>On the other hand it is said when a player hits a lot of or long
>home runs in soft ball games that he has been "sleeping on the
>couch", 'cause doin' it heavy does use up a lot of strength.
Casey Stengel said it wasn't having sex before a game that sapped strength, it was staying out all night looking for it.
>I still can make an argument that Babe Ruth was the best all around
>player ever, because he was on his way to the Hall of Fame as a
>pitcher, when he was switched to an outfielder. None of the other
>home run kings could pitch.
Yup. Nobody else has ever done both those things in the major leagues. It was a remarkable thing. Here's a great question. What pitcher has the best lifetime winning percentage against the Yankees?
>Micky Mantle and his gang were drinkers.
That's one of the main reasons baseball players used to use so many amphetamines. Mantle tells a story of being called on to hit on a day he hadn't expected to play. He'd stayed out all night drinking the night before. He hit a home run and later said he saw three balls coming at him and he hit the one in the middle. The first base coach had to point him in the direction of second base.
>Many baseball players historically , the ones whose records are
>being held up as sacred now, were gashouse gang , Chicago Black Sox
>and other street life types, not "good " role models.
And if any records are tainted it is those because they were set by people who didn't have to play against black players banned from the league.