Since Ruth came up as a pitcher, they didn’t coach his hitting, they didn’t discourage him from swinging hard.
“Ruth came up as a pitcher”
Ruth first played as a professional in 1914 with the minor league Baltimore Orioles, where he started as a pitcher and also played some shortstop. Yep, a left handed shortstop. He was a top quality pitcher but the teams soon found he was more valuable playing more than every few days. His career ERA was 2.28, 14th all time in history.
Oh, and they did try to work with his hitting but he told them to go where there was heat every day and did it his way. He had a career .342 average. But Ruth had the advantage of playing in Yankee Stadium starting in 1923 with the short porch in right field at just 295 feet and a three foot fence. And bouncing a ball over the fence was considered a home run then. That rule was changed in 1929 after Ruth had 6 years of help. It became a ground rule double.
But at the same time, during that part of the game, if the winning run was on base in extras and the batter hit a ball out, the credit of the hit stopped when the winning run scored. So if that runner started at first base, the batter was credited with a triple. Give and take.
wy69