Mental Meanderings

Yes! I think the game has changed considerably over many era's. Baseball has been around a lot longer than football and has changed in so many ways.

I would almost suspect you could put a 20 year span on each new era..... say 1900-1920, 1921-1940..... and so on, and you can see substantial change in the game over each time period. Anything pre 1900 IMO is another completely different game!

Perhaps because we are even closer to the last 2 decades, you could break up the 1980-2000 era into 1980-1990 and 1990-2000 ( the dreaded era of steroids )

Cong
In the recent eras how do you think the players compare?

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Cong
In the recent eras how do you think the players compare?

Since I can only speak from personal experience for the 1960's to the present, I will stick with these eras.

I think the players are stronger and in better shape.
With the advent of personal trainers, free agency and multi-million dollar contracts they have an advantage to this end. Remember when players had to have a second job in the off season?

I think that pitching overall has gotten weaker. Is it dilution? Is it the lowering of the mound? Is it a juiced up ball ( or juiced hitters? ) Is it the world wide integration of the game?

Fundamental skills have gotten worse. Base running, is a skill that few have. (remember the 2000 world series?) Hitting the cutoff from the outfield, making a decent throw from the outfield seems few and far between. (Is this because you make money for HR's not throwing out runners?) Bunting!!! who can bunt anymore? Who can steal Home? Who runs out a pop up?

cong:

I agree with you. It amazes me that the deficiencies that you have listed are not seen as such...any player lacking the skills necessary to baserun properly, bunt properly, make the cut-off throw properly, run out a pop up properly, steal home properly should see room for improvement and desire to improve and excel.

Why aren't more professional players desiring to do this? There's probably more in the minors willing to do this than in the majors. The kids in the minors (and below) are hugrier...presumably.

gotwood

the kids at the HS and college level have the same deficiencies

how do you steal home properly?

TRhit:

And that is not as it should be...is it?

the next...1:

By scoring a run for your team...or at least giving it all you can!

TR,

No doubt the game has changed but it is still baseball. Pitcher versus hitter, mano y mano. However, IMHO, the greats would still dominate today if not more so. Babe Ruth is still Babe Ruth - still the greatest player of all time imho. Gehrig, Williams, Dimaggio, Mays, Mantle, Aaron, Clemente, Gibson, Koufax, Bench, and so on and so forth. Of course, I would have to list the entire Hall of Fame and then some to make everyone happy. There appears to be more size, strength and speed in today's game but skills wise, it is hard to say which era is the best.

CD

I agree about how tough it is too say which era is best--my favorite player of all time that I have actually seen live and in action is Willie Mays--could he play with todays players ?--without a doubt in my mind

The biggest problem today is that there are too many teams and the talent has gotten watered down-- today you can hit .220 and still make 2 million dollars a year--used be you hit .200 and you didn't even get sent back to the mionors--you got CUT !!1

I know you mean all baseball but I can only compare youth baseball. Looking at youth baseball from the time I was a kid and compare it to the kids today it is as different as night and day. You only played because you WANTED to play. Parents never made their kid play baseball. There was NEVER and talk about playing at the next level. It either happened or it didn’t. You basically played until your talent couldn’t compete or your desire waned. This was the days before cell phones and radar guns so I have no idea how you would know if a scout was around or not. High school baseball was very low profile. A parent coached our team. I never heard of high school players going on to play college baseball when I was in high school. I doubt if college coaches recruited players during those times (1950’s) I know they didn’t at our high school. After high school there seemed to be more adult league (20 to 25 years old) games going on. They seemed to be loosely organized and played on a local circuit but the competition was fierce. I know as a kid we were infatuated with big league players. Baseball cards were everywhere and kids would assume the names of big leaguers when they played. Wood bats had personalities. You almost cried when your favorite bat was broken.
Yesterday the young players were focused on the baseball game. Today they are focused on the game of baseball.

Fungo

Great points-- I guess things were a bit different in the town I grew up in on Long Island, we had a semi pro team in town with a 1500 seat stadium and lights and this was in the early 50's.

My LL coaches in 1954 were pro scouts

Prior to LL comimg to town in 1954 we had our own lot with our own field which we , the kids maintained--summer we were there from 8AM to dark every day of the week-- during school we were there after school til dark and all day on Saturday and Sunday.

We had bats with nails and tape and baseballs wrapped in black electric tape--and if you were smart you were the first one to the lot in the morning and brought a bat and a ball--this assured you of playing in the first game.

And we only needed 4 on a side to get a game going

OH! and also no coaches, no umpires , no fights but a heck of a lot of "do overs".

The better players today are light years ahead of the kids in the era I grew up in the late 60's and 70's. They play more they train more and they know the game better. Now saying that there was not as much gap between the studs of my era and the average players. Mainly because everyone did about the same thing. Played three sports and did not work specifically on baseball out of season. Now the that kids today do this they distance themselves greatly from the average player who does not. JMHO