Ruth studied opposing hitters, and he studied his own pitchers. He knew how and where every batter could be expected to hit any particular pitch. Consequently, he did a great job of playing the hitter. Many a time on the Detroit or St. Louis bench, I've seen Ruth pull down a hard-hit ball and hear the batter come back to the dugout muttering: "What was that big slob doing playing me there?" The Babe had just played him smart, that's all—moved over a couple of steps according to the pitch, and according to his judgment as to how far, how hard, and whence that batter could be expected to hit that pitch. Ruth never made mistakes in the field. He always threw to the right base, and he had a fine arm—not like Speaker or Meusel, but you couldn't take chances against him.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Ruth studied opposing hitters, and he studied his own pitchers. He knew how and where every batter could be expected to hit any particular pitch. Consequently, he did a great job of playing the hitter. Many a time on the Detroit or St. Louis bench, I've seen Ruth pull down a hard-hit ball and hear the batter come back to the dugout muttering: "What was that big slob doing playing me there?" The Babe had just played him smart, that's all—moved over a couple of steps according to the pitch, and according to his judgment as to how far, how hard, and whence that batter could be expected to hit that pitch. Ruth never made mistakes in the field. He always threw to the right base, and he had a fine arm—not like Speaker or Meusel, but you couldn't take chances against him." in the context of "Rip Collins, as quoted in "Greatest Homer Hitter Was Great Fielder, Too" by Weldon Hart, in The Austin Statesman (August 18, 1948), p." to mean that wisdom is timeless.