How Do Today's Players Stack Up Against Yesterday's Greats????

Question

No matter who your favorite team is, no matter who you're rooting for how do these GREATS stack up against baseball's finest of today???............For those who might not remember yesterday this video will help refresh yesterday's memories.......I love it because it's the only music that really immortalizes baseball's greats..........Enjoy....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTK5SGShZyA .......CAT

Turn up your sound and listen to the words...........CAT

For 80's Man.........Not talking about signing autographs here.......Back then they signed for free as well.....You're talking about marketing/merchandising and I'm talking about the talent re: yesterday vs. today........I do agree about today's marketing/merchandising but that's a whole other story.......It's about collectibles and MONEY, MONEY, MONEY............CAT

Answer 1

In my opinion today's ballplayer can't touch the greats of yesteryear. Pitchers of yesteryear like Cy Young Walter Johnson Christy Matthew son where real pitchers who would pitch a whole complete game & then do it again 2 days later while today's pitchers are spoiled overpaid wusses who cry & moan after just throwing 80 pitches. Yesteryear's hitters like Ruth Gehrig Dimaggio Mantle Jimmie Foxx Willie Mays among others would play no matter how hurt they where while today's overpaid spoiled players are on the DL the moment they as much as get a papercut. Just my thoughts.

Answer 2

I believe the average ballplayer today is better than his counterpart from past generations, due to the following factors:
1. Money. Yes, players today get villified for it, but the hopes of a fat contract is a powerful incentive.
2. Full-time focus. It was once the norm that ballplayers had jobs in the offseason to make ends meet.
3. Minor league development. Today, players are given more time to learn to play the game in the minor leagues before being thrown into the big leagues.
4. Larger talent pool. Today, many of the finest players are not born in the US. It was far less global a generation ago, and until 1947, didn't even draw from the entire US population.
5. Conditioning. Players today are in better physical condition.
6. Baseball used to be a game- players played because it was fun. Today, it's a business and performance matters.

Having said this of the average player- it is the average player against whom the greats are measured, so I think the great players today are better than the great players of yesteryear.

Answer 3

It's always hard to say, but I tend to think that most of the great ones would be great in any era.
You can say, for example, that modern athletes are bigger, etc. But Lou Gehrig, among others, was incredibly strong. Also, you would have to figure that the players of the past could ALSO take advantage of modern advantages.

I do know:
that the pool was limited by race for far too long,
American kids "back then," like a lot of Latino kids right now, played baseball all day everyday and this helped their skills a lot,
pitchers used much more of a full range in older times, which may have meant that they threw HARDER,
and Forgerty's "Centerfield" is a better baseball song.

Answer 4

Yesterdays were better and here is why. They threw as hard and hit as far without the physique of and NFL tightend. How? Talent and hard work. Also, today's stars face a watered down talent pool. If there were the same number of teams now as there were 50 years ago or so you would be cutting out the worst few hundred players of the league. How would A-Rod fair if he only faced the best half of the leagues hurlers instead what he actually does?

Answer 5

Aw, geez. I have to be the bad guy again. Sorry, everyone, but I have to disagree with the crowd on this one.

First, 'Talkin' Baseball' is one of those weepy sentimental songs that are detestable.

Second, while the standard ballplayer these days is what everyone says: spoiled, over paid, etc., the cream of the crop, well, I think they stand up quite well with the old timers. The best of each era always do, by the way.

Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine, Mo Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Johan Santana, and other pitchers are as good or better than a lot the the past pitchers.

Ichiro, A-Rod, Jeter, Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, and, yes, even Barry Bonds (pre-PEDs era) are justifiably comparable. And there are more.

So, I'll have to differ with everyone. Okay. I'm ready for all the thumbs downs.

Answer 6

I love, love, love baseball, but honestly, today's players are overpaid, overindulged, overmedicated whiners with attitudes of self-entitlement and arrogance. I miss the days when we had true heroes and true athletes. There are still some out there today, but when was the last time a major ball player came to my local sporting goods store on a Saturday and signed balls and bats for the kids, for free? Those were the days. Today's players mingle with the public if it's for a public event or for a charity, and there's always an admission fee. I know the word for that, but I won't write it. It's early, and I'm not in a bad mood yet.

Answer 7

Maddux may be the greatest pitcher ever, but I simply don't know of one of today's players who would supplant a past legend on an all-time, all-star list.

In MLB - I am not even talking ***** Leagues greats - give me Mays, Aaron and Ruth, Gehrig, Maz, Wagner, Traynor and Bench. And I could come up with a NLB team of everyday players that arguably is the best ever.

Answer 8

i personally feel that players get bigger, stronger and faster in all sports as the years pass.. why do liberals always reminice about the good ole days while rejecting the great things about the present..a jerk in the 90s is the same jerk in the 40s..there are many players who give alot of their time to the fans and alot of their money too.. the resentment comes from the money that todays athlete makes and nothing more,, just pure resentment..twenty years from now the liberal media will talk about the players in this era as fine upstanding people while ripping the current ones... players do have to be somewhat more distant today because they are a lot of nut case stalkers but that is seemed as distant and uncaring by some fans...i met pete rose once and when i approached him for an autograph he told me to take my''dumb looking little brother and follow him to the zoo""

Answer 9

i would have to say overall todays athletes are better due to technology of weights and strength training. i see jennifers point on "some" athletes charging for autographs. not all todays ball players are like that though. but remember,theres more strange people (fans) that are out to hurt someone or make a quick buck than yesterdays heroes. its a srewed up world.. money wise wow what a difference, but thats not the players fault. its media and ownership that drives prices up. thanks yankees owner......my indians sign autographs for free after every game. i got some while they walk to car at jacobs field players parking lot, and im sure at other ball parks players sign for free. overall todays athletes are better...

Answer 10

No way. Todays players like A-Rod and Barry Bonds dont even come close to babe Ruth and Ted Williams. We have great players in this age but not THAT great.