OBSERVATION

When I first read "Yankees and Red Sox networks", I assumed you were referring to ESPN.

Has nothing to do with ESPN

I think it has.Athletes are more concerned about theri diets today.There is also better equipment

I don't know TR and this may hit a nerve but I feel that besides better diets, years of weight based conditioning is the main reason for larger players. I'm not going to throw in the "S" word in but I will bet that many players in their career have been involved with "recovery" products that while it did not bulk them up it allowed them to repeat the workouts without the recovery time. Muscle is built by repetitive action so the more you can work out the bigger you will get. I don't have data to back that up, just an opinion.

No Nerves hit!!!

Just striving to get a good solid discussion going

I think that more players today concentrate on getting bigger and stronger.

Plus, just the growth charts in general have changed over the generation. Average height/weight today for the general population isn't what it was 20/50/75 years ago.

lafmom,

While statistics don't lie, I think that data is somewhat skewed because it is factoring in the general population which I feel at least in the weight portion is partially consumed by unwanted fat that is due to poor diet and less exercise. I look at kids today and there seems to be an unproportional increase of weight to hieght. None the less, I think you are on the right path when looking at the athletic body.

Here is an article that I found that dovetails your sentiment:

By Michael Himick,
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
KnowledgeNews

In the 2002 NCAA finals, Indiana's giants stood 6 feet 11 inches, 6 feet 10 inches, 6 feet 9 inches, and 6 feet 8 inches. Maryland's checked in at 6 feet 10 inches, 6 feet 10 inches, 6 feet 9 inches, and 6 feet 8 inches. What do they feed those boys? Are Maryland crabs and Indiana corn the recipe for basketball tall?

In a word, yes. Better nutrition has everything to do with humans' recently enhanced altitude. And recently enhanced it is. Over the past 150 years, the average height of people in industrialized nations has increased by about four inches.

In colonial America, low ceilings and small doors did the trick. Men averaged 5 feet 6 inches, while women shopped the petite section at just over 5 feet. Today's American men typically top off just under 5 feet 10 inches, while women generally grow to 5 feet 4 inches.

Something to think about?

Oh, absolutely Rz! Our population has gotten fatter. However, the "healthy" curve for weight has gone up as the curve for height has increased also. The percent of us that are above that curve (youth and adults) is higher than it was 50 years ago - very true.

Just an observation but didn't everyone notice the size differences and body compositions of the Japan/ Korea players to the american types?

Amazing, we really have to take a look at ourselves and how baseball turned the other cheek in the late 80's and 90's just to get the fanbase back!

quote:

Just an observation but didn't everyone notice the size differences and body compositions of the Japan/ Korea players to the american types?

Another good point but now we are crossing the race lines which are apples-n-oranges as far as body mass. I don't have an answer but what are the statistical changes in H/W of the Asian population over those same years. I do not expect them to be proportional to the US because of diet but I'll bet they have also increased in average size.

quote:

Amazing, we really have to take a look at ourselves and how baseball turned the other cheek in the late 80's and 90's just to get the fanbase back!

I don't think that is a fair statement because it sounds like you are saying that most players in the last 10-20 years have been on the "performance enhanced" track when the topic is overall player size from generation to generation.

A couple of other things to consider from "back in the day":
1. Weights were thought to be a bit taboo in baseball and you would become muscle bound and it would lead to injuries.

2. Salaries. Players used to work off-season jobs to make ends meet. Then Spring Training would be for getting in shape. Players, now, are expected to be "in shape" when they report, and, without the need for off-season jobs, they can concentrate on getting bigger, faster, and stronger.

Everytime I see the replays of the games from the 70's and 80's the very first thing I notice is the size of the players. It is not different when you see the football games from the past replayed on ESPN classics. The players today are so much bigger it is scary. Im not really talking about taller what Im really seeing is so much more physically developed. I thing it has alot to do with nutrition and weight training.

JT

I think you hit paydirt and then throw in the "keeping up with the Jones" theory of competing with your peers in order to keep your job and you end up with a bigger, faster, stronger player.

I would venture to say that in the 80's there were very few HS players in the weight room getting ready for the upcoming baseball season, now it's mandatory with most sucessful programs

.
A couple observations...

Would concur:

- Interest and comittment to diet, fitness, weights, has revolutionized all sports, not just baseball...and hastened the fullfillment of genetic potential.

Would add:

- The money, glamor, status and power offered by the huge television and endorsement deals has made a career in sports more attractive than it has ever been. As a result the numbers trying to get in, and the price that they are willing to pay has increased significantly.

- Those making the "Darwinian decisions" of who goes and who stays now side big time with bigger stronger players. In sports where straight performance (wins) rather than "look" dictate who goes and who stays (Golf Tennis...) players have gotten bigger but near as significantly. Now, maybe this is because these sports are non-contcat...but, maybe not...Maybe all that size is simply a result of a size bias on the part of recruiters and scouts...

44

I think overall players are bigger now than they were years ago, but the biggest players aren’t any bigger.

Not many these days bigger than Wilt Chamberlain in Basketball or Frank Howard in Baseball.

Also remember years ago a college basketball team had Artis Gilmore and another guy (both well over 7 foot tall) and a 6’10” guy on their front line.

I do think baseball players are much stronger than they were years ago. Could this added strength be a reason for the more injuries these days?

PG, Absolutely! In response to the question you posed regarding injuries. Muscles work "in concert" ie. quad/hamstring. If the quad is "overdeveloped" the hamstring is in peril. Muscle strains are more likely where one muscle group is considerably stronger than its opposing. It makes perfect sense that (in agreement with previous posts) athletes are going for "the look" or even perhaps just incorrect strength training.
I recently read a medical journal discussing an ongoing study concerning larger athletes. I pretty much skimmed it, cannot recall who was doing it, but the study concerned the larger, longer bone structure of bigger (6'3" and over) athletes and the longer spanse of muscle, preliminary findings indicated a quicker breakdown (or longevity) of athletic ability.
Still a long way from any conclusive findings.
Personally, I feel we will all see this study come to fruition watching MLB...the biggest players are not any bigger, but there are more of them.

.

Makes a lot of sense to me...

The top remains as it probably always was...

but top to bottom....More bigger players...

What has changed is the depth and the strength of the depth...

Fits my (44) observations...


44