Comparing the times of Baseball

[Ethereal]

Most people would agree that basketball, as it was played back in the day, made up for a much more competitive and aggressive sport than the way it is played today. The players of old days were more physical and fundamental then players of our era. Baseball however, is a little different. The sport dates as far back as the 1800's and is still going strong today, so its a bit difficult to destinguish between baseball's past time, and the players of today. How do you compare them? Do you think the players of our past time were better when looking at the overwhleming numbers they produced.. or are the pitchers and hitters of today far more advanced and more knowledgable of the game? When you look at the numbers, .400 batting averages, 35 wins, on the surface, that is more then enough to convince the simple mind... but not mine.

I say, you take Pedro Martinez, R. Johnson, Curt Schilling and even young pitchers like Willis, Wood, and Prior; you place these pitchers against Ted Williams and Ty Cobb, there will be no .400 batting averages, not even close. I say, you take Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire; you face them against Warren Spahn or Ed Walsh and my god... dare I say triple digit homeruns? Well, I believe 85 would certainly be within reason.

Now Im not trying to take anything away from our baseball's past time, I wish that baseball spirit and atmosphere were still present. There are many things I love about it, but when you compare the players to those of our time, is it really any competition? I believe we are stronger, faster and smarter then them. Then again, I have witnessed little footage and rely, for the most part, on numbers and pure theory. Were they throwing high 80 sliders?

 

[Cut-Throat]

move the fences back like they were back in the day and 40 home runs would be a feat these days...let these players ride all nite on buses...let see some 2-3 man rotations...take away there creatine and andro...quit pampering these spoiled baby's...todays players are far better athletes but the players of yesterday were far better baseball players...

 

[NICOYA415]

I don't think its the distance of the fence, but the way todays players are built. Every year they get bigger, quicker, and stronger.

 

[BigE916WRM]

410ft plus fields were everywere back in the day. Its tough to compare generations. Look at Ruth, say he worked out and had the finest supplements to take, the guy could have hit 8 or 900 HR's. Lifting weights was something that not many of the old timers did as they all thought it would slow you down. Mays,Aaron,Mantle,Williams could have performed in any era and dominated. Williams eye site was tested by the military it was so incredible. Comparing different generations in Baseball takes away from it.

Its like saying that Lennox Lewis would smash Dempsey,Corbett,Louis,Johnson etc. Of course he would, if they fought now, but you look at what they had for their time compared to now, and its not fair to make the comparison.

 

[T-Dubb]

Cutty an Big E nailed that shit! I would love to see Babe Ruth on some steriods like todays players............he would be hittin it through walls

 

[Ethereal]

Good points by everyone so far. However there are more things to consider. Even if you take Ruth and juice him up, like Cut-Throat said, he put up those numbers against pitchers on 2-3 days rest. What about a healthy Pedro on 5 days rest?

Would Ted Williams bat .400 in todays game, given every opportunity to strengthin himself as much out players do?

Would Babe ruth hit 73 home-runs, let alone 60?

 

[BigE916WRM]

More Pros for the Pitchers back then are, higer mound, scuffed balls, doctoring the balls. It all goes back to the give and take with comparing the generations. Talent is Talent. Records are meant to be broken, and each generation should eclipse the numbers of the previous.

 

[drankedout]

Todays players workout all during the offseason. They focus their lives on playing baseball, back in the day players were not doing that.

Also pitchers today throw different pitches then they used to. Theres different kinds of pitches now then there were back then. I read somewhere that until pretty recently (20-30 years) no one knew how to throw a slider.

 

[Mcleanhatch]

todays players are far better athletes but the players of yesterday were far better baseball players...

^^^ AGREED WHOLE-HEARTEDLY

 

[Mcleanhatch]

Mays,Aaron,Mantle,Williams could have performed in any era and dominated.

easily, thats why they are greats/legends

Williams eye site was tested by the military it was so incredible.

dont know if this is fact or not but i read somewhere (i think ESPN.com) that Ted Willaims could see each individual stitch in the ball while it was in flight being pitched to him.

Its like saying that Lennox Lewis would smash Dempsey,Corbett,Louis,Johnson etc. Of course he would, if they fought now,

but the question is could lewis have beaten them, had he been around back in those days, under the rules from back then, especially the 15 ROUND part

 

[Mcleanhatch]

Would Ted Williams bat .400 in todays game, given every opportunity to strengthin himself as much out players do?

in my opinion williams is and will be the best hitter EVER. you also got to remember that back then baseball was pitcher dominated, not until the early to mid nineties did the hitters begin to take over. the pitching of today doesnt stack up to the pitching of yesterday (exceptions: pedro, johnson, clemens).

 

[Mcleanhatch]

Todays players workout all during the offseason. They focus their lives on playing baseball, back in the day players were not doing that.

yup, especially people like ted williams who took off 5 years during his prime to fight (volunteered) for his country as a fighter pilot in BOTH WWII and Korea

 

[T-Dubb]

good call on Ted Williams, he had some crazy eye sight........

an pitchers back then were alot better in my opinion..........an they were alowed to controll alot more.......if you busted a homer on someone like Bob Gibson, or Don Drysdale......they were gonna bean the shit outta you next time, an they didnt get kicked out for shit like that

 

[BigE916WRM]

About Williams eye site, when he was a pilot they tested his site and a lot of hand eye coordination test, because it was that keen. I think they have talked about it on an interview with Curt Goudy or sports century.

Personally I dont like to get to serious about comparisons because I think it takes away from the atheletes. Just look at the size of todays lineman compared to even 20 years ago, then compare that with 20 years before. It doesnt mean that Jim Otto wasnt a good Center cuzz he would get smashed against todays DT's.

 

[SAV1]

u can't compare past to present.

take hockey as an example, the game today barely has any 50 goal scorers. but in the 80's Gretzky was scoring 70,80,90 goals a season, there's no way that'll EVER happen again.

 

[Ethereal]

I know it's hard to compare, I just don't believe he would hit .400 in todays game, I don't care if he had X-Ray vision. I also disagree with the thought of pitching being better back then. I think if anything, they had more good pitching, but we have a select few that would deminish any competition of pitchers back then. When it's all said and done, I feel on an equal opportunity basis, our era would beat theirs. You could write a book on the differences between times, but im just going to leave it blunt.

 

[Essqubed]

I believe we are stronger, faster and smarter then them.

Stronger...faster? If it weren't for drug enhancements these players would be lesser athletes than that of yesteryear by leaps & bounds.

Smarter? How in the hell does intelligence diverge with time? Without the intellect of old we would have NO new! & That goes far beyond sports. & That should not even be referenced seeing as how we have athletes with the equivalent education to the guy beneath the “Golden Arches” asking if I want my #6 "super sized or regular?" Going from high school to the pros means no college, which translates to a basic education at best.

Replace your Warren Spahn with Satchel Paige & put Barry Bonds adjacent to Josh Gibson who hit a ball clear out of Yankee Stadium (the first player ever to do so) & you have no comparison. The grit & grind mentality of the "old school" players eradicates any genuine comparisons.

Regards

 

[askG]

i love the fuck out of baseball...here in my opinion is the difference between old and new baseball.

new baseball has got

-juiced balls
-smaller fields
-players taking everything under the sun to pump more iron (look at bonds rookie years and look at bonds present day superstar...dont tell me the prick got all bulked just off lifting with no help from some GNC bottle)
-its a homerun hitters game nowadays...pitchers come and go but only a few great ones can last.

as for players being able to take creatin and shit like that to pump more iron...i think its bullshit...they should test for all that enhancement crap...if you make it to the big leagues i want it to be because you are a chosen few, not because one summer you started taking pills before working out and now youre hitting them out of the park every couple of at bats.

im old school...i love one run games and close games...nothing is more boring in baseball than to see some team blow another one out of the water 6 to nothing because bombs are going out of the park faster than seabiscuit out the gate.

pitchers games are great maddux vs johnson. glavine vs. schilling etc etc...who cares about bonds and the rest of the superhuman bulks chasing homeruns...i used to love homeruns when i went to games...now...theyre a dime a dozen thanks to musclebound freaks like that asshole bonds.

...homerun derbys are laaaaame.

baseball wont ever be the same...athletes are now bulked up supermen.

old baseball over todays game.

 

[Ethereal]

Re: Re: Comparing the times of Baseball

Stronger...faster? If it weren't for drug enhancements these players would be lesser athletes than that of yesteryear by leaps & bounds.

Like what was said just before, those players didn't even work out that much because they though it would slow them down, yes STRONGER. You think they have players faster then Deion Sanders, Kenny Lofton, Ricky Henderson, Dave Roberts etc. etc... get real buddy, yes, FASTER. Leaps and Bounds? What are you basing these opinions on? It all depends on what you consider an athlete, but we all have our oinions.

Smarter? How in the hell does intelligence diverge with time? Without the intellect of old we would have NO new! & That goes far beyond sports. & That should not even be referenced seeing as how we have athletes with the equivalent education to the guy beneath the “Golden Arches” asking if I want my #6 "super sized or regular?" Going from high school to the pros means no college, which translates to a basic education at best.

This is actually the lesser of your arguements, and will require the least amount of intelligence to argue, much to the same amount it would be to figure out. How do we gain knowledge with time? Easy. Look at what we know, about cars, earth, the air, everything we know right now, at one point in the past wasn't even a thought. Everything people of our past knew, we know, and we take further, alot of what we know is just ahead of their time. The same things can be applied to baseball. What is Ted Williams going to do when Rob Nen throws an 87mph slider at him. He won't know what the helll just happened. Im really amazed that you seriously didn't know we get smarter as time goes along. In baseball, we know EVERY key part of the sport that they knew, and many more strategies developed since then. We have taken the game to the next level, really think about it guy.

Replace your Warren Spahn with Satchel Paige & put Barry Bonds adjacent to Josh Gibson who hit a ball clear out of Yankee Stadium (the first player ever to do so) & you have no comparison. The grit & grind mentality of the "old school" players eradicates any genuine comparisons.

Your right, there is no comparison. Bonds would put Gibson out of work in a heart-beat.

 

[BAMMER]

Re: Re: Re: Comparing the times of Baseball

What is Ted Williams going to do when Rob Nen throws an 87mph slider at him. He won't know what the helll just happened.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.Have you ever in your life wore a pair of cleats Nitro?Seriously....Have you ever played baseball?

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