Baseball Comparisons to Lebron James

Personally i do not think you can compare baseball players to basketball players or even hockey players--different sports and different types of athletes

I also think that many kids are done an injustice by being thrust into the majors so young--for every Lebron how many try and fail?

I hope the Heyward kid holds up under the bright lights

Agree 100%

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Personally i do not think you can compare baseball players to basketball players or even hockey players--different sports and different types of athletes

I wonder about that as well. It seems like baseball requires the most skill but maybe I am biased in my thinking. Hockey looks like it requires lots of skill. Basketball and football seem like they require more physicality but it would be hard to argue that there are not skill players in those sports as well.

I agree that baseball and basketball players can't be compared. I actually think nearly all baseball players have to make a bigger mental adjustment, where basketball players rely mostly on their talent and size.

That said, many of the very best NBA players came straight out of high school straight to the NBA.

Lebron James is an athletic freak of nature! No athlete his size should be able to do what he can do.

The one person that comes to my mind when you think about baseball players that went from high school to the majors is Catfish Hunter. I do not recall how he did in his first year but he was elected to the all star team in 1966 and pitched a perfect game in 1968, three years after going to MLB.

Here is a link to others that went straight into MLB from HS. The list shows 7 other hall of fame players that were drafted out of HS. I did not recall until I just saw this list that Sandy Koufax is also on this list.

My bad, I just noticed the list includes college players, but still went straight to the majors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...to_the_major_leagues

Al Kaline, one of the truly great players...who so often is overlooked in any discussion about HOF'ers and great players.
Just did his job everyday and better than most, but under the radar of Clemente, Mays, Mantle, Snider, Aaron and a few others.
What a good player, just about from his first day on a ML field.

quote:

Originally posted by infielddad:
Al Kaline, one of the truly great players...who so often is overlooked in any discussion about HOF'ers and great players.
Just did his job everyday and better than most, but under the radar of Clemente, Mays, Mantle, Snider, Aaron and a few others.
What a good player, just about from his first day on a ML field.

You beat me to that point. After AL-08 posted that list, I felt bad for not mentioning him.

54 out of the 84 players listed, 64.3%, started between 1953 and 1957. That's a five year period out of almost 100 years that this seemed to be the trend.

Anybody have any clue as to why that time frame makes up such a large portion of the list?

It was based on the MLB rules in effect at that time as to the amount of the bonus paid. It was a way for MLB to control bonuses.
I am not sure of the exact number but if the team paid a bonus that exceeded the amount set by MLB/the Commissioner(for some reason $5,000 for a part of that time sticks in my mind) the player needed to be kept on the MLB roster.
The rule was changed sometime in late 50's or early 60's, perhaps with the implementation of the draft.

I think the MLB player who most resembled Lebron would have to have been Bo Jackson.

fillsfan,
One of the reasons may have been because most of the players that were younger went into the military during WWII and the Korean war. By the time they can out they were older and the major leagues were expanding and needed players.
Just my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by igball:
I think the MLB player who most resembled Lebron would have to have been Bo Jackson.

Excellent point! Bo was a college player and later a minor league player. Athletically, the argument can be made imho.

Here is another theory on fillsfan's questions. I am sure the population started to increase dramatically after WWII. Baseball was also still the most popular sport in terms of participation. Increasing population with increasing partcipation may have explained some of it (greater number of great athletes playing baseball versus some other sport) but then again, I could be wrong

The reason so many went directly into the Majors from high school in the mid fifties was becaause of the baby bonus rule of the mid fifties where if a player was given a bonus of over $4000, the player had to stay with the Major league club for the first two years. This rule impacted Koufax, Killebrew, Kaline and many others who flopped because they got virtually no playing time for two years when they should have been in the minors. The rule was later recinded for this very reason.

Tony Conigliaro hit 24 HRs at age 19 in 1964 and led the league in HRs with 32 at age 20 in 1965.
Eddie Mathews hit 25 Hrs at age 20 in 1952 and 47 at age 21 in 1953.
Mel Ott was in the majors at age 17 and hit one Hr. At age 19 in 1928 he hit 18 HRs and batted .322. In 1929 at age 20 he hit 42 HRs which tied the National League record of that time until the last day of the season Chuck Klein hit his 43.
Al Kaline and Ty Cobb won batting titles at age 20.

You can prove that the skill level in the Major Leagues is getting higher and higher as the decades go by with some points from this very discussion.

In the 1890 to 1910 era, it was very common for teenagers to make an impact in the majors. By the the 1920-1940 era there were not as many but several stars or superstars made contributions in their teens such as Ott, Foxx, Cavarretta, Feller, as well as twenty year olds like Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio having immediate superstar seasons.

World War II led to a new influx of teenagers due to the manpower situation but very few became superstars. Since, except for the brief bonus rule years of the mid-fifties the number of teenagers in the Majors, let alone STAR teenagers has decline decade by decade. I feel that the level of play has gotten higher and generally it takes a minor leaguer at least a 1000 ABs to be ready to hit in the Show except for special kids. Pitchers are a slightly different case perhaps.

quote:

Originally posted by Three Bagger:
You can prove that the skill level in the Major Leagues is getting higher and higher as the decades go by with some points from this very discussion.

In the 1890 to 1910 era, it was very common for teenagers to make an impact in the majors. By the the 1920-1940 era there were not as many but several stars or superstars made contributions in their teens such as Ott, Foxx, Cavarretta, Feller, as well as twenty year olds like Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio having immediate superstar seasons.

World War II led to a new influx of teenagers due to the manpower situation but very few became superstars. Since, except for the brief bonus rule years of the mid-fifties the number of teenagers in the Majors, let alone STAR teenagers has decline decade by decade. I feel that the level of play has gotten higher and generally it takes a minor leaguer at least a 1000 ABs to be ready to hit in the Show except for special kids. Pitchers are a slightly different case perhaps.

Three bagger - I have always enjoyed your posts and knowledge of the game! Question - Isn't it possible that the rise of football and basketball has robbed the sport of some of its young stars? I mean for lack of a better example, what if LeBron James had devoted his life to baseball? Obviously we will never know that answer but it is intriguing to wonder. I don't believe it is fair to judge things on Michael Jordan's experiences either. Again, I believe if he would have dedicated his career to baseball, he would have been something special. Interesting discussion!

Clevelanddad, I heard he tried out but couldn't hit a curve ball. Ha ha.

Before LeBron James gets mentioned in any breath, let him win a championship or two before making him the messiah. So far, he's proven he can't win the big one. The great ones do.

quote:

Originally posted by zombywoof:
Before LeBron James gets mentioned in any breath, let him win a championship or two before making him the messiah. So far, he's proven he can't win the big one. The great ones do.

If you cannot tell he is a great one, then you do not understand sports imho. In 2007, he led his team to the NBA finals with a bucket of bolts for teammates. His starting supporting cast was Larry Hughes, Zydrunis Ilgauskus, Sasha Pavlovic, and Drew Gooden. The 6th man was Anderson Varajao. I don't see any Scotty Pippen's or Kareem Abdul Jabar's or James Worthies, or Kevin McHale's or Robert Parrish's in that lineup. Michael did not win one until his 7th year in the NBA. He also played three years in college. This is LeBron's 7th year in the NBA without any prior college experience. He is 25 years old with two MVP's (yes he will win it this year again), 2 all star MVP's, first team NBA all defense, 6 time first team All-Star, gold medal winner, and the NBA's all time leading scorer, rebounder, and assist guy for someone his age. He invented the chase-down block and voted as the fastest player in the NBA. He has a 44 or 46 inch vertical leap and has hardly ever been injured. He typically leads the NBA in minutes played. Other than that he is not very good.

I'm sure he's capable of winning the big one but has yet to do it. There's no questioning his physical skills. He's a specimen. The NBA is a star driven league and the best of the best win NBA titles. LeBron James should be one of them but he's not yet.

I've been around sports my whole life. I understand them well.