Seventy-two years after his death, Babe Ruth, again, is having a moment. So, too, are Ted Radcliffe, Harvey Haddix, Sudden Sam McDowell, Bullet Joe Rogan, Leon Day and many others.
These baseball relics are rushing past like freeway signs while going 99 mph — which is how fast Shohei Ohtani’s world-class fastball topped out in his seven-inning, 10-strikeout start in Houston on Tuesday. Or maybe 119 mph — the speed off the bat of Ohtani’s two-run double on April 12, which was the second-hardest hit ball in the majors this season.
Both marks are elite in a spring of wonderful possibilities as this extraordinary, two-way throwback to flannel uniforms and sepia-toned images flourishes just as the Los Angeles Angels hoped he would when they signed him as a free agent from Japan before the 2018 season.
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