He was a good pitcher,by the way. I never read about him having arm problems.
2006-09-06 10:11:28 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
Ruth was indeed an excellent pitcher, and half of the true "Curse of the Bambino" - which is in fact a part of the misfortune of the Chicago Cubs - came from his pitching arm, as he won two games for the Red Sox in the 1918 World Series. (There is no need for Cubs fans to exorcise that curse; Ruth's retirement took care of that.) He had a very low ERA, but this also was the "dead-ball" era, with fewer home runs. (Ruth was about to change that.)
Actually, before the Red Sox traded Ruth away they had experimented with him playing the outfield on days he wasn't scheduled to pitch, precisely to get his bat in the lineup more often. That's how good a hitter he was. This was so successful (and Ruth, who was starting to throw his celebrity around, preferred to play every day) that by 1919 he played mostly outfield. Even in 1918 he led the AL in home runs with 11. Ruth's ego was indeed a factor in his trade to the Yankees, and made a convenient excuse for Harry Frazee to raise cash by selling Ruth's contract in 1920. Ruth rarely pitched after that.
The move to the outfield was an unusual one; Walter Johnson, for instance, also had an excellent bat. Today it is extremely uncommon for a pitcher to be notable as a hitter (Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson were) and impossible in the AL thanks to the DH.
2006-09-06 15:40:01 · answer #1 · answered by BroadwayPhil 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was a very good pitcher, but a GREAT hitter; he was moved from pitcher to outfield when the Yankees acquired him so that his bat would be in every day. Pitchers need 1 or 2 days off in between starts back then.
2006-09-06 10:45:07 · answer #2 · answered by Tommy D 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They did it so he could hit more from my understanding. This really wasn't that unusal of a move at that time. Now you kinda specialize in your postion, espically AL pitchers, but back then there was no DH. So the move to the outfield saved on his arm.
2006-09-06 13:38:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Like Fitz said, it was due to the fact that they wanted his bat in the lineup on a regular basis. It was Harry Hooper who suggested it, and Ruth had wanted to be an everyday player, anyway.
Tris Speaker, a great hitter himself, was obviously not a master prognosticator - he predicted that Ruth wouldn't last long as a hitter!
2006-09-06 10:18:00 · answer #4 · answered by Craig S 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
the war
it took some outfielders on the red sox, so babe had to be a outfielder and pitch
he starting hitting monster homeruns
and he ddint wanna pitch
and every year he wanted a salary raise so the red son traded him
which was extremely stupid
2006-09-06 10:21:40 · answer #5 · answered by Antwaan M 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it had nothing to do with his arm, they just wanted to get him more at bats because he was such an offensive weapon they had to move him to the field so he could play every game instead of 1 of every 5+ games like a pitcher does
2006-09-06 10:14:06 · answer #6 · answered by e fitz 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
He hit too good to only be in the line up every 4 days
2006-09-06 11:49:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most baseball fans know that. He didn't have any arm troubles to speak of, they simply decided that his bat was more valuable than his arm.
2006-09-06 18:43:38 · answer #8 · answered by JerH1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He wanted more exercise then he was getting. After eating all those nathan's hot dogs he needed to burn some calories
2006-09-06 14:30:15 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
yea!
2006-09-06 11:50:32 · answer #10 · answered by noname 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋