And the Greatest 1-2 Batting Punch is....
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There has been an awful lot of discussion about what was the greatest 1-2 batting punch in baseball history, both for a single season and over an extended period of time. The conclusion is quite simple. No single season duo comes close to the 1927 Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and no two consecutive hitters inflicted more damage on the opposition over an extended time period than did Gehrig and Ruth from 1926 to 1934.
In 1927, Ruth batted .356 with 60 home runs, 164 RBIs, and a .772 slugging average. Gehrig had an even higher batting average, hitting .373 with 47 home runs, 175 RBIs, and a .765 slugging average. Stop and examine the statistics carefully.
Ruth had a .772 slugging average and Gehrig's was only 0.007 lower. Incredible, but what is equally amazing is that Ruth had an on base average of .486 and Gehrig of .474.
Today, most agree that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are the best 1-2 batting punch in baseball. Last season, Ramirez batted .292 with 45 home runs, 144 RBIs, and a .594 slugging average. Few players can match that, but it pales in comparison to Ruth's 1927 season. Ortiz batted .300 with 47 home runs, 148 RBIs, and a .604 slugging average. Manny and David are fearsome, but they do not come close to Ruth-Gehrig.
Continuing with 2005, it is interesting to compare Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield to the two Boston sluggers. Rodriguez batted .321 with 48 home runs, 130 RBIs, and a .610 slugging average. Sheffield batted .291 with 34 home runs, 123 RBIs and a .512 slugging average. Ramirez and Oritz had a better season, but Rodriguez and Sheffield are closer than most think and Sheffield and Rodriguez are probably the second best 1-2 batting punch today---when they bat consecutively.
Historically, Ramirez and Ortiz aren't even second best. In 1937, Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig had a season comparable to Ruth and Gehrig's 1927. DiMaggio hit .346 with 46 home runs, an incredible 167 RBIs and a .673 slugging average, while Gehrig had one of his usual seasons, batting .351 with 37 home runs and a .643 slugging average.
Many reflexively select Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris of 1961, and while they were fearsome, they were not as formidable as Ruth-Gehrig in 1927 or DiMaggio-Gehrig in 1937. Maris-Mantle might not have even been the best 1-2 combination in 1961.
Maris hit .269 with 61 home runs, 142 RBIs, and a .620 slugging average. Mantle hit .317 with 54 home runs, 128 RBIs, and a .687 slugging average but Rocky Colavito and Norm Cash of the 1961 Tigers did pretty well.
Colavito batted fourth, hit .290 with 45 home runs, 140 RBIs, and a .580 slugging average, while Cash, batting fifth, batted .361 to win the batting title. He of the corked bat hit 41 home runs, had 132 RBIs, and slugged .662. Maris and Mantle were better, but it was pretty close.
Over an extended time period, Ruth and Gehrig were dominant. From 1927 through and including 1934, Ruth averaged .338, 44 home runs, and a .681 slugging average. Gehrig averaged .352 with 39 home runs and a .664 slugging average. Their COMBINED numbers are:
| BATTING AVERAGE: | .345 |
| HOME RUNS | 41 |
| SLUGGING AVERAGE | .672 |
Today, in the age of the home run, in the age of the slugger, in the age when college pitchers spend a few days in the minors and then become major league starters, Manny Ramirez, since David Ortiz joined him in 2003, has averaged .309 with 42 home runs and a .598 slugging average. Ortiz has averaged .297 with 40 home runs and a .588 slugging average. Their COMBINED numbers are:
| BATTING AVERAGE: | .303 |
| HOME RUNS: | 41 |
| SLUGGING AVERAGE: | .593 |
Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz may be the best 1-2 slugging duo in baseball today. They are fearsome and deserve all they have earned. But Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are no Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
Sources
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1927.shtml
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gehrilo01.shtml
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ruthba01.shtml
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ramirma02.shtml
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/o/ortizda01.shtml
Date
Tue 05/30/06, 7:44 am EST
