 years of the franchise, the Red Sox have won four World Series titles.  Ruth won the Triple Crown in part as a pitcher.  His winning percentage as a pitcher was .671.  Only four Hall of Fame pitchers have a better winning percentage.

Ruth pitched five times for the Yankees.  Two of them were complete game victories over the Red Sox.

BTW, the owner of the Red Sox, Harry Frazee didn't just sell Ruth to the Yankees.  He sold 17 other players to the Yanks between 1918 and 1923.  When the Yanks won the 1923 World Series, six of their seven core pitchers and half of their starting players in the field came from the Red Sox.

Ruth first broke the home run record of 27 set by the White Sox' Ned Williamson with 29 HRs in 1919.  Williamson had set his record in a park where the fence was 196 feet away.

I'm fairly certain you never heard this oddity: Ruth had real trouble with balls hit in the sun.  He lost a ball in the sun in the Polo Grounds in 1922; thereafter, he would only play the outfield where the sun least came into play.  For the rest of his career, Ruth played exclusively in right field in only the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium and Washington and Cleveland, but played left field in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Ruth won only one MVP award, in 1923.  But the award wasn't given out from 1915 to 1921, and repeat winners weren't allowed until 1933.

Ruth never actually visited Johnny Sylvester in the hospital.  A friend of Sylvester's father gave him the autographed baseball and told him Ruth would hit a home run for him.

Last oddball trivia: Ruth wore the famous #3, but the Yankees weren't the first team to wear numbers.  The Indians did in 1916 and 1917, the Cardinals did for a while in 1923, and the Indians made them a permanent addition in 1929, one game before the Yankees added numbers permanently.

Ruth's last home run for the Boston Braves, the last of three he hit against the Pirates in one game, was the longest HR ever hit in Pittsburgh's stadium from 1909 to 1970 when it was torn down.

Ruth never struck out 100 times in a season.

Did Ruth actually call his shot in game 3 of the 1932 world series against the Cubs?  Here's the video and commentary, judge for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkEX0eb2eBo

Ruth never wore the famous Yankee interlocking logo.  That didn't show up until 1936.  Ruth's last year was 1934.
Ruth didn't actually say that he deserved more money than President Herbert Hoover "because I had a better year than he did."  Urban legend.

Ruth appeared as himself in "Pride of the Yankees."  He lost 40 pounds to play that role.