1918 - Ty Cobb v. Babe Ruth

[NetShrine]

Who do you think had a better season and why?

[timconnelly]

1918 was a war-shortened season. The Boston Red Sox only played 126 games that year and finshed with a two and a half game lead for the American League pennant. Babe Ruth was coming off consecutive seasons where he had won 23 and 24 games respectively and was not only one of the best young pitchers in the league: he was one of the best pitchers in the league.

Cobb had another terrific season. He batted .382 for his 11th batting title on a team that lost a lot more games than it won. He did all the same things he had always done. He led the league in on base average and triples, was 2nd in slugging average and runs. He was 3rd in stolen bases, 5th in RBI and even tied for 7th in home runs (with 3!).

It's likely that I would cast my vote for Cobb based on their offensive statistics, not that Babe's are shoddy by any means. He tied for the American League home run championship with 11. Besides his 11, the rest of his Red Sox teammates only managed to hit 3, with nobody having more than 1! He finished 8th in the league in batting average, 2nd in on base average and doubles, 3rd in RBI, 5th in triples, and led the league in slugging average. All in all, a pretty good seaason for a guy filling in for his soldier teammates who were out for the season.

But Ruth also managed to do some pitching. HIs 13-7 record gave him the 4th highest winning percentage in the league. He was 9th both in complete games and ERA and finished 11th in victories. He also pitched his team to 2 World Series victories. The 1st a 1-0 complete game victory in the Series opener against the Cubs. Imagine if you would the value that a player would have if he combined the skills of Andy Pettitte and Tino Martinez. Well, Ruth in 1918 was better than either of them!

Using the offensive winning percentage formula, Ruth comes out at .866 to Cobb's .864. That's certainly too close to call or rather, is too insignificant a difference to make any difference.

So you've got to go with the Babe in a walk based on his making important contributions to a winning team, plus his pitching exploits.

[Skipper Steve]

Great stuff Tim - as always. What if I asked - who had the better season at the plate? Would you still go with Ruth?

[timconnelly]

I would go with Cobb. The extra 82 points on the batting average plus his being a better base runner send him over the top. There is a tendecy to look at the difference between 11 and 3 and say, Babe had almost 4 times as many homers. But I think it is more accurate to say that Babe had 8 more home runs than the Peach.

And that seems a lot less of a difference.

By the way, Steve you are doing a fantastic job of coming up with these seasons!!

[Skipper Steve]

Originally posted by timconnelly
you are doing a fantastic job of coming up with these seasons!!

Thanks - - I have many, many more - - as per Duque's suggestion, I will add two each Sunday over the off-season.

BTW, I went with Cobb too.