They had guys nobody has ever heard of, before or since. Guys named Dropo, Pesky, Doerr, and Al Papai, all of whom sported flashing batting averages over .300. In fact the batting average of the ENTIRE TEAM was .302. The entire team batting average. Who that? The Boston Red Sox of 1950, a team OBTW that included Dom DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Did this killer line up win the pennant? The World Series? Naw, their pitching (pitching? What's that?) and their defense sucked. Williams in particular was dismissive of his lousy fielding and was tagged with only 8 errors that year only because they don't count the balls the slow footed one couldn't get to or the weak throws that failed to nail base runners. So because the the 1950 Sox never won "the big one (ones)" nobody outside of Boston and New York has ever heard of them.

That was the last great hitting TEAM. This year's Yankees are probably as good, or better on offense. Better even than the legendary 1927 Yankees with Ruth, Gehrig, and Combs that had a team batting average of .307? Yeah. Their highest per year wage was $70,000, paid grudgingly to Babe Ruth--contrast this with A-Rod's $27,000,000 per. But the current Yankee version's pure hitting ain't nothin' when compared to the '50 Red Sox.

Of course back in 1950 the Sox had a guy named Dom DiMaggio and also some jerk named Ted Williams (.317, on base percentage of .452 a slugging average of .647, and almost 100 RBIs), but they just couldn't beat the Yankees, much less whatever National League team won their pennant.

So look at this year's Yankees vs Red Sox games. It's a get hip to what you are watching sort of a thing. This version of the Yankees is most likely the best hitting lineup ever, even better than the 1950 Sox or the "Murderers Row" Yankees of 1927. When any of them, ARod, Giambi, Jeter, you name them, come to bat the ball is likely as not going to vanish over some outfield fence or other.

But just like back in 1950, it's the pitching, stupid. No pitchee no winnee. And this year the Sox have the pitching, and the Yankees, it would appear, don't. You owe it to yourselves to tune in to the current Red Sox-Yankees series because these two teams are without a doubt the two best offenses ever. And fun fun fun to watch.

Sample stat: In 1947 Williams led the league in everything. He won the traditional Triple Crown (AVG, HR, RBI) and swept the rate stats (AVG, OBP, SLG). He even captured to so-called Quad Award by leading the league in OBP, SLG, times on base (TOB), and total bases (TB). The Thumper also led in walks, extra-base hits, runs, runs created, and adjusted OPS (or OPS+). But no World Series and no Pennant. No matter the hitting, it's pitching and defense that wins.