Pitching?

[Richard]

Was pitching better thirty or forty years ago or is it better now with all the micro-management?

[ol' aches and pains]

Don't make me post that poem again...

[Seattle1]

Was pitching better thirty or forty years ago or is it better now with all the micro-management?

They are trying to keep guys from throwing their arms out too early in their career. For example, the Mariners have really kept Felix Hernandez carefully under wraps for the first several years of his career. This season he is really starting to show how capable he is of coming into his own.

[Iron Jaw]

They are trying to keep guys from throwing their arms out too early in their career. For example, the Mariners have really kept Felix Hernandez carefully under wraps for the first several years of his career. This season he is really starting to show how capable he is of coming into his own.

I tend to wonder what the raw numbers are for arm injuries today versus those in the complete game and 4-man rotation era. Also, does less activity allow the young pitcher to develop as well - learn how to pitch out of tough situations instead of relying on the bullpen to bail him out every time he gets a little heat?

Jim Palmer once said he was a better pitcher when he was more active, pitching in a 4-man rotation and completing a lot of games because he maintained a groove, stayed in good pitching condition and knew the hitters better as he was facing each more often over the course of a season.

Jim pitched in 4 and 5 man rotations during his long career, and during the first 3/4 of his career he was throwing a lot of CG's. And, he is a person who suffered a serious arm injury as a youngster that forced him to sit out most of the 1967 season and all of the 1968 season before he made his big comeback (big comeback at only 22 years old - he came up at 19 in 1965 and had a big season in 1966, including a WS shutout over Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers - he started off hot in 1967, but after only 9 starts, his arm went down - in truth, the O's wondered if he'd ever make it back, but he certainly did).

[yamsi12]

Today.

But it makes me wonder how pitchers like cy young, walter johnson, whitey ford, koufax, feller, spahn, etc would have done on the current mound, not the 15 inch high (some say the Dodgers even had a 20 inch high one!). Or how Maddux, Clemens, Johnson, Pedro, Johan, CC and Timmy would do on a higher mound......

[Iron Jaw]

Today.

But it makes me wonder how pitchers like cy young, walter johnson, whitey ford, koufax, feller, spahn, etc would have done on the current mound, not the 15 inch high (some say the Dodgers even had a 20 inch high one!). Or how Maddux, Clemens, Johnson, Pedro, Johan, CC and Timmy would do on a higher mound......

Every pitcher who pitched in 1969 and didn't retire, made the transition in 1969. It really didn't affect most of them much. The good pitchers were still good pitchers.

[Iron Jaw]

Today.

Or how Maddux, Clemens, Johnson, Pedro, Johan, CC and Timmy would do on a higher mound......

Or how those guys would do if they were completing 20+ games each season out of a 4-man rotation, and throwing a little releif in between starts..........