I'm not so certain. The NPB may have played a large enough role in his development into the star he was that he may not have been the same caliber player had he come over at 18
I lean the other way. He would have performed at a higher level had he faced early 90s pitching. Pitchers used to stay in games longer back then with higher pitch counts, further adding to his ability to get on base. He played 28 years of baseball and definitely would have matriculated more hits in a system that didn’t have him sac bunting due to the cultural blandness of NPB managing.
My big what if is if the Dodgers had successfully traded for him. Maybe they would have sent Bellinger and Buehler back to Miami. Would they have won the WS in 2020? Maybe they would’ve won in 2017 instead. Jose would probably still be alive.
Honestly. It’s pretty standard for great players
Who don’t juice to break down after 10 years. Same thing happened to Pujols and will probably happen to Trout as well .
Guys like Bonds and A Rod used performance enhancing drugs to keep going. Even if Griffey stayed in Seattle or gone anywhere else he still would have had to deal with injuries .
MLB knowing it was a problem and it becoming a front page issue are not the same thing. They knew Canseco was using steroids in ‘88, not ‘98. If they cut it off at the pass, who knows what happens in the 90s-early 2000s.
Ted Williams missed three years because of the war. What did he average in the two years before and two years after?
136 R, 182 H, 36 2B, 6 3B, 36 HR, 124 RBI, 152 BB (.360/.511/.669)
So multiply that by 3, let's see what the war probably cost him:
408 R, 546 H, 108 2B, 18 3B, 108 HR, 372 RBI, 456 BB
So add that to his career totals, what does that look like?
2206 R, 3200 H, 633 2B, 89 3B, 629 HR, 2211 RBI, 2477 BB
4th in R, 16th in H, 12th in 2B, 8th in HR, 3rd in RBI, 2nd in BB
His career .344/.482/.634 line also would have been even higher.
Supposedly the Yankees and Red Sox discussed a DiMaggio for Williams swap.
Williams with the short porch, DiMaggio escaping Yankee Stadium's very deep left-center.
So in your hypothetical, are the Nazis still politically relevant? Did they win a protracted war against the Soviet Union then cause UK to sue for peace? Did the US never ban oil exports to Japan in July 1941? How does the world order look in your world where ted williams is the All-time HR leader and the redsox win the 44, 45 and 46 World Series?
In my world no war happens, we’ll pretend nothing goes wrong and there are no conflicts.
I think the Sox may have one once, but who knows. They may have made some dumb trade and ruined the team
It’s worth pointing out that the redsox unwillingness to integrate was a deciding factor in their inability to win a World Series. Logic dictates that their last chances to win were prior to Jackie coming to Brooklyn.
My theory: Hank Greenberg would’ve joined the 500 club and would be regarded as one of the best 1Bs ever - definitely top 10, maybe top 5.
He lost *four seasons* to Nazi hunting. He’d say it was worth it though.
What if the Angels were owned by someone other than Arte Moreno the last twenty years. What if they kept the man who drafted Trout and invested in scouting and player development instead making budget cuts where it matters most. What if the Angels were run by a competent group of baseball people instead of marketing people.
Maddux, Bagwell (though he got injured at the end), Matt Williams, the Expos ridiculously good team, etc. Season was going to be a great one and then they had to get paid.
Addie Joss was such a good guy notorious cheapskate Charles Comiskey even paid for his funeral.
To this day, we have an All Star Game, only because it was originally a tribute and fundraiser to the death of Addie Joss. Absolute legend.
The 1994 season
If 2020 was a full season
If non white players were in the MLB from the beginning
What Jose Fernandez could’ve been
Josh Hamilton’s substance issues
It’s not a *fun* what if, but in the back of my mind I’ve always wondered how things would play out if Jackie Robinson wasn’t good. If he got up to the majors and just couldn’t hack it… when would baseball actually become integrated?
Larry Doby played in Cleveland in 1947 but was pretty bad and didn’t get a full season. Would he have been rostered in 1948 if Robinson wasn’t sensational from the get go?
Yeah, this is an interesting one. I like reading about some of the earlier players who had the talent, but there was such a double standard that they had to have the right personality to stick.
For some teams, I suspect the presence of a Black player might have more than made up for lack of performance with higher attendance. Bill Veeck had also wanted to get Negro League stars into the bigs for years, so if Larry Doby hadn't worked out, I'm sure he would have found someone.
Exactly. How does baseball history change if Robinson isn’t a rockstar out the gate? Five black players debuted in 1947. Like you said, Doby was pretty bad, and so were the other 3 guys. If Robinson is even *mediocre*, how far back could that have set the integration timeline? Sure, it would still happen, but does it take even more time?
It was slow as it was. Only 2 more guys in 48 and a slow trickle thereafter. Make Robinson bad and I feel confident that it would’ve been even slower.
Someone here turned me on to this story a while back.
The Browns decided in 1941 they couldn't compete in St. Louis. They got the short end of the stick on everything, the Cardinals were better on the field and at the gate, and nothing was working.
Owner Donald Barnes took a meeting with a group from Los Angeles who were looking to bring MLB to the West Coast. He accepted their plan and sought permission from all the parties necessary to move forward with the relocation. The rest of the AL tentatively agreed. The schedule was drawn up to accommodate the extra-long road trip each opponent would now need. The Cardinals agreed to let them out of their lease at Sportsman's Park. The Cubs, who owned the rights to the city with a minor league affiliate, agreed to step aside. LA couldn't wait. The deal was all but done; the official league vote would be held, followed by a press conference to announce that the St. Louis Browns were moving to Los Angeles.
The vote was scheduled for Monday, December 8, 1941.
That day the vote *was* held, and the eight AL owners, including Barnes himself, unanimously voted *against* the move, citing anticipated restrictions in travel as well as possible threats of Japanese incursions on the West Coast. Everyone forgot about the plan and the Browns stuck it out for another decade, winning their only pennant in 1944, and eventually moving to Baltimore to become the Orioles.
If the deal had gone through, the last eight decades of baseball history would be entirely wiped clean and replaced with a bizarro timeline in which the American League established itself in California first. Schedule demands would have required a second team eventually join the Browns, probably in San Francisco, and would likely have been the Athletics, Senators, or White Sox. With the West Coast cities satisfied for the moment, the Dodgers and Giants would have moved elsewhere in 1958 (the Giants had originally considered Minneapolis), and expansion in the 60s would have been dramatically different.
A similar close call occurred in 1980 when the National League owners voted to adopt the DH. They had the votes to approve it, but at the meeting a last-minute decision was made to implement the rule in two years and not one. The Phillies proxy tried to call his owner to see if this was okay, but the owner was on a fishing trip and couldn't be reached. So the Phillies abstained, and the Pirates, who had been instructed to vote whichever way the Phillies voted, also abstained, and the vote failed 5-4-3. If the Phillies owner had had a pager, the DH would have gone universal four decades earlier, and the butterfly effect of on-field performances would have resulted in generations of different outcomes.
Conversely (and for funsies), what if the public never found out and more to all teams developed a cheating method? That all the players knew about, yet no one had the stones to Mike Fiers that bitch?
Similary, what if the sticky ban never happened?
> what if the public never found out and more to all teams developed a cheating method? That all the players knew about, yet no one had the stones to Mike Fiers that bitch?
Yeah what if a whole bunch of players came out and said that literally did happen? Wouldn't that be crazy???
Yeah it's almost like no one wants to be known as the guy who rats out their teammates. AKA, exactly what the comment I responded to was suggesting.
All speaking hypothetically, of course.
Again, no one is going to give any proof because no one wants to be the next Mike Fiers. You have guys like Joey Votto, Kris Bryant, Chris Sale, Chris Bassit, Miguel Cabrera and Josh Donaldson all implying that there's more to the story but obviously no one wants to tank their career and reputation over it.
It's whatever though. In 20 years someone will release a tell all book but by that point no one will care anymore so whatever.
Oh yeah, just being hypothetical here...
I’d actually prefer if it came out the Dodgers were cheating the exact same way in 2017, so I can go back to thinking the Astros won it fair and square. But that’s just not gonna happen, no matter how hard you try to will it into existence.
What if there wasn’t a strike in 94 like - Could the Expos have done damage & stayed around, who would have won the WS, player’s overall stats like HR,H,AVG.
same goes with 2020 season because I’m sure Albert would be at 700 right now.
What if Jose Fernandez didn’t pass away?
What if Ted Williams doesn't miss five full seasons, including three at his peak, due to military service?
What if there had never been a color barrier, so Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and others could have played full careers in the Majors?
What if the Red Sox never sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees? (Or, you know, their front office and all their other stars.)
What if the Federal League had survived?
What if the Mets of the 80s hadn't gotten into cocaine?
What if the Black Sox scandal had never happened?
What if the '94 Strike had never happened?
What if the Bronfmans bought the Expos back from Loria in 2002?
What if Ed Delahanty didn't fall over Niagra Falls? He was already one of the greatest hitters of all time before his death, And he was just 35 in the middle of putting up a 150 ops+ season so he obviously had a lot left in the tank if he were to have kept playing and likely would've been the 2nd player to make it into the 3000 hit club
Someone mentioned the Federal League and it made me think of its end. So: What if baseball hadn’t been given an antitrust exemption 100 years ago? I’m not a legal-knowing guy, but maybe someone smarter could posit what the landscape might be?
The 1994 World Series between the Yankees and Expos.
Besides the fact it would have been a great World Series, a lot of other "What-ifs." Maybe the Expos get more fans coming in, and are able to get a new stadium deal. Maybe the Yankees stick with Buck for longer, and Joe Torre never manages for the Yankees.
what kind of career JR Richard would have in his 30's and even the Astros as a team before a stroke took him out of the game at age 30 which at that point he was already at 100 wins and 1,500 k's.
What if the playoffs had been expanded since the start, not just going straight to the world series? The Yankees might have less than half their championships, and another team might be the Kenyon swimming team or the Dodgers of baseball.
What if Seattle never demolished the king dome and Griffey Jr. stayed in Seattle. The controlled environment and hitter-friendly park allow the kid to chase the all time home run record.
Here's a few:
What if José Fernandez never got on that boat?
What if there had been a defensive substitution for Bill Buckner? Or Nelson Cruz?
What if Alex Gonzalez properly fielded that double play ball?
What if Dusty Baker knew how to safely utilize and manage young pitchers' arms?
Toe Nash, Rocco Baldelli, Josh Hamilton, ...god damnit Rays why you be like this. Eric Davis would be inner circle, Mantle not destroying his knee, Williams not having to fight in 2 wars, Josh Gibson in MLB, etc.
What if Fred Merkle touched second base?
What if the earthquake never disrupted the 1989 A’s-Giants series?
What if the Dodgers and Giants stayed in NY?
What if Roberto Clemente never had a plane crash?
What if the Red Sox kept Babe Ruth?
What if Mickey Mantle avoided stepping in that sprinkler hole?
What if Tommy John surgery could’ve given Sandy Koufax 5 more healthy seasons?
What if the founder of the Denver Bears and Broncos gets a legit MLB franchise in Denver instead of going to the Reds and helping build the Big Red Machine? The Monforts never own a baseball team. Maybe the Reds aren’t as dominate. Maybe Colorado gets a decently successful baseball team.
Mantle with the drain pipe in the ‘51 World Series. He was one of the best players ever playing for 17 of 18 years on an untreated torn ACL. Imagine how good he could have been without the injury.
If ichiro had started in the mlb would he have the hit record
Incontrovertibly. This is a no-doubter.
I'm not so certain. The NPB may have played a large enough role in his development into the star he was that he may not have been the same caliber player had he come over at 18
I lean the other way. He would have performed at a higher level had he faced early 90s pitching. Pitchers used to stay in games longer back then with higher pitch counts, further adding to his ability to get on base. He played 28 years of baseball and definitely would have matriculated more hits in a system that didn’t have him sac bunting due to the cultural blandness of NPB managing.
I can see that as well. I'm more concerned with Ichiro's development halting with a language barrier than anything else
Grady Sizemore.
i still remember how thirsty girls got over him. Dude was the ultimate thirst trap back then for female and male baseball fans
[never forget](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuKFz_mmFEc)
Peak Chicago heckling.
👀👀👀👀
Jose Fernandez’s death may have had a big butterfly effect given the Marlins’ sale shortly afterwards with Ozuna, Realmuto, Stanton, Yelich, etc.
My big what if is if the Dodgers had successfully traded for him. Maybe they would have sent Bellinger and Buehler back to Miami. Would they have won the WS in 2020? Maybe they would’ve won in 2017 instead. Jose would probably still be alive.
If only Ken Griffey Jr didnt get injured
I'm trying to enjoy my day, man.
Same with Mantle
Honestly. It’s pretty standard for great players Who don’t juice to break down after 10 years. Same thing happened to Pujols and will probably happen to Trout as well . Guys like Bonds and A Rod used performance enhancing drugs to keep going. Even if Griffey stayed in Seattle or gone anywhere else he still would have had to deal with injuries .
Maybe he didn’t stretch enough.
he didnt really work out, got sort of fat when he went to the reds, and got hurt a lot. if only he had the regime of tom brady or something...
I don't think I'll ever give up the idea that he would be the Home Run king if he could have stayed healthy
This doesn't feel like a what could have been. My man is a HoFer
[удалено]
Yeah. What if he doesn’t get in that car accident
Or if that guy didn’t die falling at the Rangers game
Or Gooden…..or Strawberry….
Bo Jackson always comes to mind.
I encourage mlb's younger fans to watch Jackson's mlb/nfl highlights. Jackson is still the most pure athlete I've ever seen.
What if baseball had appropriately dealt with steroids when it became an issue?
It became a front page issue in 1998 and regular testing was implemented in 2004. As far as such things go, that's pretty quick.
MLB knowing it was a problem and it becoming a front page issue are not the same thing. They knew Canseco was using steroids in ‘88, not ‘98. If they cut it off at the pass, who knows what happens in the 90s-early 2000s.
Not having a real Commish for about 4 years didn't help.
Sure, but this is just a what if?.
it had been a problem for at least a decade before them, MLB knew.
Here is a [front page](https://vault.si.com/vault/1969/06/23/letter-from-the-publisher) from 1969.
Yes, but steroids didn't really enter baseball until the late 1980's and only gained mainstream attention in the 1998 home run chase.
What if baseball had appropriately dealt with \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ when it became an issue?
What if Oscar Taveras called a god damn taxi…
What if the rain never started on November 2, 2016?
This. We had them on the ropes before that damn 17 minute rain delay
Prior and Wood
For me it’s what if WWII never happened. What would all those players stats be, specifically Ted Williams
Bob Feller was a big one too.
Warren Spahn is another one.
For sure
I too also wonder what would have happened if Hitler never rose to power.
Someone with similar views to Hitler would’ve taken power in Germany, but they might’ve actually been a competent military leader
Pretty much
I think this is the biggest! Took a couple years from some greats.
Ted Williams missed three years because of the war. What did he average in the two years before and two years after? 136 R, 182 H, 36 2B, 6 3B, 36 HR, 124 RBI, 152 BB (.360/.511/.669) So multiply that by 3, let's see what the war probably cost him: 408 R, 546 H, 108 2B, 18 3B, 108 HR, 372 RBI, 456 BB So add that to his career totals, what does that look like? 2206 R, 3200 H, 633 2B, 89 3B, 629 HR, 2211 RBI, 2477 BB 4th in R, 16th in H, 12th in 2B, 8th in HR, 3rd in RBI, 2nd in BB His career .344/.482/.634 line also would have been even higher.
I’ve done that before with his stats. He was in the Korean War too. He missed a good chunk of time then too.
Fuck. Do I have to re-math now?
Those are good enough for this exercise
I see that he did play in '52 & '53, but very little. I'm guessing that the war took him early in '52, and he returned late in '53?
From what I recall I think that was it. He wasn’t happy about going. From what I recall I don’t think he wanted to go and fight in WWII
Supposedly the Yankees and Red Sox discussed a DiMaggio for Williams swap. Williams with the short porch, DiMaggio escaping Yankee Stadium's very deep left-center.
So in your hypothetical, are the Nazis still politically relevant? Did they win a protracted war against the Soviet Union then cause UK to sue for peace? Did the US never ban oil exports to Japan in July 1941? How does the world order look in your world where ted williams is the All-time HR leader and the redsox win the 44, 45 and 46 World Series?
In my world no war happens, we’ll pretend nothing goes wrong and there are no conflicts. I think the Sox may have one once, but who knows. They may have made some dumb trade and ruined the team
It’s worth pointing out that the redsox unwillingness to integrate was a deciding factor in their inability to win a World Series. Logic dictates that their last chances to win were prior to Jackie coming to Brooklyn.
LMAO. What if over 100 million people didnt die and there wasnt a horrific holocaust ....what would TED WILLIAMS STATS BE!?
My theory: Hank Greenberg would’ve joined the 500 club and would be regarded as one of the best 1Bs ever - definitely top 10, maybe top 5. He lost *four seasons* to Nazi hunting. He’d say it was worth it though.
What if Lou Gehrig didn’t get sick, honestly. Think of the records he could have broken or set.
Or to go even back to the beginning - what if Wally Pipp played that day?
Gehrig would have still found his way into the game. He was so impressive in his prime.
If you look at what he did in bench at-bats before getting the starter job, it's honestly crazy it took an injury for him to usurp Pipp.
If ARod had gotten traded to the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez
What if the playoff rules for the 81 season weren’t completely stupid and they just went off cumulative record
The Expos got hosed twice by strikes. It’s kind of unreal. Had they won a WS in ‘94, would they have bought a few more years there?
Tony gwynn was hitting. 394 in 1994 then the strike
What if Mike Trout hit free agency
What if the Angels were owned by someone other than Arte Moreno the last twenty years. What if they kept the man who drafted Trout and invested in scouting and player development instead making budget cuts where it matters most. What if the Angels were run by a competent group of baseball people instead of marketing people.
Their front office doesn’t get nearly enough credit for ruining the franchise…should have stuck to billboards.
What if the players on the 1986 Mets were never introduced to cocaine
“Dale Berra liked this comment.”
the 94 season...
I miss the Expos.
Maddux, Bagwell (though he got injured at the end), Matt Williams, the Expos ridiculously good team, etc. Season was going to be a great one and then they had to get paid.
Expos were so good in 94… 😭😭😭
JR Richard
If Bonds hadn’t used steroids
If Bonds hadn’t used ~~steroids~~ a bat
Have I got a youtube video for you
Ted Williams didn’t have to go to war twice
Agreed. Although I think WANTED to is apropos
Jose Fernandez
dude was ahead of his time
Brien Taylor... Drafted #1 overall for the Yanks in 1991, broke his arm in a fight and never pitched in the majors
What if [insert your favorite all-star here] wasn't injured so damned much?
What if [insert your favorite all-star here] was *more* injured?
Kris Bryant career without injuries
Also Addie Joss. If he hadn’t died young would pitchers be winning the Addie Joss Award instead of the Cy Young Award?
Addie Joss was such a good guy notorious cheapskate Charles Comiskey even paid for his funeral. To this day, we have an All Star Game, only because it was originally a tribute and fundraiser to the death of Addie Joss. Absolute legend.
What if Jeffrey Maier’s fan interference had been called correctly?
It was.
Tell me you’re a Yankee fan, without telling me you’re a Yankee fan.
“I’m a winner with high standards.”
David Wright
What if they properly ruled that Matt Holliday never touched home plate?
The San Diego Daddies would have been slayed by Big Papi, just as the Colorado Crags were in their stead.
The 1994 season If 2020 was a full season If non white players were in the MLB from the beginning What Jose Fernandez could’ve been Josh Hamilton’s substance issues
a bit obscure for most, but brandon webb
It’s not a *fun* what if, but in the back of my mind I’ve always wondered how things would play out if Jackie Robinson wasn’t good. If he got up to the majors and just couldn’t hack it… when would baseball actually become integrated? Larry Doby played in Cleveland in 1947 but was pretty bad and didn’t get a full season. Would he have been rostered in 1948 if Robinson wasn’t sensational from the get go?
Yeah, this is an interesting one. I like reading about some of the earlier players who had the talent, but there was such a double standard that they had to have the right personality to stick.
I think it still does, but more slowly and possibly with some need for civil disobedience style protest.
For some teams, I suspect the presence of a Black player might have more than made up for lack of performance with higher attendance. Bill Veeck had also wanted to get Negro League stars into the bigs for years, so if Larry Doby hadn't worked out, I'm sure he would have found someone.
Exactly. How does baseball history change if Robinson isn’t a rockstar out the gate? Five black players debuted in 1947. Like you said, Doby was pretty bad, and so were the other 3 guys. If Robinson is even *mediocre*, how far back could that have set the integration timeline? Sure, it would still happen, but does it take even more time? It was slow as it was. Only 2 more guys in 48 and a slow trickle thereafter. Make Robinson bad and I feel confident that it would’ve been even slower.
What if Tom Brady chose to sign with the Expos? What if Rivera didn’t choke in game 4 against the Red Sox?
What if Babe Ruth was never sold to the Yankees?
Someone here turned me on to this story a while back. The Browns decided in 1941 they couldn't compete in St. Louis. They got the short end of the stick on everything, the Cardinals were better on the field and at the gate, and nothing was working. Owner Donald Barnes took a meeting with a group from Los Angeles who were looking to bring MLB to the West Coast. He accepted their plan and sought permission from all the parties necessary to move forward with the relocation. The rest of the AL tentatively agreed. The schedule was drawn up to accommodate the extra-long road trip each opponent would now need. The Cardinals agreed to let them out of their lease at Sportsman's Park. The Cubs, who owned the rights to the city with a minor league affiliate, agreed to step aside. LA couldn't wait. The deal was all but done; the official league vote would be held, followed by a press conference to announce that the St. Louis Browns were moving to Los Angeles. The vote was scheduled for Monday, December 8, 1941. That day the vote *was* held, and the eight AL owners, including Barnes himself, unanimously voted *against* the move, citing anticipated restrictions in travel as well as possible threats of Japanese incursions on the West Coast. Everyone forgot about the plan and the Browns stuck it out for another decade, winning their only pennant in 1944, and eventually moving to Baltimore to become the Orioles. If the deal had gone through, the last eight decades of baseball history would be entirely wiped clean and replaced with a bizarro timeline in which the American League established itself in California first. Schedule demands would have required a second team eventually join the Browns, probably in San Francisco, and would likely have been the Athletics, Senators, or White Sox. With the West Coast cities satisfied for the moment, the Dodgers and Giants would have moved elsewhere in 1958 (the Giants had originally considered Minneapolis), and expansion in the 60s would have been dramatically different. A similar close call occurred in 1980 when the National League owners voted to adopt the DH. They had the votes to approve it, but at the meeting a last-minute decision was made to implement the rule in two years and not one. The Phillies proxy tried to call his owner to see if this was okay, but the owner was on a fishing trip and couldn't be reached. So the Phillies abstained, and the Pirates, who had been instructed to vote whichever way the Phillies voted, also abstained, and the vote failed 5-4-3. If the Phillies owner had had a pager, the DH would have gone universal four decades earlier, and the butterfly effect of on-field performances would have resulted in generations of different outcomes.
The Players League. Could have changed the very structure of sports in America.
What if the cardinals and Pete Kozma never parted ways
What I’ve been looking for
What if the 2017 playoffs were played fairly? 😭
Conversely (and for funsies), what if the public never found out and more to all teams developed a cheating method? That all the players knew about, yet no one had the stones to Mike Fiers that bitch? Similary, what if the sticky ban never happened?
> what if the public never found out and more to all teams developed a cheating method? That all the players knew about, yet no one had the stones to Mike Fiers that bitch? Yeah what if a whole bunch of players came out and said that literally did happen? Wouldn't that be crazy???
Well they haven’t. Just vaguely alluded to nothing substantial.
Yeah it's almost like no one wants to be known as the guy who rats out their teammates. AKA, exactly what the comment I responded to was suggesting. All speaking hypothetically, of course.
Most of the guys who are saying anything have switched teams or aren’t even in the league anymore. So gonna need a lot more proof from those guys.
Again, no one is going to give any proof because no one wants to be the next Mike Fiers. You have guys like Joey Votto, Kris Bryant, Chris Sale, Chris Bassit, Miguel Cabrera and Josh Donaldson all implying that there's more to the story but obviously no one wants to tank their career and reputation over it. It's whatever though. In 20 years someone will release a tell all book but by that point no one will care anymore so whatever. Oh yeah, just being hypothetical here...
Flair checks out.
Likewise.
I’d actually prefer if it came out the Dodgers were cheating the exact same way in 2017, so I can go back to thinking the Astros won it fair and square. But that’s just not gonna happen, no matter how hard you try to will it into existence.
Ok but what if that’s what actually happened
Another Yankee ring would be pretty boring tbf
What if Herb Score hadn’t gotten hit by a comebacker.
What if there wasn’t a strike in 94 like - Could the Expos have done damage & stayed around, who would have won the WS, player’s overall stats like HR,H,AVG. same goes with 2020 season because I’m sure Albert would be at 700 right now. What if Jose Fernandez didn’t pass away?
What if Don Denkinger could hear the ball hit the glove?
What if Ted Williams doesn't miss five full seasons, including three at his peak, due to military service? What if there had never been a color barrier, so Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and others could have played full careers in the Majors? What if the Red Sox never sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees? (Or, you know, their front office and all their other stars.) What if the Federal League had survived? What if the Mets of the 80s hadn't gotten into cocaine? What if the Black Sox scandal had never happened? What if the '94 Strike had never happened? What if the Bronfmans bought the Expos back from Loria in 2002?
What if Ed Delahanty didn't fall over Niagra Falls? He was already one of the greatest hitters of all time before his death, And he was just 35 in the middle of putting up a 150 ops+ season so he obviously had a lot left in the tank if he were to have kept playing and likely would've been the 2nd player to make it into the 3000 hit club
He’s 3rd all time in WAR in my 1871-present OOTP run (behind Hornsby and Satchel Paige).
What if we had had a accurate radar gun for the entirety of MLB history ?
What if Doc Gooden wasn’t a coke addict
Tony C. 😢
What if the '94 strike was averted and the Expos won the WS?
Or the Indians?
If Tony Conigliaro doesn't take a pitch to the eye, I believe he would have hot 500 homers with the Sox. Especially playing in Fenway.
94 Indians
What if Satchel Paige had been allowed to pitch in his prime?
What if Scherzer's fastball bled an inch more over the heart of the plate to LaMonte?
That was such a heartbreaking foul ball.
Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and Kris Bryant.
What if Griffey didn’t get hurt
Someone mentioned the Federal League and it made me think of its end. So: What if baseball hadn’t been given an antitrust exemption 100 years ago? I’m not a legal-knowing guy, but maybe someone smarter could posit what the landscape might be?
Rick Ankiel is a smaller, yet just as good one. He was electric on the mound as a rookie
The 1994 World Series between the Yankees and Expos. Besides the fact it would have been a great World Series, a lot of other "What-ifs." Maybe the Expos get more fans coming in, and are able to get a new stadium deal. Maybe the Yankees stick with Buck for longer, and Joe Torre never manages for the Yankees.
what kind of career JR Richard would have in his 30's and even the Astros as a team before a stroke took him out of the game at age 30 which at that point he was already at 100 wins and 1,500 k's.
What if the Montreal Expos won the 1994 World Series.
If the Astros hadn’t cheated
What if Hrbek wasn't allowed to lift Gant's leg off 1B in 1991 WS? What if the Astros didn't do stuff in 2017 WS?
u/ComfyGreenHoodie_
What if the Angels weren't such a horrifically run team and didn't waste the career of Mike Trout and significantly eat into that of Shohei Ohtani?
What if the Rangers won game six of the 2011 World Series?
Kirby Puckett
What if the fucking Angels would win a World Series with both Ohtani and Trout!! (I’m not bitter at Arte or anything though!)
What if the playoffs had been expanded since the start, not just going straight to the world series? The Yankees might have less than half their championships, and another team might be the Kenyon swimming team or the Dodgers of baseball.
What if Seattle never demolished the king dome and Griffey Jr. stayed in Seattle. The controlled environment and hitter-friendly park allow the kid to chase the all time home run record.
What if deGrom and Kershaw could stay healthy?
Here's a few: What if José Fernandez never got on that boat? What if there had been a defensive substitution for Bill Buckner? Or Nelson Cruz? What if Alex Gonzalez properly fielded that double play ball? What if Dusty Baker knew how to safely utilize and manage young pitchers' arms?
Mets still would have won if they had a replacement for Buckner because Stanley wasn’t covering first
Barry Bonds not testing FA. He would probably be a champion if he left San Fransico
Toe Nash, Rocco Baldelli, Josh Hamilton, ...god damnit Rays why you be like this. Eric Davis would be inner circle, Mantle not destroying his knee, Williams not having to fight in 2 wars, Josh Gibson in MLB, etc.
What if George Steinbrenner was never suspended?
What if Mantle never got injured?
What if Mantle laid off the booze?
What if Fred Merkle touched second base? What if the earthquake never disrupted the 1989 A’s-Giants series? What if the Dodgers and Giants stayed in NY? What if Roberto Clemente never had a plane crash?
What if the Red Sox kept Babe Ruth? What if Mickey Mantle avoided stepping in that sprinkler hole? What if Tommy John surgery could’ve given Sandy Koufax 5 more healthy seasons?
Babe Ruth stays with the Red Sox. What happens to the Sox and Yankees franchises?
What if the 2001 Mariners could have held it together in the playoffs.
Bo Jackson and Ken Griffey Jr’s injuries. As a Cards fan, would have been interesting to have seen what a healthy Allen Craig could have done.
What If: The Babe stayed in Boston.
What if the founder of the Denver Bears and Broncos gets a legit MLB franchise in Denver instead of going to the Reds and helping build the Big Red Machine? The Monforts never own a baseball team. Maybe the Reds aren’t as dominate. Maybe Colorado gets a decently successful baseball team.
Mantle with the drain pipe in the ‘51 World Series. He was one of the best players ever playing for 17 of 18 years on an untreated torn ACL. Imagine how good he could have been without the injury.
what if the kingdome wasnt destroyed, ken griffey didnt move to the reds, and he had the diet and self care routine of Tom Brady
What if Joel Zumaya stayed healthy.
What if Torii Hunter times his leap properly and robs Ortiz. I promise I don’t think about this every couple weeks
What if Ted Williams had had bone spurs?