Re: Future retired numbers

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:59:55 -0700, "Perry Sailor"
<perry.sailor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>You keep saying this (and saying it, and saying it, and saying it...) but
>it's not true. With the fairly rare exceptions of players "giving
>themselves up" to advance a runner from 2nd to 3rd when they're batting with
>no outs (and even then they'd prefer that grounder to the right side to go
>through for a basehit), every player who goes to the plate is trying to
>reach base and not make an out. Further, every player would prefer hitting
>a double to walking or hitting a single, would prefer a triple to a double,
>and would prefer a home run to anything else. Therefore, every player
>approaches the plate trying to maximize his OPS.

This is true for modern baseball, but progressively less so as you go
back in time. The baseball of today is the result of the "best"
strategy - get on base and/or hit the ball hard - winning the
Darwinian struggle. But back in the day, (a) it wasn't clear that
this would be the case, so there was a lot more experimentation, (b)
one-run strategies - suicidal in today's game - were a lot more viable
due largely to poorer playing conditions. So in many cases, the real
old-timers /didn't/ play to maximize their OPS, and the feedback
wasn't there to tell them that they /should/.

The same is true for errors. "Put it in play and avoid strikeouts at
all costs" is a terrible strategy in today's MLB, with well-groomed
parks, athletic fielders, and high-tech gloves. In 1890 (or in modern
rec-leagues) the tradeoff is much less certain.

And it heterodyned. Because of the premium on putting the ball in
play was very real, batters emphasized different skills and practiced
different skills than today. This meant that they were even more
proficient relative to their ability level than today's batters at the
various bunting plays, slap-hitting plays, and hit-and-run plays.
Giving them yet another reason to try them more often.

For these and other similar reasons, I tend to be very conservative at
direct comparisons between old-time records and modern ones. Birdie
Tebbett's 9.9 yards per carry, Dixie Dean's 60 league goals, even
Chamberlain's massive 100-point spurt? Impressive, yes - comparable,
???. Different game, different competetive pressures.

--Craig

--
Craig Richardson (crichard-tacoma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
"Then I heard the whirring of the motorized snowmen, sound[ing] like the
death rattle of very small robot lizards, and I left the seasonal aisle"
-- James Lileks, "The Bleat", 2005/10/10
.

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