Quote:
Originally Posted by HistoricNewspapers
Again, if size did not matter, then where are the five foot five pitchers dominating at??
Feller and Ryan were freaks in regard to their velocity, not their size. They were marvels. They would NOT be marvels with that same velocity today because that velocity is more common now. They would just be another hard thrower, and ones with poor command.
Six feet tall is not the wheelhouse of optimal pitchers. Yeah, in 1930 it might be because the average pitcher indeed only stood six feet tall. But that is completely wrong.
Size matters and it isn't a matter of opinion. For one, a taller pitcher releases the ball closer to the plate, which makes a 95 MPH pitch from someone at six foot five come 'faster' to the plate compared to someone six feet. The MPH may be the same, but there is less reaction time for a hitter when the ball is released closer to the plate. As you know in baseball, every inch matters in everything. That makes a big difference.
Would Adam Wainright be as good as he is if he maintained his velocity and location, but was only five foot seven instead of six foot seven? Clearly not.
Everything that Warren SPahn could do with a ball, Randy Johnson could as well, except much faster, with better command, and releasing the ball closer to the plate.
Being able to throw 95 is indeed a combination of natural ability coming from how your body is built, and combined with the timing of your mechanics. There are simply more of those humans now, thus harder for the elite to separate themselves from the pack.
You are missing the overall point, which is the top pitcher from another era 'may' indeed be as good as the top three or four pitchers from a more talented era. But where everyone makes a mistake is when they look at the current numbers available and see where Lefty Grove had an era+ better than Randy Johnson, but forget that Randy Johnson had much better peers in which he had to separate himself from.
But what the numbers say is that the best pitchers and best hitters mostly come from the Pre War era, and that is foolish considering we know the population data etc.
Babe Ruth may be as good a hitter as the best hitter now, but there is no way the best hitter in the league can separate himself from his peers to the degree that Ruth did because the rest of the league is closer in ability to the top now, wheras Ruth had a lot of weak hitters that he is compared to...many guys that would have no chance of even playing single A today.
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Did you actually read what I posted? For example, I said why there probably aren't any real great short pitchers in the majors and how if there were, they would be real freaks. Yet your very first question was where all the great '5"5 pitchers were then. You didn't seem to understand my points at all. Like I never said Feller and Ryan were freaks because of their size, it was because of their speed. Yet you seemed to be arguing against me, but using my own argument. Exactly why I was asking in that earlier post what your point(s) was.
And your saying that elite pitchers from way back in the day like Feller wouldn't do as well today because more pitchers throw as fast he does now, isn't proof that he still wouldn't be elite today. Typical argument that can't be proven either way that I'm sick and tired of hearing.