Quote:
Originally Posted by ctownboy
Here is my take on this subject;
The differences mostly have to do with the baseball.
Back then, the baseballs were softer than they are today. Then you start adding in factors like:
1) they only used a few balls a game (thus making the mushy balls even mushier).
2) those balls got stained with grass and dirt so they weren't as easy to see as a clean white ball.
3) the balls got nicked and scuffed thus allowing the pitcher to get different grips and more movement on their pitches.
4) the spit ball was still legal.
So, a batter back then might be trying to hit a mushy, mud stained ball with small cuts and spit on it and be attempting to do so at dusk. I don't think that would be too easy to do even if the pitchers were only throwing 70 MPH.
Things changed after Ray Chapman was hit and killed. Offenses (Home Run hitters) were the recipients of this good luck while slap.contact Singles hitters were made less relevant.
On top of all of that, fields back then were not as well groomed as today and the gloves were MUCH smaller. So, it made ALL the sense in the world to try and just make contact and put the ball in to play instead of just swinging with everything they had like a lot of batters do today.
A slow, defensively challenged, strike out prone player like Adam Dunn would NOT have very much of a chance to make the Major Leagues back then because his skill set did NOT match up well with the type of play. Today, he gets paid millions of dollars for basically being a beer league soft ball player.
David
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David,
All are very valid points and all contribute to the differences in the game. But in 1927, the World record in the 100 Meters was 10.4 seconds. It's now 9.58. That's an improvement of 7.9%, before we even account for Electronic Timing differences.
In the Shot Put the World record in 1927 was just under 51'. It's now 75' 10 3/4". That's an improvement of 48.8% (Also indicative of a steroid problem, as that record has stood for almost 20 years.)
We are bigger, stronger and faster than we used to be. (I, on the other hand, seem to be bigger, stronger, and much slower.)