Posted by: THG () on Mon Jan 14 09:12:08 2008

> Hi THG
>
> Do you think that expansion has degraded the quality of play in all professional sports, or would you say it just unique to the game of baseball? I think most would agree that today’s basketball teams are far superior to teams in the 50s. The same could be said for football. But not baseball, I guess finding the quality of play you saw in the 40s and 50s are long gone. Maybe “Money Ball’s” method of drafting players is the cause.
>
> Jack Mankin



Hi Jack. Actually specifically, I would say that enough pitchers' do not have a good enough command of today's strike zone. So basically hitting is evolving faster than pitching. Of course we have to consider more science is out there regarding hitting (video etc. and breaking down the rudiments of a good/great swing.) Granted todays strike zone is smaller than years past so it is more challenging for the pitcher's to work in that zone. Another problem is that many of today's pitchers have trouble getting respect from the umpires. And too often the umpire is more of a factor than he should be. Most of us have seen many games and when you see a Greg Maddux type pitcher pitch, he is getting calls that the avg pitcher does not get. And though he has I guess earned those pitches, he simply could not pitch in some situations if he was not getting those calls.

With regard to todays football and basketball (as well as baseball) teams the athletes are definitely better. But to a large extent rules changes have allowed so much freedom for individuals that there has been an explosion in scoring.

In football you can no longer disrupt a receivers route. This makes for wide open scoring all over the field. Also the best pool of athletes which used to be across the board are seen more in football and basketball. Baseball does not have enough of the Black athletes who are in basketball and football. Note that I am not saying Blacks are any better than other races. But I am saying that Blacks are being left of of baseballs talent pool. It might be their choice but perhaps not enough programs are put into play for them.

Expansion has diluted good defense in football as a running game is no longer premium. In basketball the game is too much about high flying dunks instead of team play (though the team that wins the championship plays as a team). Look at what happened to the Lakers once the Kobey/Shaq thing got out of hand.

Todays games are more exciting in each sport but the fundamentals in some phases are lacking. In the 40's and 50's baseball did not have the exposure to all the public as it has today. And the homerun was not highlighted to the degree it is today (except for the homerun derby contests (I forget the name of the show)). I definitely believe the allstar games of the past (70's early 80's) were better. But that is just my opinion.