From: niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent)
Subject: Re: Old-fashioned hitters (was Best Playes (sic) of All Times)
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 02:18:20 GMT

In article <8197@news.duke.edu> fls@acpub.duke.edu (Forrest Smith) writes:

>	When comparing the best hitters of today with the best hitters
>of yesteryear, there seems to be some idea that, although cumulative
>batting averages of an earlier era were higher than those of today, the
>actual talent level of today is higher.  Like, maybe pitchers are
>better, so it's generally harder to hit.

>	Did anybody ever consider that maybe the hitters from the '30s,
>or the 'Teens, were just better hitters than today's players?

Of course people have considered that.  It just makes no sense.  People
are faster.  They're stronger.  They've got more stamina.  (We *know*
these things from sports in which people don't compete directly against
each other, like track and field.)  Why wouldn't they be better hitters?
And better pitchers?

Baseball is also drawing from a MUCH MUCH larger pool than it did during
the 1930's.  Much much.  First of all, the population of the US has more
than doubled, while the number of teams has gone up by less than that.
Secondly, blacks and latinos are allowed to play in the majors now.
Thirdly, baseball draws from all over Latin America now.

(Aside from the fact that measuring hitting quality by batting averages
is silly, of course.)

The corollary to your claim would be that pitchers from today are much
better pitchers than those from the 30's.

But would that make sense?  Would it make sense to claim that in the
1920s, all the hitters got better and the pitchers got worse, but then
in 1968 all the pitchers suddenly got better and the hitters got worse?

Lets assume your reasoning below is correct.  Kids today don't play
baseball as much as they did in the 1930's.  Why would the pitching
today be better than in the 1930's, then?

>	I suggest that today's baseball players cannot hit like their
>predecessors because of a change in the way kids grow up.  Kids don't
>play baseball day in and day out like they used to.  The best baseball
>players growing up now play organized baseball from the time they are
>five years old.  They go to practice once or twice a week and play games
>once or twice a week until they get to high school.

This is plain old bullschott.  Kids now do *more* than they did before,
IMHO, of course.  In the past, baseball was a poor paying job for all 
but the elite few.  Now, it is a way of earning millions, of working 
your way out of poverty.

(Not that I think this attitude is correct; sports obviously still are
not a way out of poverty for more than a select few, but that number
*is* much higher than it used to be, and many kids *do* think this way.)

Not to mention there is *more* training now than there used to be.  Do
you think Spring Training was always for teams to evaluate their players?  
No, it used to be for players to get in shape, because no one worked out
over the winter.  There are better conditioning techniques.  Better
nutrition.  Etc.

>	What are they doing the rest of the time?  Probably playing
>basketball.  You don't need organization, you don't need a bunch of
>neighborhood kids, if you want to go out in the driveway to shoot some
>hoops.  You can do it all by yourself.  But if you're a kid in America
>today, you're not going to be able to find enough people to go out and
>play baseball every day, even if you want to, and even if you have
>someplace to play.

And what about the Dominican Republic?  I don't think everyone there is
spending all their time playing basketball.  I think, from everything I
read about Dominican baseball players, (and Puerto Rico, and I'm sure
everywhere else) that they spent their whole childhoods playing baseball.

Not that I exactly compare to the average baseball player, but I spent
my childhood playing baseball with 3 or 4 friends.  You don't need 18
people to play catch, to pitch to each other, and to hit off each other.

-- 
David M. Nieporent   | Is it too early to start making predictions for 1993?
niepornt@phoenix.    | Probably, but that never stopped me before.
   princeton.edu     | ALE: Baltimore ALW: Chicago NLE: Montreal NLW: Atlanta
Baltimore Orioles 93 | AL MVP: Cal Ripken  AL Cy Young: Mike Mussina
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball