Hitting with BABE RUTH & HONUS WAGNER's 40-ounce Wood Bats
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- Опубліковано 29 жов 2023
- Today we're trying out a couple bats from American Batsmith's new Vintage Collection - these bats replicate the exact turn model, wood species, and weight/length of the bats used by Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jackie Robinson, Honus Wagner, Mickey Mantle, and a few others.
We're gonna see if these ancient wood bats can perform with a high-end maple wood bat from the modern-era!
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Ill never get tired of hearing the sound of a wooden bat
I'm 70 years old. I can always recall the sound of a wooden bat really clocking a fastball, the smell of healthy green grass being cut, songbirds filling the trees at dawn, and a trout stream trickling hard over smooth rocks.
Never.
Look up Ohtani/Cease
I use ash with softball. It feels good, sounds good, and is just good.
Same, especially in the hands of a dude like this who can just rip
People tend to forget Babe Ruth also pitched for 10 years of his career and held a 2.28 lifetime ERA. Played for 22 years and along with his 714 HR's had a .342 batting average.
He also smoked 6 packs of cigarettes a day. Respect for doing that with those lungs.
His stats alone tell me that the majority of his competition wasn't that great.
@@morecowbell235that’s cope lol
The goat 🐐
@@sharebear421Cope? Dude it's the 1920's and 30's. The competition was in fact complete shit. The professionals back then would get smoked by a good mens league team
It’s also important to remember that Honus Wagner and shoeless Joe Jackson both played baseball during what’s called the “dead ball” era. They were not attempting to hit home runs with every swing most baseball was played within the three bases and part of what revolutionized baseball was the change in bat size that Babe Ruth would go on to use.
It'd be interesting to see "The Bros" get a hold of some dead ball era balls to use with these bats.
Should also mention that pitchers in the 20s were throwing in the low 90mph range at best.
@@WhippJunior If you just squint and look hard at a contemporary baseball, it jumps out of the park.
@@berndtherrenvolk1951 I've check swings where the balls make it out to the warning track.
Ruth's bat indeed was a LOG by today's standards, but big bats were actually common. Not for power, as most hitters could not generate the bat speed that Ruth could, but for CONTACT...i.e., let the mass of the bat itself transfer momentum to the ball.
The ash wood that was available for bats from 100 years ago through the 60's was from slow growth northern forests and the wood was more closely grained and dense than wood that is now available. I had some ash bats made in the 60's (if not earlier - one was a Jackie Robinson model) and a friend's brother-in-law that played AAA ball loaned us his bats ( this was in the 80's). Believe me, there was no comparison - the modern bats vibrated like mad on impact and had little action compared to the old ash bats.
Each growth ring is like a lamination, increasing strength and flexibility without compromising durability. Think of the bat as a cylindrical leaf spring!
What a great piece of ash!! 😂
You are correct, sir. How I know is because I play pool and the same thing happened with pool cues except that the shift happened noticeably in the 80s. They were the last things to get that good old growth wood because it's way more profitable to make high end cues with it. Wish I still had my Meucci from back then.
I lucked into four Jackie Robinson bats in the early seventies. Used them in seniors and then on the freshmen team
You’re exactly right. They mentioned that on the tour I went on at the Louisville Slugger museum and factory.
Even with pitchers having lower velocity back in the day than today, I still feel this video REALLY speaks to how freakishly strong and powerful people like Ruth and Mantle were back in their heyday. I can definitely understand where some of the legends of their light-tower power come from with bats like these.
Not really babe ruth explained it pretty well. You do not make what is called a home run hack with those bats. You either rotate around your back foot to get a little more power or you slap hit the ball. With those bats a slap hit will look like a well hit line drive today. The pitching was also much slower. We have 14 year old kids pitching now as fast as the top end guys in the mlb during this time. Game has just changed and is not comparable.
@@MariposaEdits That's bs. The grown human form has not changed in any significant way in 150 years. Listen to the modern scenario of the speeds an adolescent boy can hit you just described , which is true, and tell me that the comparison to what grown men could only do 120 years ago is not ridiculous on the face of it. Expurts. lol
it makes plenty of sense. look at how much faster people run the 100 now compared to 120 years ago, the record in 1891 was only 10.8 seconds and the record for 13 year old boys in the modern era is 10.82 seconds. not to mention guys having much more optimal swings and you can watch online how the best players in the world swing and aim for that. plus kids these days are going to the gym at an early age and become quite strong quickly. not to mention the world having a higher population and more people playing sport, means the higher chance of producing outstanding athletes. which all means grown men hit the ball much harder than anyone in babes era.
sure there have been very strong men in every era but its just not comparable to the optimization today. who knows if babe ruth was born 25 years ago he might hit the ball harder than anyone ever seen but thats a hypothetical.
@@liam3104 No man. That just proves the same point. The difference between the fastest 100 m runner in the world in the 1800s is a only second less than the one today. That's an 11% besting. Humans are not silicon. There is no moores law for human ability. I think the point you may have is the amount of people trying. You will get a concentration of more and higher skilled people depending on that whole number. I think it's pretty safe to say that an entire nation of grown men trying to throw their hardest will always have people throwing and the high 90s at the very least No matter the time period.
Not sure the amount of effort and participation of track and field generally during the 1800s. I think we all know the participation rate of baseball in this country then though. There were a lot of people throwing in the mid to high 90s by the 1920s
@@liam3104 Another point about this is that everyone's arguments are just that. My reasoning for thinking this has just as much proof as the experts and theirs. No one actually knows. 75-80 mph. Lol That's patently stupid. Put your faith in those expurts though. I'll choose give that group the credibility they've earned in this modern age.
I once swung Babe Ruth's actual bat, and yes, it was heavy. I also met his daughter and granddaughter on his 100th birthday. Those were some pretty exciting experiences.
i started at age 13 with a 28-29...bwahahahaha.
They have one at Louisville Slugger Museum you can hold with gloves.😊
How did the Babe look at 100 years of age?
@@Studgunners The bat looked good.
@@Studgunners He was not able to attend.
The sound of the bat hitting the ball is such a beautiful sound.
Amazing isn't it?😅 It just gets you off!😅
@@dantwomey4215 literally washing my hands right now after cleaning myself up buddy.
I played in 18+ woodbat league for about 10 years. Most of the guys were close to half my age and were using all the current trends in bats like maple and composite. Being a child of the 80s, I insited on taking an old school approach. I started using Louisville slugger ash but i was breaking about 5 bats a season. I started to do more research and found a small bat company that had all this information posted on their page. Bear valley bats. In my analysis of the information they provided, i decided to have them make me 1 ash and 1 yellow birch. The yellow birch is a 33" 30oz bat. Very similar to the Easton Black magic i used growing up in regards to barrel, handle and weigh distribution. I absolutely love the way balls jump off that bat. Im not a power hitter but i feel that bat has put more life into my hitting. I used it for 6 seasons and still havent cracked it (aprx 70-80 ABs a year). It actually hits the opposite of ash. With ash you have to hit with the grain where as with yellow birch, you hit against the grain. The science behind bat materials is really interesting when you get into it.
I still have my Easton 34/31 Black Magic. I didn't start hitting home runs until I used the Black Magic. I've coached and umped a bit over the last 30 years the Black Magic is still the best IMHO.
@@mikebrase5161 i had a 33" 30 oz. Black magic and then later on an easton EA70 alloy 34"31oz. It was gold and maroon with a maroon leather grip. Still have both.
@@88cutty my Freshman year I used a Black Magic 33/30 loaner but i started to pull the ball to much, it was the year I really started to hit the weights. I bought the 34/31 before the season started my sophomore year and used it til I quit playing. If you know you know hitting it square on the STO of Easton meant moon shot. My mom passed recently and I totally forgot about my HS warmup jacket. It has been in the basement since I left home in '93. I have it to my 12 yo daughter, it's the one I had the year we won state. Baseball starts back up this month can't wait.
@@mikebrase5161 i used to hold a bat by the knob and let it dangle. I would take a ball and tap the bat till i found the sweetest spot and you are dead on about that bat. Right around that "T" was the pinpoint spot.
I played till i was 20. Then i spent 12 years in the Pgh Pirates front office in ticket ops. After i left there i started playing ball again. I played from 33 till 40 in a 18+ woodbat league. 45 now. I can definitely still hit, probably better than ever but all the rest is breaking down. Shoulder hurts, leg muscles cramp up. Etc. Semi-sedintary jobs will do that.
@@88cutty I went in the Army right out of HS blew out both my shoulders. I umpire a 40 and over league. I can't even throw the ball to the pitcher as an ump I just hand it to the catcher and let him do all the work. Bei g an Infantryman for 20 years was hard on the shoulders neck and lower back. I feel a lot older than my 49 years. As Indy said in Raiders it's not the age it's the mileage.
I'm so glad you are exploring the old school baseball bats. My friend Mathew and I have researched deep into this topic and have come to interesting theories and understandings
You have to remember that Shoeless Joe and Honus Wagner played in an era where the balls where sponges that could end up with over 2oz of spit and tobacco mass so you wouldn't be trying to swing with bat speed. Time to contact and hitting consistency where the 2 important qualities and the power all came from the bat's mass, not the pitch. The babe Ruth's live ball era balls were pretty friggin hard and can match even today's balls in firmness. That being said, the late era mickey mantle bat is very similar to the 110 model and it's shorter too, so it's heavy but it's balanced
About the different woods, stiffness increases mishit performance but also increases sting. As density goes up, stiffness goes up, but so does mass. . Mass decreases sting. This can counteract the sting with the right balance of density so certain woods do well in higher densities while others struggle. Hickory is very stiff so when it's light, the sting is abysmal, whereas birch, maple, and ash thrives. In higher densities, birch and hickory are the only 2 viable options. Forget about maple for anything below 42 pcf or above 48 pcf (pounds per cubic foot)
And no batting glove in Ruth’s day.
Incredibly well-written comment
My name is Honus. My brother's name is Anus and my sister's name is Eenus. Honus, Anus, and Eenus
yes deadball era
Thank you for the great info
I could watch this guy hit home runs for hours. He’s awesome
I played golf much more than baseball and I always used wooden woods, and the sound and feel is great. (solid persimmon)
he played in MLB for Braves?
Who is he? I'm guessing an ex-pro at some level. He's got a great swing whoever he is!
Yes, it's fun to watch him swing the bat. He knows how to hit.
Agreed, this is my first time seeing one of his videos, curious who he is also...@@bosoxfan2525
My grandma's maiden name was Wagner and Honus was her second cousin. We were never quite sure if it was true but since the internet era we were able to track family history records and confirm it.
One of the very best ever, pretty cool!
When was your Grandma born? Honus was born in 1874. I imagine her relationship was a bit more distant.
@@Garrett1240 She was born in 1915 in a small town about 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Right in the middle of WW1 raging on. She moved to the city later on early in her life. Pretty much my entire family history has been born in and stayed in the Pittsburgh area all their lives and we are still here now. And yeah, she didn't actually know Honus directly being that he was a second cousin. She passed away in 2002.
How we confirmed it... Through an online family tree thing we found the name of a direct cousin of hers, Fred Wagner, who also played baseball in the Pittsburgh area in the early 1900s. We then found an old newspaper article about Fred going to play for a Johnstown, PA baseball team and the article referred to him as the "cousin of Hans" and further discussed their relation. So through that it confirms Honus being a second cousin to my grandma.
Thank you guys for giving The Babe and the Mick their proper respect, you guys are products of modern baseball, and that's no fault of yours but I profoundly appreciate you giving props to the forbearers of so many baseball players who were inspired by the previous generations of players like the Babe and Mickey, Joe Jackson, Honus Wagoner and so many others who are unnamed and named in the Hall of Fame. I feel don't get respect from folks your age, and it makes me happy to see.
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PS: I was a music/sound editor for about 12 years, so I broke down your video and I absolutely love the fact that through 43 seconds (after removing talking, reactions, background noise and the sound of the pitch machine) you can hear the difference between the Mantle, the Ruth, the Wagoner and the Jackson bats.
For my musicians ear, I love the sound of the Wagoner bat, the Mantle, and the Ruth that the most. You can feel the weight behind Mantle and Ruth and just hear how strong they were, the Wagoner bat gives you the feel of someone who was calculating in the way that he swung a clean crisp sound off that bat. Jackson was a bit of both but just wanted to add some thoughts to my comment.
Who's _'Wagoner'_ ?
6:45 man had his life flash before his eyes.lol😂
I drilled my coach in the shin in high school during BP 😂 we didn't have a net, but he went and got one after that haha.
You have to understand those bats were so dense. And they got real strong using then. If you look at guys like mantle and ghrirg they were cut from granite stone. Just massively strong.
Yes, I agree, we can even go all the way down to when Reggie Jackson hit the transformer at tiger stadium then years later, when he was trying to get off the field at the conclusion of the World Series and average fans were bouncing off of him like rubber balls
Big wrists & forearms.
Lou Gherig, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson all....cut from stone man...I love watching any footage I can find...
And ruth... oh wait he was built like my uncle 😭
Mantle got strong from swinging a sledgehammer in the mines as a teenager. Gehrig played football at Columbia. Jimmy Foxx got his strength from bailing hay on the family farm - which he continued to do even during his playing career. These greats were the Goliaths in a world of Davids
Now Imagine the wrist and forearm strength it took to solidly connect on a Carl Hubbell screwball down in the zone with one of those big flint stones bats 😂
And that makes a great point. Since those were the bats of the Era, that's what people used and their body mechanics and muscles adapted to it. Mass equals gas, that physics applies in any field truly. What doesn't getting mentioned as often, but clearly demonstrated when he went back to HIS bat, is the repition and muscle memory. I have ZERO doubts if used and practiced with constantly players COULD use bigger and heavier bats and also hit today's pitching. The scary thing is we amaze ourselved when an exit velocity hits 120, imagine a Judge or Stanton using Babe's bat after being used to it for years, they might be hitting 135-140!
I've wondered about that. Guys like Ruth, Wagner, Josh Gibson, Shoeless Joe wouldn't have lifted weights, but they must have had gravedigger wrist/forearm/grip strength.
Different people back then.
Was at a Tigers game in 2018 and was able to handle a game used Ty Cobb bat for a few dollars and some loaned white gloves. Always neat experience, his wasn't over 40oz, but it gives you a greater appreciation what these guys accomplished when handling the equipment they used daily
Mr Cobb is my favorite player and the best all time in MY Opinion
Always wanted to see this done. As an old player this video was a real blessing, thank you dudes.
Also Richie Allen swung a 35/40 on bat too and he got around on faster pitching. I also think that avg velo was probably like between 85/95 because Ted Williams was the one that said it takes 4/10 of a sec for fastball to reach home plate. And he played from 1939-1960. Just into the live ball era and he pretty much saw all of the great hitters and pitchers. He also came up swinging a 35/35 oz bat and he was the one who started the light bat revolution
Ted Willams in his prime would be the best hitter today, IMHO, no player understood hitting like he did, smartest hitter of all-time. His OBP of .485 lifetime will never broken. Only Ruth came close to that. Imagine what those two would do with today's training tools and regimens. If Ruth could hit it 500' then without PEDs, he'd probably hit one 580 with them.
DICK ALLEN hit a ton ! On breaking balls too !
It's crazy how ahead of his time Ted was with his swing lol. Kyle Tucker of the Astros uses Ted's pretty much exact swing to great success in today's league.
Tucker knows a good thing when he sees it, unlike most major league hitters today.@@mitch5944
The live ball was introduced in 1914.
It's probably the best video I've watched on bats. Super cool to see what the old bats were like compared to modern Era wood. Thanks guys
Great video and you did a great job with the larger bats. 39-40 ounces is a log, and people don’t realize how thick the handles are on those models - almost like grabbing a barrel of a modern bat. Guys like a Ruth, Aaron, Dick Allen who used larger bats.. tipped the bat down towards the plate to help get more momentum with the larger bats. Very cool video and thanks for sharing.
I'm 46 and I laughed when Will said "This is a good piece of Ash" @2:41. I've obviously been around HS baseball players too much.
He really tapped that ash.
This was a really fun video! I love seeing vintage things come to life in this modern era.
As a 155 lb HS senior, wood bat era, I batted lead off using a 34 oz. Louisville Slugger Willy McCovey model gripped at the handle. A big bat for a little guy. Another guy on our team used a 36 oz. Adirondack bat. Nothing like the sound when you centered a pitch with those bats.
When I played High School, ball, I used a 36 Oz, 35 length bat. Would always swing the three heaviest bats on the on deck circle getting ready to bat. When You did & then got ready to hit at the plate, the bat you were using would seen much lighter & therefore Your swing was much less straining & you had more control because the bat seemed so much lighter. You were able to jump on a fastball much better and also had better bat control for the curve ball.
With so many reps, it didn't feel heavy. You had bad speed or you didn't.@@chee6060
kudos to you..just watching the all time greats with the bats used in their deadball era to the live era was so entertaining and just to learn a thing or 2 was so cool of you..i am now a fan of your work.
Old Baseball players are some of the most hard nosed, toughest SOB’s who ever lived. Swinging these literal trees….unreal they were able to do what they did. ❤❤❤
I kinda feel like men were just tougher in general back then.
@@NeilWatkinsfromaccounting yes indeed men back then are tougher because there's little or no comfort that's available to them compared it today.
@@jordansoviet23 hard times make strong men.
As a ww1 medal oh honor winner I will say this is 100% a fact. Baseball players are so much stronger and tougher than the boys I met in the trenches . If I had 1,000 babe Ruth’s next to me in the Argon Forrest we would have won all by ourselves .
@@jordansoviet23you youngsters will never know the glowing red comfort of your dad beating you with his leather belt because you only split 200 logs by breakfast time and not the 300 like he asked for . Ah the good old days
One of the coolest baseball video ever!
I had a big smile when you went shoeless while holding Joe Jackson's bat model. Well done!
Nice hitting - from both sides!!! When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, we had heavier bats simply because they were all solid wood bats.
Now imagine these legends of yesteryear hitting with no batting gloves or in some cases leather work gloves that were soaking wet from sweat. Their hands had to be solid calluses.
Loved the video and the “crack” of those old bats. My dad had an old Jackie Robinson model that he used in college and I used it as a warm up bat because it was heavier than anything I could put a donut on. The thickness of the handle was always crazy.
You hear so many stories/examples of greatness but having guys use a model of your own bat a full century after your prime while the world watches on in awe is one of the best examples of what a legacy truly is...... long live the great bambino! ⚾️🙌🏻⚾️
When I was a kid someone gave me a Louisville Johnny Bench model. I measure it at 33 1/2 and 37 1/2oz. I never really used it until I joined a 30 and over MSBL team. Back then we were using the ZCore -5 Easton with 2 3/4" barrel. I joined a wood bat league and brought my Johnny Bench as a goof. Turns out once you get used to the swing weight it mashes! Lots of the guys wanted to use it in the games. Fun video...thx BatBros.
This is one of my main arguments when people say guys like Ruth would be journey men today because the pitches weren't as fast. 90 mph is essentially 100 mph when you're swinging a 40 plus oz bat. Babe Ruth with a lighter bat and in the smaller stadiums we have today, would at least be an all star, and imo, he would still be a perennial MVP candidate.
Also, he would have the benefit of modern medicine, training, coaching, conditioning, and equipment outside of bats like batting gloves, elbow guards so he could crowd the plate, plus having game film to watch and being able to really study up on opposing pitchers.
I dunno, studying film on pitchers would have taken up a lot of his boozing time. Still the GOAT though.
I completely agree great hitters of the past would still be great hitters. It’s a skill, it’s not like you’re trying to take a basketball player from 1925. And these guys played year-round from the time they were a little kids because baseball was the one and only game in America.
The greats of all eras would probably be great in every era, that's what JJ Reddick says about NBA players and I'm sure that holds for MLB as well.
If you took any of the old-time great and put them straight on today's field they would suck without doubt. If you put today's stars directly on yesterday's field, they would be gods. Like others have stated if the old-timers had modern training, coaching, and the rest they could compete at a high level. Today's player playing back then without benefit of modern training, etc. could compete but wouldn't be god level good.
jeter eats ruth for breakfast
Richie/Dick Allen swung a 40 ounce also, If you'd have ever seen him swing a bat live (I did in 1976) you would just marvel at how smooth, yet quick his bat speed was.
Please keep doing these. This is great!
Fun fact: Babe Ruth's bat actually, where the barrel of the bat meets the handle, had a diagonal meeting point instead of the usual straight point going against the length of the bat. It resulted to more broken bats but it's still a crucial detail of the bat of Babe Ruth.
0:11 seconds in pause and you can be the meeting points is vertical.
A friend of mine had an old Oak Bat from the 1940's that he found in the house his parents bought in 1999--2000 winter. It was a massive 46 oz bat that would be lighter if using Ash or Hickory. Ash and Hickory are still used for bats today in fact some pro players use them but more use the Maple due to how durable they are using the slower non syrup maple for the bats. One company in 2000's in South Dakota out of Rapid City used Hickory, Maple, Ash, and Honey Locus for the bats one wood for each of the presidents on Mt Rushmore, the last one coming from South Dakota directly and was the model called the Teddy Rosevelt for his after presidency actually going through South Dakota on way back from what was then newly created Yellow Stone, going through the South Dakota Black Hills helping to bring light to make parts of it a National park in 1922.
Great video and the Ruth talk adds a lot of context. Old players had shorter swings and tried to avoid strikeouts, but they were also used to the bat weights. Someone who just picks one up for a video could get used to it over time. If you played back in the 1920s as a kid, you would work your way up from a heavier bat to start. People now are looking for bat speed, as they are being programmed to worry about launch angle and exit velocity. Back then they worried about putting the ball in play first. You could swing hard with no strikes, maybe one strike, but once you're at two strikes, you're approach changes. That's not a thing anymore
Way light for Ruth. In his prime, he used 52 oz bat. 1921 Ruth quote; “They tell me I swing the heaviest bat in baseball. It’s not only heavy but long, about as long as the law allows. IT WEIGHS 52 OUNCES. Most bats weigh under 40. My theory is the bigger the bat the faster the ball will travel. It’s really the weight of the bat that drives the ball, and I like a heavy bat. I have strength enough to swing it, and when I meet the ball, I want to feel that I have something in my hands that will make it travel. Do you see these hands? I got those (callouses) from gripping this old war club. When I am out after a homer, I try to make mush of this solid ash handle and I carry through with the bat. You know, in boxing when you hit a man, your fist usually stops right there. But it is possible to hit a man so hard that your fist doesn’t stop. When I carry through with the bat, it is for the same reason. The harder you grip the bat, the faster the ball will travel.” He later found out, his bats were too long. He shortened the bat, so it was about 6 oz lighter. As for speed, Bob Feller played the same era. His rookie year was 1936. Several stars who faced both Feller and Walter Johnson, said Johnson was nearly as fast when he wanted to be. The difference was, Johnson was so big, strong, and crafty at mixing up speed and pitches, he occasionally pitched double headers. 2 complete games!
Good point. Mantle swung a 35" 36 oz bat when he was younger but used a lighter bat when he was older.
60 to the max 80mph you need a tree stump to hit a hr
How tf did he just absolutely mash with a 52 ounce caveman club of a bat 💀
@@daveintheAM It's only a pound and change heavier than the bats they use today, which means it is to degree a mental thing. If you're strong enough to handle a bat that heavy, it's not going to make much difference. Contemporary players are used to a lighter bat, but some could adapt to a heavier bat and still hit. They might even have better power numbers.
Easily one of the best professional comparisons ever posted to YT.
Thank you!
I love y’all’s content so much! I’m a huge fan of you guys
another great video. You mentioned your slowpitch swing -- I love the softball content. Any chance you'll revive that channel? Also, any chance you'd ever break down the difference between your softball and baseball swings?
There has been a lot of research into pitching speeds from players in the pre-Radar gun era. Check out Nolan Ryan and others. Lots of comparison to Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson, who were elite hurlers in the Wagner era. Additionally, the ballparks back in the day were absolutely HUGE!!! It wasn't until Babe Ruth came along in the 1910's and started hitting home runs that the league realized Home Run's were good for business, as Ruth packed the stadiums so people could see him hit bombs. That's when they pulled the fences in to the meager 500ft center and 400+ ft lines, with 425-450ft+ power alleys. Those are the fields that Ruth was hitting home runs in - well, except for Yankee Stadium that had that right field corner that was laughably short - which no doubt helped pad his numbers. However, even straight away center in Yankee Stadium was 490ft! Now compare that to the distance of those bombs in the video, many of those home runs would have been routine fly balls back in that era. Pretty wild when you think about it.
It wasn't until the 1970's and 1980's that we really saw those fences get pulled in across the entire league. And ever since, the fences keep getting pulled in closer and closer.
So with all of that said, to be able to launch those home runs, with those bats, it's going to require pitch velocity to pop off the bat. So I wouldn't say that the pitchers were throwing 75-85. Reality is it was probably more like 90-95 at the highest levels of speed, with the occasional pitcher hitting near 100mph at times. Sure the average was likely 65-85 mph as offspeed pitches and scuffing and spitballs were more common place, but the fireballers were still fireballers.
Great video and analysis. Some historical context.
In the Dead Ball era they did throw slower BY CHOICE and not because they couldn't throw faster. They had to throw slower because starting pitchers were expected to throw nine innings basically every game and pitch over 300 innings in a season. You can't do that while throwing all out on every single pitch. The reason pitchers were able to get away with it was because the baseballs were mushy and softer and the ballparks were HUGE. The over-the-fence home run was simply non-existent. Also, the gloves were small and primitive so errors were much higher. So the focus was on contact hitting and not fly balls. Even if you hit a groundball to an infielder there was a high chance of an error so you would still get on base. Pitchers would generally only throw all out in high leverage situations. It's actually estimated that Walter Johnson probably threw 94-96 mph when he pitched all out. Also, Honus Wagner was known as a "free swinger". In those days a "free swinger" meant a hitter who took a full swing and not just slap at the ball. There are lots of photos that confirm this plus quotes from opposing pitchers like Christy Mathewson.
Awesome content. I love baseball history, more than modern baseball itself. Best video I’ve ever seen from you guys!
My maternal grandfather was nuts about baseball and in his younger days played on the softball team of one of the big stores in an adult league. He had lots of books with chapters about long ago players and I made a beeline for his bookshelf when we visited. I was mad at him when he and his two sons went to visit Ty Cobb in Emory Hospital and he didn’t stop by and get me. Cobb was very friendly, BTW.
@@jockellis WOW!
I’ve always known Cobb was lambasted, and everyone loves some yellow journalism. (And I’m a swamp yankee)
Historical ball always gets my ear, and I never get tired of it. Best wishes.
I’m happy that for over a decade I haven’t been lying to people about how heavy these bats used to be back in the day.
I cannot believe how much fun I'm having having coffee and watching this guy hit baseballs at 4:00 a.m. in my hotel room before I hit the highway lol just delightful thanks guys I think I'm going to subscribe
This was a fun video. It’s been soooo long since I’ve watched any baseball (almost a week now), but this video made me feel like a kid again.
That was a great video! You could really see the difference when you went with "their" swing versus how you would attack it. Great content!
Him ripping line drives to right center was sweet
That was our old high school baseball home field! Go LavaBears. Love the video, great work as always. Those bats are crazy.
LavaBears eh? I love it. What is a LavaBear?😂
I always thought it was a mythical variant of grizzly that lived in the lava fields. Turns out it was real and but was a smaller version of a black bear. @@dantwomey4215
@@dantwomey4215 Bend, Oregon. Ever heard of the internet? You can look up anything in a wink. You should try it.
Love to see you swinging, those balls flying like rockets and oh, that wood sound !!! ⚾😃
I went to the Louisville Slugger museum the day this was released!! How funny. I swung a cal Ripken jr bat at the cages and I loved it! Babes bar was quite literally like swinging a club, I can’t imagine swinging that bat day in day out.
Can you imagine how strong those guys must have been? How strong their wrists and hands must-have been? I think "Shoeless"Joe swung a 48oz and Ruth actually styled his hitting approach/ technique after him. Insane...
Yes, overrated and weak by today's standards. The biggest farce in baseball is thinking that Babe Ruth is the goat. It's absolutely hilarious.
@@sueyourself5413 so who is the goat of baseball then if you don’t think it’s babe ruth?
@@mast3rNate There isn't one. There never is a goat of a sport. It's nearly impossible to compare various positions and eras.
Also Ruth played back when there was a _Negro League_ so it wasn't even against hte best. And they built a stadium _for_ him so he could get more HRs.
If I'm forced to choose someone. Then Ohtani.
@@sueyourself5413 i actually agree tbh lol it’s hard to label one person the “goat” of a sport since there really is too many variables. if Ohtani is still able to pitch after his surgery and puts up the same performances he did this past season then i can see him being the best player in baseball, period.
@@sueyourself5413 lol. lmao.
Baseball is just awesome and watching you hit with and explain the bats was best. Such a timeless game.
Really enjoyed this throwback video, plus the facts shared about legends of baseball!
Good video - interesting comparisons and analyses. Brought back memories from decades past!
Would love to see u do an experiment with different wood types, I'm a carpenter and former baseball play and i used to turn my own bats, heaviest bat i ever made was from this wood called cumaru its very dense and heavy it was too heavy for an everyday bat but i used it in bp as a wieghted functional bat... would be interesting to see u try some bats made from denser woods like cumaru, ironwood, and rosewood. See how thier density and wieght affects the hits :)
I love your vids, I play 13u and im always wanting to get info even though im not ale to get them itsjut so fun to watch
Where do you find those bats?
I very much greatly appreciated this vidio. Love history and did not know of bat evolution and different woods. THANKS!!!!
When Henry Aaron was closing in on Ruth's career HR record there was a presentation where Aaron took some swings with Ruth's 1927 bat. He marveled at the strength Ruth had to swing that bat with enough velocity to hit the ball for the distances he got from it.
Yes, Hank didn't disrespect Babe Ruth like this guy did. Shameful.
This was actually a very fascinating video for baseball fans, kinda puts the early days of baseball into greater context in terms of what players had to do compared to today. Excellent video bros.
As a young anthropology student, we went to the Museum of Natural History in Chicago and got to see Ruth's bat up close. It looks like a whittled down telephone pole. I got to try on Harry Caray's glasses. I could see through time and each lense was the size and thickness of my palm.
“A good piece of ash and it’s super freaking heavy.” That’s really all one could ever hope for right there.
There’s a “that’s what she said” joke in there somewhere.
Baby got bat.
Awesome. I always wanted to see a video of someone trying bats of old-time players. I would love to see today's players try it.
Love that sound when you barrel one.
This was awesome to see. I visited the Louisville bat factory/museum and the handles of those old bats are ridiculous. I have big hands and I felt like a kid gripping them. You did great with these!
people in india like to eat their own feces. they purposely take big dumps in their drinking water and then they drink the feces, and they love it. raw, unfiltered, and righteous.
My dad had an original Jackie Robinson bat, and he said the handle was so thick that he could barely get his hands around it. Those old bats definitely look like the handles are damn near barrel-size.
Yep, I had a Jackie Robinson in late 60's as a little leaguer, handle was huge.
Cool video. My dad graduated high school in '67 and told me that his high school ordered 2 bats for every player on varsity. My dad chose the Al Kaline bat as that was his favorite player
6:00 That's a good point. Even the hardest hitters in baseball back then swung for contact most of the time.
In high school I used an aluminum Easton bat that was 34 1/2-33. It was the longest and heaviest that I was allowed to use within the rules of our district. I loved swinging a heavy bat. I'd love to try one of those replica bats, just for fun.
Highly highly enjoyed this video content. Very cool and interesting seeing you hit with the bats from back in the days. Thank you Baseball Bat Bros.
Ruth was using a 54-OUNCE bat in 1921 made of hickory. As of 1925 he moved down to a 52-OUNCE bat. and in 1927 used a 44-OUNCE bat. As the years went by he downsized and by the time he retired he was using a white ash bat that weighed about 38 ounces. His bat speed was estimated at 90 mph. These stats come from the book The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs by Bill Jenkinson.
Excellent book that was hampered by the publisher's decision to use that ridiculous title.
There is a UA-cam channel for everything. Everything has been done. And they are all huge and have hundreds of thousands of subscribers or millions and have it all figured out. Amazing
The live ball was introduced in 1914, not in 1919 as many seem to think. Teams continued to play little ball up and down the entire lineup for some years thereafter until the home run began to become more prevalent. Babe Ruth was the first to regularly hit home runs, but others soon followed. Ruth never played in the dead ball era in the major leagues.
Where can I find that information?
@@homerun8032 I have seen this a number of times over many years. As an historical epoch, the dead ball era is deemed to have ended in 1920. This, however, refers to the style of play, not to the actual baseball. The modern "live" ball was introduced in 1914.
I cannot quickly find a reference. Every source I was able to quickly locater, including Wikipedia, discusses the historical periods, not the baseball itself. The suggestion has been put forward that the owners saw the market value of the long ball and put in an even more jacked ball than the original live ball. Baseballs have been proved to vary over the years even in recent times.
Incorrect on both counts. The 1st yr of the end of the “Dead Ball” ERA was 1920. Look at the stats in the 20’s compared to the 10’s. 1919 was still part of the Dead Ball ERA. Ask Ray Chapman.
@@mattcontino9235 Historians call 1920 the end of the dead ball era. This, however, refers to the style of play. The live ball itself was introduced in 1914. However, the way teams played the game did not immediately change. Not until the 1920s did teams begin to play for the long ball. You are not exactly wrong, but you are supporting my argument,
Your wrong and can’t prove any references for your made up in-correction
More wood bats videos, please 🙏.
I always wondered about those heavy wooden bats. I was a kid in the early 70's when those early aluminum bats first came out and it hurt your hands like I can't explain when you made contact with the ball! I could hit with them but, it hurt so bad I always chose wood. Gloves weren't really an option to a kid back then, it would have likely taken snow gloves or something at the early stages of those bats.
3:00 The Sandlot clip made mg day 😂
I would like to put on Babe Ruth's Jersey while eating a bowl of strawberries
Strawberries are good this time of year...gotta get the good ones
Something very interesting about Mickey Mantle's bat, is that Mickey himself wasnt 6 foot tall. He was 5'10-5'11, either or. Which makes it super impressive to hit such bombs.
country strong or farmer strong. It's a different kind of strong. I played rec ball once with this kid who didn't play a lot of sports. He was a farmer type kid. Skinny and pretty unassuming. I'm not joking when I say he swung the bat cross handed and I've never seen someone hit a ball further in rec ball. It was just amazing.
Reggie was pretty short too, built similar w/ strong wrists.
Mantle may have been only 5'7". Willie Mays was yet shorter. I once worked with someone who knew Mays. As a boy, the guy lived near Yankee Stadium and for some reason, his father knew all the ballplayers. He was very short and he said that Mays was barely taller than he was. In the past, the listed heights and weights of many athletes were not correct. Look up some of the pictures of these athletes together. Angles and perspectives can distort things in photographs, but you can work it out. Start out with someone whose height you are sure of and work from there.
Ruth was quoted as saying, I try to imagine hitting a golf ball when I swing. Robert Jones said sometimes the ball looks as big as a baseball. Video of both men show that inertia windup. This is the secret to effortless power. Your commentary mentioned the softball swing. Brian Reynolds used to practice a drill, where he would spit in the air and swing the bat to catch it on the barrel. I once hit a home run off of his fastball when he pitched in Babe ruth league. He never talked to me again.
I love that you guys did this in Bend! Got to play a little league game on that field growing up. I miss the game
Babe Ruth swung a heavy 40oz - 42oz bat. And damn, he made it look so effortless. ⚾💥💪🏻 Idk how those hitters swung those big ass bats back in the day? I picked up a 42oz bat and even I can't swing it right. It was swinging me around. Hickory should make a comeback as being a wood bat again.
You hit a lot of baseballs but I gotta imagine the forearms were sore after this one 😂
First time seeing your channel and this was Awesome! That sound from the bat will be in my head for days!😂
Sweet concept!! Those bats looked massive!
You guys will never know genius idea got me so many likes
What are you yapping about😭
Lol
I'm going to like your comment just for what you said
I liked your comment because I have no life, and I wanted to feel special!
“What in God's holy name are you blathering about?”
Great video, really shows how impressive the guys were back then.
Small request, try using the mizuno b-23 crbn2
People have mentioned Dick Allen. I'm surprised people haven't mentioned his contemporary, Pirates great Willie Stargell. Stargell used a truly monster bat (sources vary but a 35-38 or 36-40) to crush some truly monster home runs. When Stargell was a minor-league hitting coach for the Braves, he encouraged a young prospect to quit swinging toothpicks and get a real bat. So Chipper Jones started swinging a large bat, not as large as Stargell's (Chipper said that he was never strong enough to swing Stargell's bats) but larger than his contemporaries and the same size (35-34) as his switch-hitting idol, Mickey Mantle.
Also, even Honus Wagner's bat is lacking compared compared to Cincinnati Reds great and Hall of Famer Edd Roush. The Hall of Fame has one of his 48 oz. bats which he used to win multiple batting titles and hit a career .323. The Hall of Fame can't say definitively that Roush's bat was the heaviest ever, but their can't have been too many that were heavier.
I played baseball for a long time and this dude absolutely rakes. Love these videos
Let’s not forget, Babe Ruth was a MASSIVE human being
factual
6'2 225
Will has the best swing even with a log
Those heavy bats were perfect for the dead-ball era. And I think your relaxed swing was as well.
Bro great video!!! The sound of those bats are unbelievable 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Can you imagine how strong they were swing those logs every day?
This was a lot of fun to watch. Thank you!
One of my high school teammates used a 34/34 Adirondak Big Stick ( Aluminum ) in 1985. It was so heavy! He hit a bomb with it in the "85 State Championship game at Simmons Field ( Mizzou ) and I think it is still going! Everyone then wanted to use it but none of us were strong enough without choking and poking!
This was really fun to watch, thx for doing it.
I would LOVE for you guys to do an 80's to 90's era ash test. The sound of that era of bat was just legit!!
That Pablo jersey is so sick! I love it.
I love this stuff! Thanks for making this one.
Bat head speed through the swing box is what drives a baseball. Knowing this, you would think it would be counter productive to use such a heavy bat like the old timers did. Those men like Ruth, Wagner and The Mick must've hand tremendous hand, wrist and forearm strength to swing those bats. The other way of looking at this would be how hard did pitchers of that era throw. I would think that the average pitcher of that era would hit the 80's in velocity so this could help a guy swinging a heavy bat. Those players were really something special. There was no such thing as a "Relief Pitcher" back then. Babe Ruth would throw 9, 10, 11, 12 innings and still get his AB's. That was fun to watch, all of those different bats.