[HistoricNewspapers]

I forgot about Madison Bumgarner. Six foot five and 257 pounds of muscle in his legs and ass. As Tabe said, size does contribute to velocity. I see no valid reason why Lefty Grove would be tabbed the starter over Madison Bumgarner when Bumgarner has Grove beat in all those measurables of size, velocity, command...and of course all these modern HOF pitchers have the immeasurables too otherwise they wouldn't be good for so long.

The left handed batters that were so good in Pre War never faced pitchers as described like this. They didn't exist in the combination of size, speed, command.

As Frank pointed out above there are also minute details to cause statistical achievement simply not attainable in modern times.

I often talk about Ruth Out homerering every team in the league. That isn't a point of how great he was, but more of a point of how bad the league hitters were compared to modern times. Then add the fact that Ruth never faced these pitching monsters that have been roaming the earth in the last 35 years, you get statistical achievements from Ruth that are simply unattainable now.

That isn't even going over the fact that Ruth faced the same pitcher three or four times and really beefed up his stats on the fourth time through. Now he would have to face a six foot seven Andrew Miller coming out of the pen throwing left handed at 96 MPH...and again, six foot seven. Heck even guys like Drew Pomeranz didn't exist back then.

The modern hitters have it tougher than ever and the modern pitchers have it tougher than ever, because both groups are at the pinnacle of the best ever.

And this isn't a knock on pre war players. They were special players worthy of study.

But the reality is, WJ would not get the ball over Justin Verlander despite what the current stats say.