"I'll counter that by saying, "Do you realize how soccer leagues are reigning supreme over Little League nowadays"? You don't find kids playing in the streets, like in the '60's, because there was only so much room in the little Leagues. Also, they have to go to Japan and the Dominican to find players because not only has baseball taken a backseat to soccer, basketball, and football in the minds of youths, but the interest among African-Americans is approaching nada. Look at any baseball game and notice how few blacks are in the crowds. Even when you see one, he's not with two or three kids. This is reflected in the % of African-Americans in MLB. It's now in the single digits.
In other words, we don't have the talent pool in the U.S. anymore who have honed the craft of baseball for as long as youths here did from the '20's through the '70's. Also, how many stars- true giants-have come from Japan? I can only think of Suzuki. The others were average, to fairly good, major leaguers- you know, the 20-30 HR, 75-90 RBI types. As for the Dominican, they are diamonds in the rough who swing at anything in the dirt away.
I would say that today's players would be the winners in street fights over the players of 40 or more years ago, but would have their derrieres handed to them in a skilled game like baseball. Same goes for the NBA. Would take a team of Chamberlain, Russell (for 20 minutes), West, Baylor, Cousy, Greer, Unseld, and Robertson over any 8 players from the last 20 years. Would say that the players were more skilled in the middle ranks, as well. They've given up calling people for traveling, except for flagrant cases, because few know how to handle the ball."
Can't even go into specifics here, there is too much. On a message board full of idiocy, this single post might be the mightiest ever posted.
""As for the Dominican, they are diamonds in the rough who swing at anything in the dirt away. would say that today's players would be the winners in street fights over the players of 40 or more years ago, but would have their derrieres handed to them in a skilled game like baseball."---i totally agree. guys like albert pujols, david ortiz, manny ramirez, robinson cano, placido polanco, julio franco, carlos santana, adrian beltre, nelson cruz, jose reyes, hanley ramirez, aramis ramirez, tony pena, carlos pena & vlad are all just lucky thugs.
oh and guys like pedro martinez suçk at pitching too.
His conclusions are all wrong, because frankly it's ridiculous to state that players are worse today than they were 30-40-50 etc. years ago. How long do you think Cookie Rojas would have lasted in today's game? He had a 16 year career from 62-77 with the middle 12 all as a fulltime player.
However, he's right about the interest amongst youth is waning. Do you ever see kids playing a pick up game of baseball anymore? When our dads were kids, they'd play about every day. It's especially true amongst black Americans where they more often go into basketball or football.
These are the same people that think Wilt Chamberlin would average 60/30 in today's NBA.
Some older folks have trouble letting go of the past.
Times have changed. People dedicate their life and body to sports. It's no longer a bunch of small white guys playing sports.
That's one of the things that might have some sort of truth, but I am not sure how much. I actually do see kids playing all the time where I live. The other thing is that our father's generation played little league and pony league and all that, but didn't have it to the extent they do now. These traveling teams now have kids playing 80 games a season.
As far as choosing other sports, those will always be popular because of access (basketball in cities), but I think as they have more findings about concussions, you are going to see a huge shift, as parents are not going to want their kids playing football and to a lesser extent hockey (in America), and baseball and basketball will benefit.
The super talented baseball players could play (Steve Carlton's slider would be nasty in any year) because a lot of that is skill.There just wouldn't be a ton.
But the sports that are about athletic ability would be an absolute joke. That guy said a team from the last 20 years would get smoked by a team from 40 years ago. So basically your lineup could be Rose/Jordan/Durant/LeBron/Shaq. Wes Unseld and Jerry West would have bruises on their foreheads by halftime from all the balls hitting them in face.
Yeah I mean baseball is probably the only major US sport that has a decent translation from the past to present.
You can't compare football or basketball eras.
Regardless though, people have to accept that some of these players that "dominated" the game were not only playing with weaker competition, but were the beneficiary of years and years of fabricated stories abou them.
Have you heard the laundry list of Wilt Chamberlains accomplishments?
Your examples, with the exception of Ramirez,Vlad, Martinez, Ortiz, and Cano,are garbage compared to Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Rose,Stargell, Parker, Frank Robinson, Koufax, Drysdale, Horlen, John, Tony Perez, Bench,and so many more.
People playing in the parks and streets as kids in America, basically the 50's through the '70's, produced the best baseball players due to constant repetition. Today's kids have "PLAYDATES". Y-e-e-c-h! I don't think much of the solid fundamentals of Latin ballplayers today. Basically, they're freeswingers who have to be taught the game instead of being anywhere near ready for the bigs.
your posts get more and more ridiculous by the minute. thank-you.
and way to completely ignore the fact that your "right way" statistics that you seem to follow don't even back up your own argument.
Everything mentioned is the truth. We like to think that athletes get better with every decade, but such is not the case. They are stronger, but such does not necessarily help in baseball or basketball if the rules on fundamentals are enforced. I do grant that football players have an advantage today over years past. However, I think the '70's Steelers and early '90's Cowboys with Smith, Aikman, and those lines would have an easy time of it today.
I'll give Peavy 8-11 wins, around as many losses, and a 4.5-4.75 ERA. $18M down the crapper instead of feeding the farm system for the future.
You can't think that today's star players are even in the same class as those from the 60's-80's! I'll grant that shortstops and second basemen were pretty much banjo hitters back then. However, the best teams from those eras, even the ones that didn't make it to a WS, would be shooins for a title today. Every ground ball and pop fly is an adventure nowadays. A 425 foot HR is considered a tape measure shot, whereas Mantle, Dimaggio (50's), Stargell, Mays, and so many more would have flies caught at the 440-460' marks. Even during HR Derbies today, balls rarely travel that far...and don't tell me that the pitchers lobbed them up there because of the spacious gaps. I know that it hurts to realize that the quality of MLB play has deteriorated, but it has.
Peavy is a lock for 8-11 wins, about as many losses, and a 4.5-4.75 ERA. Not bad for $18M, huh?
"Peavy is a lock for 8-11 wins, about as many losses, and a 4.5-4.75 ERA. Not bad for $18M, huh?"--first off, what the f are you even talking about? when did i mention peavy and his contract?
"You can't think that today's star players are even in the same class as those from the 60's-80's!"---every generation has its stars. don't glamorize the era you grew up watching, it's short-sided. you're telling me stars of the 80s would be able to handle Pedro Martinez's 95 mph fastball followed by his 85 mph changeup? or 70s stars would easily handle greg maddux' pin point control? no.
"However, the best teams from those eras, even the ones that didn't make it to a WS, would be shooins for a title today."-----first off, there were less teams & free agency wasn't even allowed. thus, there was a more concentration of talent.
also, instead of having to face a LOOGY, mcovey got to face the starter for the 4th time. or instead of having to face mariano rivera, mantle got to face early winn for the 200th time of his career. why make declarative statements like that? it's comparing apples to oranges.
it is a proven fact that athletes are bigger, stronger, and faster today. no one is arguing the star-power and athleticism of past athletes. there will always be freakish outliers like gherig, mantle, mays, kofax, etc for every generation. this generation has guys like pujols & a-rod. previous had bonds & griffey. the previous to that had henderson & george brett & mike schmidt, etc.
