Quote:
Originally Posted by kq76
I'm not disputing it, but I'd honestly love to read Ruth's thoughts on the topic. Do you remember the source?
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http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/9dcdd01c
“I don’t think a man can pitch in his regular turn, and play every other game at some other position, and keep that pace year after year,” Ruth said. “I can do it this season all right, and not feel it, for I am young and strong and don’t mind the work. But I wouldn’t guarantee to do it for many seasons.”
source: F.C. Lane, “The Season’s Sensation,” Baseball Magazine, October 1918: 472.
So, this was after the 1918 season, Ruth was aged 23, when he had 382 plate appearances and was in 20 games as a pitcher (19 starts.) Ruth had not actually played every game... he missed 25% of them, so his reference point was that of a player missing one-fourth of the games, and still he thought that only a younger player might do this, and then not for very long. At one point he actually walked out on the team insisting that he wouldn't both pitch and play left field.
I had read this in one of the biographies on him as well. And it comes up often when people speculate about Ruth as a two-way player. The general consensus is that modern day pitchers throw far too hard for a player to turn around and then play in-between starts as there is too much muscle fatigue in the arms, shoulders, lower back and legs. And that takes away from the hitting as well.