Ruth To Reynolds

[DOUGHBOYS]

Babe Ruth changed everything.
No, this isn't going to be a piece on Babe, even though I am gazing at a picture of him finishing his swing.
The Babe changed the game of baseball. How it was played and the perception of the game of fans who mostly followed the game through newspapers.
When the game went from dead ball to live ball in 1919, the home run became a real part of baseball.
Before then, sitting in front of outfield fences by fans was deemed alright. After all, hardly any balls were hit there.
If they were, the fans would assist the home town, not the visitors.

Besides the home run, Ruth brought the quality(?) that goes with home runs.
Free swinging.
Until Ruth, only a few players had actually taken full vicious swings at the ball.
Choking up and making contact was the first item of business.
Striking out, an absolute failure.
Not only a failure, but an embarrassment.
Players like Ty Cobb hated that Ruth was changing 'his' game.
In '19, Ruth hit 29 homers, Cobb hit one.
Cobb led the league in hitting for the last time that year. Ruth finished ninth.
You may be surprised to know that Ruth was a wonderful batting average hitter too.
Once coming close to .400 with a .393 batting average in 1923.
He also hit .300 or above in every year, but one, throughout the 1920's.

Cobb knew 'his' game was changing.
In 1920, the Babe hit 54, while George Sisler, the man who also took Cobb's batting title finished second with 19.
And so went the 20's with home runs escalating each year.
Many, many folks pointed out that the Babe was striking out a lot with those homers as well.
He would finish in the top 10 of striking out most years.
The Babe embraced the frailty, even telling hitters trying to emulate him to not be afraid of the strike out.
Although fans and sportswriters thought the Babe's strike outs as excessive, the Babe never struck out over 100 times.
You read that right.
In fact, NOBODY struck out 100 times during the 1920's.

It was only during the 1930's that the 100 strike out barrier was broken. Usually by one player.
It wasn't till 1937 that multiple players struck out over 100 times. One of them, a Hall of Famer.
Hank Greenberg.
During World War II, with Ruth clearly in the rear view and the quality of pitching down with many joining the armed forces, nobody struck out 100 times from 1941-45.
In '46, another Hall of Famer struck out more than 100 times, Ralph Kiner.
But, throughout the 1940's and 1950's, 100 strike outs was only broached by a few players each year.
And, it would be totals that stayed close to the century mark.
Then, the 60's happened.

In the 60's, pitching started to become king. Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, and lesser knows like Sam McDowell made hitters miss at far higher rates.
100 strike outs went from two or three hitters to 10 hitters, and by the end of the decade, over 20 players had 100 strike outs.
In 1968, Reggie Jackson set a Major League record by striking out 171 times
In 1969, Jackson's record became short-lived, broken by Bobby Bonds with 184.
1969 was 'THE 'YEAR OF THE PITCHER' .
So much so that they lowered each mound to make it more fair for the hitters.
The strike outs did not stop immediately.
In '70, Bonds topped his own record by striking out 189 times.
In '75, Mike Schmidt would strike out 180 times.
The lowering of the mound did seem to make an effect. There were not as many players striking out over 100 times.

In the 80's, Deer Happened.
Rob Deer was an all or nothing hitter. Quite frequently, nothing.
Deer set a strike out record with 186 in 1987.
The 80's were also the last time that the strike outs leader would have less than 150 strike outs(except for on strike years, ironically leading to less strike out years)
Now, it was a foregone conclusion that some players would equal a strike out per game.
Wait, I think I just heard Ty rolling over in his grave.

The steroid years of the 90's and 00's were thought of as hitters 'seeing' the ball better with hypodermic help, but it didn't stop the strike outs.
The records climbed to the 190's and more players were striking out during the 'Chicks dig the long ball' era.
In 2004, the 200 strike out barrier was broken.
It was broken by a player that we would covet on our team THIS YEAR!
This player would not only exceed 200 strike outs, he did it three years in a row.
AND, he still owns the record for most strike outs in a season (223).
And, we want this guy on our fantasy team.
Mark Reynolds.

Since 2007, there has been at least one player striking out 190 times.
Last year, 139 players struck out 100 or more times.
It has become totally acceptable to strike out.
The Babe would have loved this era.
Ty Cobb?
I can only imagine how pissed off he would be to see Joey Votto and Anthony Rizzo, two power hitters, mind you, as the last two hitters in baseball to noticeably choke up on a bat.
We live in the 'it is what it is' era.
And strike outs is.

Where will all this go?
Selfishness and salary reign supreme for today's baseball player. Moving runners along is a thing of the past.
Most take the 'grip and rip' approach.
As for Reynolds, a fellow with the strike out record in pocket, his strike out rate has decreased from striking out more than 38% of the time to less than 25% of the time. Almost as if knowing that 'grip and rip' does not extend one's career.
I believe that some batters will end season's having struck out in half their at bats. As long as they are hitting enough home runs to justify that amount of strike outs, that will be ok by today's standards.
We should be seeing the 250 strike out barrier broken within five years.
There are many. many players vying for the chance.