Scholarship table
So a more liberalized strike zone back then accounted for less strikeouts and lower batting averages?
I'll concede the mound but home plate has never changed in size so how could the strike zone be bigger. Don't tell me the umps had a bigger strike zone either. In 1968 there were about 9600 strikeouts and in 2019 there were about 21000 strikeouts in the AL. Even taking that the league is 50% bigger the number of strikeouts in 1968 would be about 14-15k.
The strike zone is now uniform and graded daily which makes it much more consistent than it's ever been. That's a fact. You can make assumptions beyond that fact, but they're just that, assumptions.
Some here are making the assumption that pitchers throw harder today than they did years ago. I don't see any facts to support that either way. Yeah, the game evolves but from my perspective not for the better. I saw 3 perfect games pitched in person; the most memorable when I was 9 and saw Don Larsen pitch his perfect game in the World Series in 1956. The other two were against the Mets when they were pretty bad, but we all knew we were witnessing something special. As a die hard Yankee fan I had have more than my share of winning. To watch the 63 Dodger pitching just destroy the Yanks that year was marvel to behold or the '69 Mets break the hearts of every Cub fan and then beat the Orioles in 5 who had the best pitching in either league that year was just amazing. To day its pitch counts, which batter has better stats against that reliever or starter. I believe the Yanks had 9 pitchers pitch in one playoff game a few seasons back and what was worse the guys that got them into playoffs were replaced by their high priced prima donnas that barely played half the season.
I don't think they had speed guns back in the 30s, 40s, or 50s to compare how hard a pitcher is pitching. So there is no way to know. Carl Yastrzemski batted just 301 in 1968 to win the AL batting title. The pitchers back then must have pitched pretty hard to keep an entire league batting under 300 for a season, or every batter just had trouble with the curve?...and Yaz played at Fenway a hitters park.
AL MVP race between Vlad, Robert, Buxton is going to be fun.
It's hilarious to me to be considering MVP candidates in April. Let's play some games and then see who is having a great season, and then the discussion can begin.
Joe Maddon is still taking cracks at reinventing baseball.Last night, he intentionally walked Corey Seager with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning to bring home a run after the Rangers were already ahead. Texas went on to score 2 more runs for a 6-2 lead before the Angels got out of the inning.The Angels rallied to win 9-6, obviously inspired by Maddon's brilliant managerial ploy.
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
I’ll double down here.Dylan Cease (barring injury) is going to be your AL Cy Young winner.
Saw on the twitter that it was only the third time since 1950 that an intentional walk has been issued with the bases loaded. Maddon is responsible for two of them.
As a Cubs fan I'll always have a soft spot for Maddon. But the thing about him that bothered me was his complete inability and unwillingness to admit when he made a poor decision.
Well, Buxton lasted 6 games. I think that may be longer than usual.
Saw on the twitter that it was only the First time since 1888 that an intentional walk has been issued with the bases loaded, and the team was losing at the time.
Brewers are utterly boring to watch on offense. - batting .215 as a team. And, there are SEVEN teams that are worse!Baltimore is the only team with fewer HRs.Only the D'Backs, Royals, and Orioles have scored fewer runs.
Yeah the whole “it worked cause it rallied the troops” type commentary is eye-rolling.