Perception of pre war baseball players vs other sports

[nwobhm]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I'd argue that a fringe major leaguer today -- let's say Tomas Nido on my Mets -- probably has hitting and fielding skills better than 95% of the catchers of the prewar era.

You may be right. Game became easier for his generation.

I’m guessing Nido has the advantages of better footwear, padding, helmets, gloves, uniforms…. How about the ball…is it easier to see now? Easier to judge fielding it now? It’s round now, it’s clean now. How about the field? Now they are immaculate, how about 1923? Weeds, divots, bald spots…. No Astroturf for sure.

[Snapolit1]

All very true. Guys today live a pampered existence that could not have been imagined by prewar players. How about Negro league players driving all night, sleeping on a bus, and then playing two game the following day.

Originally Posted by nwobhm

You may be right. Game became easier for his generation.

I’m guessing Nido has the advantages of better footwear, padding, helmets, gloves, uniforms…. How about the ball…is it easier to see now? Easier to judge fielding it now? It’s round now, it’s clean now. How about the field? Now they are immaculate, how about 1923? Weeds, divots, bald spots…. No Astroturf for sure.

[nwobhm]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

All very true. Guys today live a pampered existence that could not have been imagined by prewar players. How about Negro league players driving all night, sleeping on a bus, and then playing two game the following day.

I wasn’t thinking pampered…. More like sterile.

Ever see a pool hustler work? They play with house cues on bad tables and still hustle well. Point being… great players adapt to their environment.

Modern players have adapted to their sterile environment. Not a good thing IMHO.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by nwobhm

I wasn’t thinking pampered…. More like sterile.

Ever see a pool hustler work? They play with house cues on bad tables and still hustle well. Point being… great players adapt to their environment.

Modern players have adapted to their sterile environment. Not a good thing IMHO.

Yes, I sure have. Not someone big time though.

One of the places I hung out at in college was part arcade part pool hall. The pool guys always came across as a bit tough, and money was bet for sure.

My friend and I played occasionally. The guys would always try to get us to play for small stakes, but eventually accepted that we knew the drill and weren't up for losing money.

Until one night one of them asked for a free game, it was slow and he wanted practice against someone other than the other good players.
Ok, but only on my favorite table....
First ball I got in followed a very crooked path and he had a wtf expression.
Oh yeah, my favorite table was the worst one I'd ever played on. Multiple major cracks under the felt, and one section angled down to the hole. I loved it because I was pretty bad at pool, but liked the really weird way that one played.
His friends gave him a hard time for a couple weeks over losing to one of the worst pool players they'd seen.

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

Originally Posted by nwobhm

You may be right. Game became easier for his generation.

I’m guessing Nido has the advantages of better footwear, padding, helmets, gloves, uniforms…. How about the ball…is it easier to see now? Easier to judge fielding it now? It’s round now, it’s clean now. How about the field? Now they are immaculate, how about 1923? Weeds, divots, bald spots…. No Astroturf for sure.

No brush back pitches or body armor. How about no AC and either sleeping on the fire escape of sleeping in wet sheets they soaked in water during the summer in St. Louis. I remember my mother saying they put their beds out in the yard the one year during the dust bowl because it was to miserable to sleep in the house. Of course today's players are better but I say put today's players in those conditions back then and yesterday's players in today's conditions and a great player would be a great player.

[puckpaul]

Originally Posted by jakebeckleyoldeagleeye

No brush back pitches or body armor. How about no AC and either sleeping on the fire escape of sleeping in wet sheets they soaked in water during the summer in St. Louis. I remember my mother saying they put their beds out in the yard the one year during the dust bowl because it was to miserable to sleep in the house. Of course today's players are better but I say put today's players in those conditions back then and yesterday's players in today's conditions and a great player would be a great player.

Totally agree with this. Anyone who was a great athlete relative to their peers then would be a great athlete now under the new conditions.

[steve B]

I'm not really buying the bit about how much older the sport is.

There's a sport that goes back nearly as far, and in an organized way, almost exactly as far. And in the 1920's -30's (and for some even farther) it often paid much better than baseball. Beginners typically got $100 a day and stars between 500 and 1000 a day. Plus in event prizes. In the late 1890's and early 1900s


That's six day bike racing.
Pro motor pacers in europe often made even more. Although many moved into doing air shows after a disaater in 1909, as the appearance money was even better and you didn't actually have to fly.


Both faded here in the late 30's and into the war, and are now gone in the US and have been for a long time.

The guy I met who did a documentary said nearly all the old racers he spoke with were willing to sit down for hours, just glad that anyone remembered and wanted to hear their stories - Sometimes even their family hadn't bothered.


I think in many ways it's more about the popularity of the sport.
College football was a much bigger deal than pro football, was at least well into the 60's and in some ways still is.