Rob Neyer: What Do You Believe About Baseball That You Can Not Prove

[jjnono]

Team chemistry matters....

[DrungoHazewood]

I believe that the average player in Babe Ruth's era, if put in a time machine and transported to 2015, would have trouble competing in AA.

I believe that the 1899 Cleveland Spiders would have serious difficulties with a modern travel team of 18-year-olds. And the Champion 1899 Brooklyn Superbas would win about 40 games in a modern major league.

I believe there are Hall of Famers that couldn't hold a candle to Brady Anderson. And guys we think of as inner circler HOFers who weren't as good as Adam Jones is today.

I believe that no pitcher regularly threw 95+ mph before WWII.

I believe that there are 100-200 pitchers active today who would have regularly thrown 350-400 innings a season in Walter Johnsons' time.

I believe that the Majors could expand to 100+ teams and within a short period of time (10 years) have a similar level of competition to when I was born in 1971.

I believe that if pitchers like Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller were to go into the Tardis and go back in time to 1893, baseball wouldn't have gone on to the great success it did, as many of the top hitters in the game would have given up.

[Can_of_corn]

Well they probably wouldn't have let Chapman play.

[O's84]

I believe that the average player in Babe Ruth's era, if put in a time machine and transported to 2015, would have trouble competing in AA.

I believe that the 1899 Cleveland Spiders would have serious difficulties with a modern travel team of 18-year-olds. And the Champion 1899 Brooklyn Superbas would win about 40 games in a modern major league.

I believe there are Hall of Famers that couldn't hold a candle to Brady Anderson. And guys we think of as inner circler HOFers who weren't as good as Adam Jones is today.

I believe that no pitcher regularly threw 95+ mph before WWII.

I believe that there are 100-200 pitchers active today who would have regularly thrown 350-400 innings a season in Walter Johnsons' time.

I believe that the Majors could expand to 100+ teams and within a short period of time (10 years) have a similar level of competition to when I was born in 1971.

I believe that if pitchers like Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller were to go into the Tardis and go back in time to 1893, baseball wouldn't have gone on to the great success it did, as many of the top hitters in the game would have given up.

How well do you think Ruth would do if he played today?

[Bahama O's Fan]

How great would Ruth and others be today if they had the access to the training, equipment, etc... that players have today? How good would they have been if they could train all year, including the off season, and not have to "work"?

[weams]

How great would Ruth and others be today if they had the access to the training' date=' equipment, etc... that players have today? How good would they have been if they could train all year, including the off season, and not have to "work"?[/quote']

6'2 215

[DrungoHazewood]

How well do you think Ruth would do if he played today?

Just as a guess, but something like David Ortiz. Except that nobody would have let him switch from pitcher to hitter, or play the outfield on his off days early on. So he might have ended up as Steve Avery.

[DrungoHazewood]

Well they probably wouldn't have let Chapman play.

There were barnstorming teams outside of the National Agreement. There are black HOFers from the 1890s, like Frank Grant.

[Frobby]

I believe that in ten years people will mock the "advanced" defensive metrics that are publicly available today, which will be shown to have serious inadequacies.

[Can_of_corn]

I believe that in ten years people will mock the "advanced" defensive metrics that are publicly available today, which will be shown to have serious inadequacies.

I was very impressed with what we saw from the new system. Looking forward to its use being extended.

[gmelson26]

I believe that the average player in Babe Ruth's era, if put in a time machine and transported to 2015, would have trouble competing in AA.

I believe that the 1899 Cleveland Spiders would have serious difficulties with a modern travel team of 18-year-olds. And the Champion 1899 Brooklyn Superbas would win about 40 games in a modern major league.

I believe there are Hall of Famers that couldn't hold a candle to Brady Anderson. And guys we think of as inner circler HOFers who weren't as good as Adam Jones is today.

I believe that no pitcher regularly threw 95+ mph before WWII.

I believe that there are 100-200 pitchers active today who would have regularly thrown 350-400 innings a season in Walter Johnsons' time.

I believe that the Majors could expand to 100+ teams and within a short period of time (10 years) have a similar level of competition to when I was born in 1971.

I believe that if pitchers like Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller were to go into the Tardis and go back in time to 1893, baseball wouldn't have gone on to the great success it did, as many of the top hitters in the game would have given up.

This is my general feeling as well on these issues. Glad to see it posted.

[El Gordo]

How did Greg Maddux manage to win all those games since he pitched more like a pitcher of the old days than the likes of Kershaw, Chapman, etc.

[DrungoHazewood]

I believe that in ten years people will mock the "advanced" defensive metrics that are publicly available today, which will be shown to have serious inadequacies.

I'm sure there will be condescending hipsters who mock these intermediate steps. But there aren't too many folks who mock Pete Palmer and Bill James for inventing and championing things like Range Factor and the original linear weights, despite the fact they've been passed by and proven to be inaccurate and misleading in many cases. Do you mock the guys who built Packards and Studebakers because they didn't have six airbags and got 9 miles to the gallon?

[Can_of_corn]

I'm sure there will be condescending hipsters who mock these intermediate steps. But there aren't too many folks who mock Pete Palmer and Bill James for inventing and championing things like Range Factor and the original linear weights, despite the fact they've been passed by and proven to be inaccurate and misleading in many cases. Do you mock the guys who built Packards and Studebakers because they didn't have six airbags and got 9 miles to the gallon?

There were a number of years were an off the assembly line Studebaker would blow the doors off any other production car being made.

http://www.examiner.com/article/1956-58-studebaker-golden-hawk-first-fastest-and-forgotten-with-video

http://www.danjedlicka.com/classic_cars/studebaker_avanti.html

I hope the current defensive metrics hold up as well.

[DrungoHazewood]

How did Greg Maddux manage to win all those games since he pitched more like a pitcher of the old days than the likes of Kershaw, Chapman, etc.

Didn't Maddux throw 90 mph with pinpoint control, an excellent assortment of pitches, was a keen student of the game, and had extremely good durability? All while throwing to the very small modern strike zone, with the aid of the Braves Annex (i.e. he got strikes called on pitches six inches outside at knee level). Oh, and he threw about 6 2/3rd innings per start, and in a non-DH league.

I think it would be interesting to see Maddux pitch to lineups full of Del Maxvills with a strike zone extending to the shoulders. I'm quite sure he could have thrown 300 innings to a 1.50 like clockwork.