Deadball Player Skill???

[prewarsports]

As a former College Baseball player myself and someone who has faced 93-97 MPH Fastballs in my time, I can assure you that being able to throw a Baseball fast is a gift and not really a developed talent. I have met kids with no formal baseball coaching and no weight training programs and who lived off of Hostess cupcakes and Mt. Dew who could hit 90+ MPH on a radar gun. They were just born with the ability. I think it would be extremely ethnocentric to believe that similar guys 100 years ago could not do the same thing.

I am 100% convinced that Walter Johnson and Bob Feller and most likely even Amos Rusie could throw as fast as anyone today, 95-100 mph.

For Example, I went to a Seattle Mariners game a few years ago and Brandon Morrow was pitching. Skinny 19-20 year old kid with pimples still on his face. He got up to the mound and shot several pitches at 103 MPH on the stadium gun. Whether he was born in 1990 or 1890, that kid would be pitching the same speed because he was not the product of modern science (his arms looked like skinny garden hoses). He was just born with the ability to throw a 100 MPH fastball. Maybe coaches and conditioners helped him harness his God given ability by 5 MPH, but nothing modern made that Fastball go from 80-103 MPH.

Just my thoughts

Rhys


Rhys