Quote:
Originally Posted by Huysmans
This per capita ratio would only be relevant if the same amount of kids in both eras, relative to the population, played baseball.
Does anyone honestly believe that the same amount of kids in this modern age of video games, and general on-line shenaningans play baseball? Not to mention additional sports that presently garner considerable attention that weren't as popular in those days like football, baseball, hockey...etc.
Look at the WWII Beano T-13 hand grenades, made not only to simulate the size, but also the weight of a baseball, as it was expected that any and all American boys could throw a baseball. What would they fashion them after now??? Cell phones?
Also, as Peter mentioned, pitchers don't seem to throw any harder now, and hitters don't seem to hit the ball any further these days....
Plus are we not forgetting the absolutely pampered lifestyle a modern athlete enjoys?
As mentioned, interesting discussion, and its fun to ponder the "what ifs".
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My guess is that there is probably the same percentage of those with the desire/ability to participate across earlier generations as there is now....my Dad didn't play ball in the late 1940s-1950s because he lived/worked on a farm, didn't have the time (like many boys in the 1920s-1950s that worked) OR the opportunity due to their being no local team. The small town I grew up in in the 70s, did not field a team in any age group, we had to play in with the next town over. Forty year later, the town has grown minimally and there are two teams in most age groups. Were I live now, 2 springs ago a "new" league started and the "original" league continued to grow....the population for my area grew 10% over the past 5 years, but there are 33% more teams playing across both leagues than there were 5 years ago when my oldest started playing. Could be just a local thing though.
Then consider Mark Armour's recent article about participation of Asian and Latinos in baseball and how it has grown since 1947. It shows that 70% or 525 roster spots (ONLY 125 more than in 1920) are currently held by US players versus the nearly 400 roster spots held by US players in 1920 with approx. a third of the population. Clearly, the talent in the 1920s was far more diluted then than it is now.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/baseb...hics-1947-2012