glad you are enjoying it. one rule you may have missed – only one season per player. so there will be 20 different players on the list. it’s no reveal to say that Carlton will be on the list, but which season. 

bski-

yes, that pitcher will be on the list. the question is where and what season. he certainly had some ridiculous ones (and I personally think that he doesn’t get the credit he deserves as an all-time great Phillie, they didn’t even bring his retired “number” over to the new park!)

I think to some degree we all have a tendency to feel like our current era of the sport is better, or at least more developed, than it was in the past.  However, I don’t know about that. 

The players of today do year-round conditioning.  They do a mixed bag of sport-specific training.  They have personal chefs and/or dietitians to optimize their nutritional needs.  They have a cadre of medical personnel to attend to their physical well being.  They study the game, using video to break down the mechanics of their swing or delivery.  Bottom line, they have at their disposal the means to maximize their physical and mental potential and to translate that into increased production on the playing field.

Meanwhile, the old guys didn’t “train” in the off season.  That’s what spring training was for, right?  They certainly didn’t take care of their bodies nearly as well.  Many injuries went undiagnosed, as well as unresolved and barely treated.  They had to take regular jobs in the off season to supplement their income from baseball in order to support their families.  In light of that, how could they play the game at the same level as it is being played today?

I don’t wholely buy into those arguments though.  I will agree that the players of today are better conditioned than they were years ago, but I don’t know that that necessarily translates into them being better baseball players.  First of all, there are a heck of a lot more teams around now than there were in the past.  Second, there are a lot more sports that siphon good athletes away from baseball.  Flip that around and you’ll see my thinking that in the pre-NBA, pre-NFL days when baseball was pretty much the only game in town and when there were many fewer spots on an MLB roster available, the competition for those spots was very intense and the guys who won them could really play ball.  Besides, don’t you think that a Walter Johnson or a Lefty Grove could get hitters out today, or that a Ted Williams or a Stan Musial could still rake today?  I do.

Now, I’m not saying you can compare Gavvy Cravath’s numbers directly with those of Del Ennis.  Different eras.  What I believe you can do is to look at how much better Cravath was than the average player of his era and directly compare that to how much better Ennis was than the average player of his era.  Same goes for Robin Roberts and Curt Schilling.  Perfectly valid to me.

Anyway, I enjoy reading and learning about the game and the players from years gone by.  Plus, I posted that link because I’m guessing that a certain pitcher who was on that 1915 world series team, who shall remain nameless for the moment, will have one of his seasons, although maybe not this particular one, appear at some point in your countdown.