Perception of pre war baseball players vs other sports

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Of course there were guys in amazing shape. But a great many of them weren't amazing athletes at all.

Considering the ESPN study I've mentioned previously, where hockey was ranked the #1 most skilled and difficult team sport in the world, it's fair to say relative to the time that hockey players were and are some of the best overall athletes. Period.

Judged by a "panel of experts, a group made up of sports scientists from the United States Olympic Committee, of academicians who study the science of muscles and movement, of a star two-sport athlete, and of journalists who spend their professional lives watching athletes succeed and fail", the study was based on 10 categories...

- endurance
- strength
- power
- speed
- agility
- flexibility
- durability
- nerve
- hand-eye coordination
- analytic aptitude

Hockey scored the highest for team sports second only to boxing, with football the #2 most skilled team sport. Baseball was ranked #9 overall.

Also, keep in mind that this was a study by an American organization, so there could have been bias towards the "American" Big 3 sports (many consider hockey Canadian), hence, hockey may have scored even higher.

There was also a second study by a group labeled "unbiased" recently where they came to the same top 3 conclusion (can't find it online).

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/sportSkills