Reply #29: Babe. A great pitcher before he was a hitter. [View All]

[denverbill]

Mays, Bonds, Mantle, and Aaron were great ones too, but none of them started out as pitcher. He was 94-46 with a 2.28 career ERA. Then he converted to a hitter. Mays, Bonds, Mantle and Aaron never did that.

That being said, I think the sport is much harder nowadays than in 1920. Back then, the country had a MUCH smaller population, blacks weren't even allowed to compete, and baseball was hardly considered a respectable career. Nowadays, any kid with the slightest prospect of talent will be encouraged to go for it because one year in the major leagues could pay for retirement.