How fast were pitches in baseball back when Babe Ruth played?

Ruth thrived in an era of dead baseballs and spacious ballparks. If he played in the bandboxes that house teams today he might hit 100 homers in a season, and he'd do it while hungover. Today's hitters are nothing compared to The Bambino.

This is a ridiculous question because not only did pitchers throw much slower back then, none of them had what u need in todays game to be a pitcher. Back when he played, they pretty much didnt know what a 4 seam fastball was, they would just get the ball and throw with terrible mechanics. And then the old-timers will bash pitch count nowadays, its amazing. They didnt have the curveballs they have now, nor the changeups, and most importantly, they didnt have the cutter or 2 seams that r changing the game today. Theres no wonder why the strikeout rate is so high nowadays, the pitchers have just become better than the hitters, with the exception of Miguel Cabrera. In 2012, there were something like 111 players who struck out over 100 times. Thats more than everyone from 1900-1967 combined! No athlete from more than 20-30 yrs ago could play in baseball, basketball, or football today. They didnt have the steroids back then and they certainly didnt have the training methods they do today.

Pitchers back then could throw 90-95 if they needed to; and it's thought that Walter Johnson and the young Lefty Grove could throw as fast as anyone in baseball history when they wished. The difference in those days is that they didn't try to do it on virtually every pitch, which allowed them to pitch more innings on shorter rest. The philosophy in those days was to save the hard stuff for the best hitters (including Ruth, obviously) and tough situations, and ease up a little against everyone else. You could do that back then for several reasons, one of which being that the talent level of the weaker players wasn't as high (no blacks and very few Latins in MLB), and another one being that not everyone swung for the fences.

The biggest difference was that there were only a few bullpen closers; a guy named Firpo Marberry pretty much pioneered the role during Ruth's heyday, and the slider, which is a big part of modern baseball and tough for hitters to handle when thrown well, was almost nonexistent.

As for your second question, if you brought the Ruth of 1925 to the modern majors and asked him to play, he'd be good enough to play, but he wouldn't be Babe Ruth, because he wouldn't have had all of the advantages of modern players. But if you made Babe Ruth be born in 1975 instead of 1895, and he did have modern training and equipment, he'd be the best player in baseball, because then his enormous natural talent would be on an equal footing with other modern players. (Someone asked this very question a day or two ago on here.)

Pitchers then were damn good. The Dead Ball Era was very kind to them of course. Big parks, dirty brown baseballs, plus they doctored the balls etc. etc.

Walter Johnson's career strike out totals stood for more than 50 years. Most of the pitches that we use today were around then, but had different names.

Ruth might not have been a pitcher at all in today's game because hitting talent is now stressed and he would have been spotted early as a hitter, instead of as a pitcher.

He would have benefited greatly from today's improved training methods, and yes he would be a force no matter the Era.

Don't underestimate the Babe. You have seen pictures of him in his later years when he was bigger. But remember that before he was the greatest hitter, he was one of the best pitchers. You also downplay the competition and that just overlooks important facts. There is a modern tendency to overstate the present and understate the past. That is a mistake. Baseball was the only sport to pay decent wages. Consequently, the best athletes played baseball. There were also fewer big league teams so the talent was more concentrated. While African-American players were not in the major leagues, there were many exhibition games between whites and blacks. So it is not like they never played each other. Just because they are all dead now doesn't mean they were not as talented.

Back the they would scuff the ball, grease it and who knows what else went on. If the Babe was around now he would have a personal trainer all the equipment, a weight lifting progran and be in alot better shape. He would probablyhit 900 home runs! Just think it took Hank Aron 2500 more attemps at bat to break his record, Forget bonds, Mcquire and Sosa! They had some many roids in them that they should be be striken from the records. If

the babe would have used roids his record would of bee 1100!

They threw just as hard as the pitchers of today. The Babe would still be able to hit today. He was also a damn good pitcher and i bet he could do that today also.

The pitchers of that era were very good. Allot of their records still stand 70-80 years later.

it was a different game. pitchers would doctor the ball so hitting back then was actually harder then hitting now. they threw mid 80s to lower 90s

In 1930, the average fastball was 102 mph.

The average curveball was 89 mph.

The average slider was 76 mph.

The average knuckleball was 92 mph.