Amid the debate over Jim Rice's Hall of Fame candidacy came a missive from a New England fan who wanted it known that "Jim Rice's offensive stats for his first 10 years in the Majors were better than Babe Ruth's."
Times change.
So do the value of stats. Be careful of such traps.
Just like the value of the dollar, the value of a stat must be adjusted to the era in which it is compiled.
Rice had an impressive career, but did he have a better first decade than Ruth?
Well, Ruth was a 20-game winner twice in his first 10 years. He was 92-46 overall, having been primarily a pitcher in his first four full big-league seasons.
It wasn't even until his fourth full season, when he led the majors in home runs, that he became thought of more as a hitter than a pitcher.
In drawing comparisons, the stats have to be weighted to the impact of the era.
Consider that, while Ruth is best remembered for the record-setting 60 homer runs he hit in 1927 - the mark stood for 33 years - the truth is, he actually held the single-season home run record for 41 years. He first claimed that distinction when he hit 29 home runs in 1919, the last year he split time between pitching and hitting, and then broke it with 54 in 1920 and 59 in 1921.
How dominant was Ruth as a home run hitter?
He became the team's all-time home run leader in 1921, when he had 162, and held the top spot for 53 years.
Ruth led the majors in home runs more times than any player in history - 11 times from 1918-31 - and led the American League 12 times during that 14-season stretch.
And any hitting comparison needs to factor in the pitchers.
In 1871, Al Spalding was 19-10 and led the majors in wins. In the next 123 years, only once did at least one pitcher fail to win as many as 20 games in a season -- the 1981 season when Dennis Martinez, Steve McCatty, Jack Morris, Tom Seaver and Pete Vuckovich each won 14.
In the past 13 years, however, there have been three seasons in which there wasn't one 20-game winner.
So was Spalding a piker? Were Martinez, McCatty, Morris, Seaver and Vuckovich underachievers?
Well, consider that Spalding's Boston Red Stockings of the National Association were 20-10 in 1871, reliever Harry Wright picking up the one victory Spalding didn't claim. And factor in that in 1981, more than two months of the season - roughly a third of the scheduled games - was wiped out by a players' strike.
There hasn't been a pitcher with 10 complete games in the past 10 years, and there have been only two in the past 15. Before 1994, there hadn't been a season without a pitcher completing at least 11 games.
Does that make today's pitchers lesser? No. What it means is the role of the starting pitcher has changed and the value system in determining greatness must be adapted.
INFIELD CHATTER
-- The Cubs are expected to renew talks with San Diego about right-handed pitcher Jake Peavy once the Tribune Co. finalizes the sale of the franchise.
-- With Derek Lowe getting a four-year deal from Atlanta, the Mets are focused on left-hander Oliver Perez, but the price figures to go up from the Mets' previous offer of $30 million for three years.
OUT IN LEFT FIELD
Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria and pitcher Matt Garza declined opportunities to play for the Mexican team in the World Baseball Classic.
Why? They would like to play for the United States and, if not this year, then in the future. If a player with dual-nationality eligibility opts to play for a country other than the United States, he is eliminated from future consideration for the U.S. team.
CLOSING STATEMENT
Major league owners approved a rule change allowing any postseason game that is halted to be considered a suspended game and resumed at the point where play ended.
It was a response to how commissioner Bud Selig dealt with the rain delay in Game 5 of the World Series, where the teams actually had a full day off between the rain delay and completion of the game.
That's a first step. Now the owners and players need to take it further and implement the suspended-game rule for the regular season.
THE ROTATION
The demands on starting pitchers continue to diminish. Last season, 45 pitchers worked a combined 73 starts that resulted in 120-plus-pitch efforts, a 60.8 percent drop from 2004. CC Sabathia led all pitchers with five, including four with Milwaukee. Ben Sheets of Milwaukee and Tim Lincecum of San Francisco made four apiece.
The 120-pitch games during the past five seasons:
Year, Games.
2008, 73.
2007, 84.
2006, 120.
2005, 137.
2004, 186.
NUMBERS GAME
-- 2: Left fielders voted into the Hall of Fame this week - Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson. It's the first time a left fielder was elected in 20 years.
YEAR TO REMEMBER
The most intriguing year on the horizon for Hall of Fame voting will be 2013, when the first-year eligibles will include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa.
HE SAID IT
"I got up from (last year's 65.9) percent to 67. I hope I'll be on track for next year. It's good to move up. I hope it doesn't take 15 years, though."
-- Andre Dawson, on not being in the Hall of Fame, even though he is the only eligible player who recorded more than 1,000 extra-base hits.
(Tracy Ringolsby writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. E-mail ringolsbyt(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)
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