Today's Athlete vs Us Oldtimers

Many more choices these days for specialization!!!!!!!!!!!

 

having played multiple sports in hs and basketball and baseball in college i can say that when one season was over i was ready for the next sport. this kept things fresh. after my sophomore year in college i gave up basketball and played baseball fron jan till mid may in college then went off to play summer ball somewhere and when that was over i got about a weeks break, then on to fall baseball and by then i was sick of baseball. practice since jan. and about 140 games then back when i played we played a fall schedule of about 30 games and had unlimited fall schedule so we practiced usually until thanksgiving break was tabout too much for me . it was much tougher to stay fresh in college than in the minor leagues. kids love baseball but can get too much of a good thing. i tell parents that most of us like ice cream we just don't want it by the gallon every day.

my son played all 3 in middle school and now that he's in hs he plays football and baseball. when baseball is over it's all football. won't even pick up a bat until football is over. once baseball starts it's all baseball until the footnall camps start up in mid june.

 

We didn't work out like they do today, but on the other hand, we were MUCH more active. We basically hit the neighborhood first thing in the morning on nonschool days and came home at supper time. In between, we were biking, running, playing games and just generally moving. Today, outside of scheduled practice and workouts, young kids are pretty sedentery.

 

I agree, We were much more active. Kids today cant even stretch properly. Last year at a 16U practice, during stretching, not one kid could touch his toes. It is a shame that we build these kids to be athletic, but they cant touch their toes-- Go figure.

If they are not on the ballfield, it is near impossible to get a kid off the couch and away from the X-Box & MTV Real World long enough to take out the trash.
We made junior turn off the TV and get a job....

 

Let's put a little different spin....could we compete with today's player?[/quote]

IMHO No, at most levels we could not compete. Todays' players are faster, stronger & better trained. Pitching appears to have made the greatest advancements, but it is hard to compare the Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax & Satchel Page to the arms of today.

 

pitching much better? i disagree. major league teams now have to go to korea,italy,austalia etc to get good arms. ted williams came up in the 30's and was a great hitter and i think he hit over 300 in 1960. roger clemes has been playing for over 20 years and does pretty well. i think players have access to better training now but it doesn't necessarily make them better players.all the time you see the media bemoaning the lack of american black players, not the case 30 years ago. it's always nice to compare but imo ted williams would still hit 300 today. a 20 game winner in the 20's would be a 20 game winner today. the 1 huge change to me has to do with hitting. a player can hit off a machine everyday hundreds of ball(whereas a pitcher can only throw so many balls a week and this won't change) but sometimes i think hitting is over analysed in order to sell a product.

 

You did...and I copied the word from Agnes McGilliwy. It means "sand particles"

BaseballMan meant that today's players like to play in the sand.

I believe that the biggest difference between the two era's is the size of the players and the fact there are more "studs" than there were before.

Also, there are more pitchers throwing 90's than ever, but the overall pitching was better in my years, I believe. I swear, I rarely heard of anybody having problems with elbows and shoulders like you do now. I can guess, but I really don't know why that is.

 

may be from pitching all year. definitely harder on the body throwing off the mound spring, summer, and fall. i would advise playing spring and summer then play another sport or train. could include just being active outdoors.

 

athletes vs oldtimers

The biggest difference i can see is today's players play more games and against more players in the state. When i played( 1977-80, AAu was not thought about. We played Legion and senior Babe Ruth. The only time we played the other part of the state was during the state Tournament and only 1 team advanced to the Southeast regions championship. I was fortunately to play on 3 straight state championship teams. We had Mark Roberts, me, Bob Falls,John Boyd, James Taylor, Grover Rivens, Curtis wilson, Miike Eppley, on these teams. Every one of us was drafted by Major league teams, except Eppley and all that he did was start at quarter back and point guard for Clemson University. As far as talent i don't see much different from today and our time.