Are pitcher's from the past better than the ones today?

Question

Looking at pitching stats from the 60's, 70's and 80's it seems that every teams had 2 or 3 20-game winners and someone with a least 250 strikeouts and at least 15 complete games. But now days if a pitcher wins 20 games he wins the Cy Young Award. Also it's like they get hurt more.

Answer 1

one word

STEROIDS

Answer 2

for my area, the perfect pitchers of on the instant are good up there with the perfect pitchers of the previous. The expertise looks greater diluted because of the 5 guy rotation, yet once you communicate the very undeniable fact that pitchers on the instant are in a hitters era, you will desire to be inspired with a number of their information. In 2001 Randy Johnson struck out 372 in 250 innings. Greg Maddux had a season the place he went 19-2 with a one million.sixty 3 era and 10 comprehensive video games. you are able to say that the decrease back end of the rotation would be weaker than interior the 60's, however the perfect pitchers are merely as sturdy on the instant as earlier. And on an identical time as they won't have the stats to examine up with many of the very early pitchers, todays offenses are lots greater useful, and pitchers on the turn of the twentieth century weren't throwing a hundred miles in line with hour, permitting them to pitch daily.

Answer 3

Pitchers from the past only threw two types of pitches - the fastball and the curveball. Needless to say, they couldn't throw the ball harder than 70 MPH -- I can throw that hard. Many people used to win 20 games because there was only a 3 or 4 man rotation, which means they got a heck of a lot more starts. Hitters today are just SO much better that it makes pitching a hell of a lot harder.

Answer 4

I will say that pitching was better then by far. But, I will say that rules have changed the strike zone, and the mound height. I wish when I was in high school, I had a higher mound to pitch off. I would throw 90 MPH myself.

Pitching today is what can you do in 100 pitches, then it was how are you going to get through 9. Back then, they didnt have MRIs that will sideline a guy for nothing. Back then, they pitched until their arms fell off.

Cy Young usually pitched 50 times, and usually had 50 CGs.
He pitched 400+ innings a season.
Imagine someone doing that in the majors today, you can't because it wouldn't happen.

Answer 5

Pitchers today have amazing stuff. You have people like Joel Zumaya who can hit up to 103mph on the radar and locate for strikes. The only problem is that hitters are doing a better job at adjusting and the pitchers get lit up more frequently than before. So I would have to say that stats show that pitchers were better a few years back than now a days.

Answer 6

The change in pitching in the last forty years is remarkable, The first main reason is that is is far easier to detect injuries. I am sure before MRI's and state of the art x-rays, many pitchers threw with torn rotator cuffs, bad elbows, labrum tears, etc. On top of that, now that we know the causes of these arm injuries, pitchers are instrcuted not to throw as much, not building arm strength, and therefore not being able to complete and win as many games.

Read about Sandy Koufax's career and you will find out why pitchibng has changed so much.

Answer 7

They certainly seemed to have more endurance. Most of today's pitchers seem to feel that they only have to complete the 5th inning, so they qualify for the win. The pitchers of say, Jim Palmer's day, went in the game with the idea of finishing all 9 innings.

Answer 8

I'd say pitchers were better in the past. Pitchers these days get far more rest. They rarely pitch complete games. These days pitchers will throw seven innings, and then take three to five days off.

Answer 9

I think it is a mixture of how the players train nowadays compared to back then. There are still some dominant pitchers out there. Some of the daily players have grown in stature. I think Nolan Ryan could still strike out plenty of batters. Look at the the Big Unit. He is still doing ok.

Answer 10

i really dont think that the pitchers from the past are better, i think that, since the arrival of steroids and all other drugs, batters are aided in getting more hits and hr's which obviously leads to more runs and lesser innings pitched, high era's, and fewer games won. my $.02

Answer 11

Pitchers from the past got more rest, meaning they got more starts. With more starts than today's pitchers, they had more chances to get better stats.