[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I never said 75. I doubt it was consistently in the 90s either. No reason to think baseball is the exception to the rule that human performance has greatly improved over the last 100 years. And there is no doubt that in the context of his day, which is what counts, he was very fast.

I continue to believe, and will go to my deathbed believing, that they threw in the high 80s and up into the 90s consistently. Some few, like Johnson and Feller broke 100. I don't believe there is much difference between them and now, except there were way more minor leagues back then, and fewer pitchers at the MLB level. I don't give one hoot about the hyped up human performance of today. The ballplayers of that era were way more loose and carefree, and their diets, exercise and habits were way different than today, and that translates into the money and business of baseball today affecting human performance. I believe the pitching the pitching was better than you think. I'm 65. Just a few years ago I could hit 80 or 85 mph. If I could do it, there's no chance they were throwing watermelons at hitters at the MLB level back then. We've been all through this. You know I won't change in this.