Compare today's pitchers to those in the past.?

Question

In general do you think today's pitchers are as good, or better, than those from , say, the 60's???
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My opinion is, no way.
Then, they started every 4 days, now , every 5,
Then, many complete games, today, pitchers may do one or two a season.
Then, pitchers had to hit, today except in the NL, there are DH's.

Answer 1

you have to take into consideration that it was a pitchers era back in the 60's and 70's.

the mound was higher
you could pitch inside without risking getting thrown out of the game if you hit someone.

Pitchers today are as good and probably better just because they are doing it in a hitters era, smaller ball parks, you cant pitch inside ect. Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens could very will be in the top 10 best pitchers ever, if not the top 5

to do what those 2 guys have done when 50 home runs a season is now the norm is incredible.

Answer 2

In my opinion, the top pitchers of today are right up there with the top pitchers of the past. The talent seems more diluted because of the 5 man rotation, but when you consider the fact that pitchers today are in a hitters era, you have to be impressed with some of their statistics. In 2001 Randy Johnson struck out 372 in 250 innings. Greg Maddux had a season where he went 19-2 with a 1.63 era and 10 complete games. You can say that the back end of the rotation might be weaker than in the 60's, but the top pitchers are just as good today as before.

And while they may not have the stats to match up with some of the very early pitchers, todays offenses are much better, and pitchers at the turn of the 20th century were not throwing 100 miles per hour, allowing them to pitch every day.

Answer 3

The answer is simply no way that todays pitchers can even wave a stick at the pitchers of the 60's and even 70's. When was the last time a pitcher from this era won 30 games? Got 300 K? Had more then 5 complete games? It doesnt happen anymore. As good as Santana and Clemends are, they cant hod a candle to Kofax or Gibson.

And to Fugut...the mound was raised to give pitchers of today an advantage. It is easier to throw off of todays elevated mounds because you are now throwing down and it allows the ball to move more.

Answer 4

I think todays pitchers could be as good as pitchers like Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Cy Young and Christy Mathewson is the managers would let them pitch more. Back in the day pitchers were starting every couple of days and now pitchers get 5 days rest. That is why not many more records will be broken for wins(Cy Young), complete games(Walter Johnson) and many others. People are lucky if they get 20 wins in a season. The single season record will never bbroken because the pitchers don't pitch as much. I think they could be as good but the game has changed in major ways. Teams started holding more pitchers on thier roster. The pitchers in the AL don't have to hit. Also the hitters are getting more powerful so it is hard to have a low ERA. So I dont think they are as good but they do have potential to get in the HOF just the records will basically stayas they are for pitching.

Answer 5

Well, they had doubleheaders back then. There was a reason they started on short rest.
It's not today's pitchers' fault they don't complete games. They are not allowed to. Managers control that. Also, it's pitch counts.

Remember back in the '60s middle infielders could not hit at all and pitchers batted in both leagues. It's a lot easier to pitch too when the mound was lower.

It's apples and oranges and I would say you take the top 10 in each era and there's very little difference.

Answer 6

Pitchers back then were so much tougher than the ones now, it's ridiculous. I can't imagine how they pitched so many innings on so little rest. If they tried to do that today, I could imagine pitchers complaining about labor laws, lol, and being overworked and underpaid.

Answer 7

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Answer 8

Why did you ask again?

Answer 9

you have the answer