Shohei officially a member of the 50/50 club: party of 1

[kobeunderbite]

Pitches like Pedro
Hits like Griffey
Steals like Rickey

There has NEVER been a better complete baseball player. The GOAT even if he is a scumbag

Agreed, he is the GOAT. However he's not getting that ring, not this year.

[thedangerouskitchen]

Congrats to Shohei, but guys like Mantle and Mays surely would have done it decades ago if SB were a thing back in the 50's / most of the 60's. Hell, the year Jose Canseco put up 40/40 Mantle joked that if he knew it was gonna be a big deal he would have done it every year... and really, who could argue with him?

I’m pretty sure Mantle & Mays understood baseball enough to know that stealing bases was a part of the game that benefitted their team, optimizing their potential to score points for their team, in a game where the team with the most points… wins.

Ty Cobb, Lou Brock, Honus Wagner, and Eddie Collins understood this.

Cobb, Wagner and Collins played in the Dead Ball Era where you had to manufacture runs. In the 50's / first half of the 60's SB just weren't a thing (aside from 2-3 exceptions - ie; Aparicio, Wills, Brock).

From 1948 (Mays' first year in the league) though 1958 here are the "ML Leaders" in SB for each respective year:

32
37
35
35
30
26
34
25
40
38
31

...with Mays himself leading the league 3 times. From 1959 through 1964 (6 seasons), only 2 players in the entire league had 50 or more SB in a given year (Aparicio and Wills).

This was waaaaay before my time of course (so perhaps grizz can shed some light), but it's clear that SB just weren't a big part of the game for the overwhelmnig majority of Mays' best/prime years, and for essentially all of Mantle's best / pre-injury years.

On that note I once read where the logic behind Mantle not stealing many more bases (although he consistently led the Yankees in that category) was due to all the Power in the Yanks' lineup; the logic being, why risk running yourself out of an inning when you've got HR hitters up and down the lineup... similar to the NBA back in the 80's/90's, when the league played inside/out, with Bigs dominating high-percentage shots at/around the basket (ie; why risk perimeter players chucking up 25 footers at a much lower efficiency rate).

In other words different game, different mindset... and that would seem to be the case with Baseball back in grizz' day as well.

[Bush4Ever.]

Ohtani in Mantle's day would legit have a chance at joining the 100/100 club.

Mantle hilariously failed at an EASIER task than Ohtani.

Ohtani does more, in a harder era in absolute terms.

Zoomer beats boomer. Again.

[thedangerouskitchen]

Obvious AND massively failed troll attempt.

.. although Shohei is CLEARLY a better player than Judge, and really only a super novice Baseball fan would disagree.

[CleveTown™]

[Bush4Ever.]

avoidance strategy

It's not a troll.

Ohtani plays in a harder era, pitches better, runs better, AND hits better vis-a-vis power hitting (he certainly isn't worse).

Pitching has advanced 10-fold from the old days, so it stands to reason if he is hitting the same absolute level against harder competition, his numbers would spike crazily once the competition dropped.

Ohtani being better than Mantle isn't the point, since every MLB player is better in an absolute sense.

The question is how MUCH better he is. 2-3x doesn't seem like a particularly aggressive take, given the talent gaps.

[thedangerouskitchen]

avoidance strategy

It's not a troll.

You're either trolling OR you're an idiot... I'll let the board decide.

Spoiler:

PS: Ohtani is >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Judge.

[Shill Jackson]

I’m pretty sure Mantle & Mays understood baseball enough to know that stealing bases was a part of the game that benefitted their team, optimizing their potential to score points for their team, in a game where the team with the most points… wins.

Ty Cobb, Lou Brock, Honus Wagner, and Eddie Collins understood this.

Some people just can't help but look for the hole in the donut, instead of just enjoying the donut.

32095432-F526-42F6-A883-4B4B6C7192A1.jpeg

TBT - I never saw the S in Grizz’s name before today

[Bush4Ever.]

nm

[Da Stars.]

Congrats to Shohei, but guys like Mantle and Mays surely would have done it decades ago if SB were a thing back in the 50's / most of the 60's. Hell, the year Jose Canseco put up 40/40 Mantle joked that if he knew it was gonna be a big deal he would have done it every year... and really, who could argue with him?

I’m pretty sure Mantle & Mays understood baseball enough to know that stealing bases was a part of the game that benefitted their team, optimizing their potential to score points for their team, in a game where the team with the most points… wins.

Ty Cobb, Lou Brock, Honus Wagner, and Eddie Collins understood this.

Some people just can't help but look for the hole in the donut, instead of just enjoying the donut.

Next time order a chocolate bar instead. You wont have to look for the hole.