Happy Birthday, Joe Altobelli (83)

[Redskins Rick]

And most of them smoked

One of our own OH was a clubhouse boy and fetch smokes for the players in ST.

[DrungoHazewood]

People of that generation aged faster because of all the stress they had to go through due to the Great Depression and World War 2. Case in point when the show All in the Family debuted Jean Stapleton was only 48 and Carroll O'Connor was 47 but looked much older than that.

It's interesting to look at old pictures of ballplayers. Especially pre-WWII there are facial and body types that are now essentially extinct. There were a ton of major leaguers who were 5' 11" and maybe 150 pounds, with sunken cheeks and teeth out of a bad British farce. I think it's fairly clear that a lot of players from that era had abysmal diet and nutrition compared to today, with a many subsisting on far few calories than most anyone does today. Today poor people are often overweight from eating cheap fast food, in 1920 poor people got 700 calories a day and were often severely malnourished. This doesn't directly apply to Earl's generation, but I think there are similar effects. As Steve mentioned a ton of people smoked on top of the very different nutrition/workout environment.

[Redskins Rick]

It's interesting to look at old pictures of ballplayers. Especially pre-WWII there are facial and body types that are now essentially extinct. There were a ton of major leaguers who were 5' 11" and maybe 150 pounds, with sunken cheeks and teeth out of a bad British farce. I think it's fairly clear that a lot of players from that era had abysmal diet and nutrition compared to today, with a many subsisting on far few calories than most anyone does today. Today poor people are often overweight from eating cheap fast food, in 1920 poor people got 700 calories a day and were often severely malnourished. This doesn't directly apply to Earl's generation, but I think there are similar effects. As Steve mentioned a ton of people smoked on top of the very different nutrition/workout environment.

I grew up in a household of smokers, my parents smoked, my grandparents smoked, movie and TV stars smoked on screen and in TV shows, it was common practice. We had vending machines that sold the packs, and nobody cared what age you were, when you plopped your money into the machine.

I remember the outcry, when the government start putting the warning labels on the things, that big brother was over stepping their authority and dictating personal lifestyle decisions.

[DrungoHazewood]

I grew up in a household of smokers, my parents smoked, my grandparents smoked, movie and TV stars smoked on screen and in TV shows, it was common practice. We had vending machines that sold the packs, and nobody cared what age you were, when you plopped your money into the machine.

I remember the outcry, when the government start putting the warning labels on the things, that big brother was over stepping their authority and dictating personal lifestyle decisions.

I'm good with your right to drink Drano as long as you don't spill it on me, you're in your own house, and you're reasonably informed about the risks. You probably can't count on the manufacturer of Drano to tell you it's risky to drink it if that'll impact sales.

[OFFNY]

Happy birthday to former Orioles manager, Joe Altobelli.

Altobelli turns 83 today.

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