How has baseball changed over the past thirty years? In a word: plenty! Baseball has evolved into a different game entirely.

Hitters
Have you ever looked back at the stats of past baseball players? It's staggering just how poor some of the stats were back in those days...yet, the mediocre players remained in the game for many years. In todays games, one or two bad years for a player could result in a banishment to the minor leagues...often times for most of their career.

Gone are the days where defensive excellence could keep a roster spot. Does that mean that the talent of the players today is better than it was back then? That's doubtful. There are many reasons that todays baseball is different than your Father's baseball. Perhaps the pitching was better back then than it is today, or the ball parks back then were not homer-happy, or it could be that the equipment simply wasn't as good as it is today. Whatever the reason, the fact is that many marginal players survived in the major leagues for many years. Here's a look at some of the players and their career stats.

Duffy Dyer - 13 years in the majors - 30 career HR - .221 career batting average
Horace Clark - 9 years in the majors - 27 career HR - .256 career batting average
John Boccabella - 11 years in the majors - 26 career HR - .219 career batting average
Tito Fuentes - 13 years in the majors - 45 career HR - .268 career batting average
Larry Bowa - 15 years in the majors - 15 career HR - .260 career batting average
Don Kessinger - 15 years in the majors - 14 career HR - .252 career batting average
JC Martin - 13 years in the majors - 32 career HR - .222 career batting average
Ted Sizemore - 10 years in the majors - 23 career HR - .262 career batting average
Jeff Torborg - 9 years in the majors - 8 career HR - .214 career batting average
Gene Clines - 9 years in the majors - 5 career HR - .277 career batting average
Jose Pagan - 14 years in the majors - 52 career HR - .250 career batting average
Fred Kendall - 12 years in the majors - 31 career HR - .234 career batting average
Fred Stanley - 14 years in the majors - 10 career HR - .216 career batting average
Johnny Oates - 11 years in the majors - 14 career HR - .250 career batting average
Mark Belanger - 18 years in the majors - 20 career HR - .228 career batting average
Sandy Alomar - 15 years in the majors - 13 career HR - .245 career batting average

Obviously, many of these players were defensive specialists and some were backup catchers. But not all of the players mentioned were defensive standouts. Today, defensive players like Rey Ordonez couldn't sustain longevity in baseball, because of his poor hitting. Had Ordonez played in the 60's, he could have had a long career, but not in todays game.

Pitch Counts
I will say that pitch counts in todays game are a joke. I have never believed in pitch counts (unless the pitcher is up to 150 pitches). I refuse to believe that overuse results in arm troubles and injuries. In fact, as a former amateur pitcher who pitched for more than twenty years, I will attest to that. Why have ERAs in baseball skyrocketed over the years? Think about this: An ace of a team is pulled in the sixth inning with a man or two on base. He is replaced by a pitcher that wasn't good enough to be one of the team's five starters, or the closer or the set-up man....so the ace of the pitching staff is replaced by the 8th best pitcher on the team. I'd rather have a tired ace on the mound than a fully rested 8th best pitcher on the team pitching in a crucial situation. Back in the 60's and 70's, the pitcher would have been able to work out of his own jam.

Okay, maybe it's just me. But looking back at pitchers from the 60's and 70's substantiates my beliefs. Get rid of hard pitch counts for pitchers. Take a look at these stats:

In 1969, Mel Stottlemeyer's record was 20-14. Coincidentally, he had 20 complete games. For his career, he had 152 complete games. Ken Holtzman win totals of 19-21-18-14 in successive years. His complete game totals in the same seasons: 16-16-9-13. Nolan Ryan had 222 career complete games, Juan Marichal 244 complete games, Tom Seaver 231 complete games, and even lesser known pitchers like Bob Veale had 78 complete games. In 1969 Ferguson Jenkins had 24 complete games, Bob Gibson and Gaylord Perry had 23. Then there are mediocre pitchers like Dave Morehead, who had a career record of 40-64 career record, but still had 19 complete games. Jim Clancy had 74 complete games, Pat Jarvis (8 year career) had 42 complete games, and Carl Morton (8 year career) had 51 complete games. In contrast,pitchers of our era such as Al Leiter (16 year career) had just 16 complete games, Steve Traschel (16 years) has 20 complete games, Shawn Estes (13 years) 14 complete games, Andy Benes (14 years) 21 complete games, Woody Williams (15 years) 10 complete games, and Paul Byrd (13 years) 16 complete games. Even young studs like Brandon Webb are prevented from throwing complete games. In his sixth season, Webb has 13 complete games. That's an average of 2 complete games per season. Compare that to the season that Jenkins had 24.

But the point I'm trying to make here, is that those pitchers mentioned threw 140, 150, and 160 pitches, yet they avoided any serious arm troubles or extended stays on the DL. Today, coaches won't allow a pitcher to go over 100 pitches...and those pampered pitchers are still finding their way onto the DL anyway. How we got from 24 complete games a season to 3 at best, is mind boggling to me. Stealing a line from Keyshawn Johnson...just give the pitcher the damn ball!

Various Facts From The Old Days
Norm Cash had 377 career HR, and once hit 41 HR and had 132 RBI in a single season. Cash actually averaged more HR per AB than Al Kaline, who is in the Hall of Fame.

"He's only seventeen and he runs like he's thirty." - Casey Stengel, on why he kept Ed Kranepool on the bench in 1962.

Jim Barr:
June 7, 1966: Drafted by the California Angels in the 11th round of the 1966 amateur draft, but did not sign.
June 7, 1968: Drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 3rd round of the 1968 amateur draft (Secondary Phase), but did not sign.
February 1, 1969: Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 5th round of the 1969 amateur draft (Secondary Phase), but did not sign.
June 5, 1969: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 3rd round of the 1969 amateur draft (Secondary Phase), but did not sign.
January 17, 1970: Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 1970 amateur draft (Secondary Phase), but did not sign.
June 4, 1970: Drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 3rd round of the 1970 amateur draft (Secondary Phase).

I forgot just how good Ron LeFlore was at stealing bases. LeFlore had 97 SB in 1980...with the Expos.

In 1978, Skip Lockwood was 7-13. He amassed that record pitching in 57 games...all in relief. Lockwood's career record: 57-97.

In his first four MLB seasons, Bob Gibson was 34-36. In his final three seasons, he was 26-33. The middle years of his career, he was 191-105.

Don Drysdale hit 29HR and had 113RBI in his career. In 1965, he had 7HR and hit .300.

Catcher Chris Cannizzaro Played 13 years. He had 3 SB and 17 CS.

In 1962, Jim Bunning started 35 games for the Tigers. He had 19 wins that season......and 6 saves.

Despite being one of the best hitting catchers in baseball history, Johnny Bench had just one .300 season in 17 seasons. By contrast, Mike Piazza's career batting average was .308 and he had nine .300 seasons.



Court Adjourned!