| @ indyjeff: O'Doul was a very good hitter for a few years, but there were many players other than Ruth, Gehrig and Williams who were better than him at their peaks. Relative to his league he was good but not in the same universe as guys like Cobb, Musial...even Frank Thomas and Albert Pujols. Remember he peaked at a time when batting averages were at all time highs. In 1930, the National League AS A WHOLE batted .303!!! To put it into perspective, O'Doul's career high OPS+ (which measures on-base and slugging against the league average) is 163, set in 1932. Albert Pujols' OPS+ for his CAREER - spanning 10 seasons - is 171. Ty Cobb has a CAREER OPS+ of 168 and he played for 23 years... |