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Page 2
What would today's general managers think of Spahn, Ford, Shantz, and Feller if they were part of the 2004 free agent player draft? All would have the same question marks about his potential as does Kazmir and Shantz would be ignored completely. Who was the last 142 pound pitcher you saw? Right. He was in your kid's little league game.
The above graphically illustrates how the size of today's players has increased compared to players of other eras. But the hitters have ALSO gotten bigger, so why haven't they kept up with the pitchers? One word explains it. Reflexes. Hitting is a reflexive action. There are inborn reflexes and conditioned reflexes. Inborn reflexes are involuntary reactions to stimuli. Different individuals have different reaction times to the same stimulus. Henry Aaron reacted to a thrown baseball much more rapidly than most individuals. Batters must react to the pitch and determine its speed, spin, and location in about three fifth of a second. An individual's reflexes are genetically determined. Improved nutrition, training methods, and medical advances may allow one to reach one's genetic potential, but my science teacher's reflexes were slower than Henry Aaron's, which is why you read about Henry Aaron in the Sporting News but have never heard of my science teacher. Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov conducted a classic science experiment with a dog. Pavlov's dog developed a conditioned reflex when Pavlov rang a bell before giving the dog food. Food or the thought of food makes animals salivate (Do dogs think? I think so). After repeating the action of ringing a bell and then giving the dog food for about a week, Pavlov rang the bell but did not deliver the food. The dog salivated upon hearing the bell. The reflex to salivate was conditioned by the bell. Batters condition their reflexes by practicing hitting for hours, days, months, and years, and while practicing helps to refine their skills, it does not affect their inborn reflexes. Their practice is valuable and helps them to reach their genetic maximum but it cannot change what their inheritance has determined. Pitching does depend primarily on inborn reflexes. Hitting does. In the 1940s, only Bob Feller's fast ball approached 100 mph. In the 1950s, there were Herb Score, Bob Turley, Don Newcombe, Sad Sam Jones, Jim Bunning, Ryne Duren, and Steve Dalkowski, but by the 1960s, there were more pitchers who threw hard. Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Jim Maloney, Dick Farrell, Juan Pizarro, Sudden Sam McDowell, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Bob Veale, Ferguson Jenkins, Dick Selma, Bill Singer, Al Downing, Denny McLain, and Jim Lonborg all had outstanding fast balls. The pitchers were dominating the hitters and scoring was down. So was attendance and that was unacceptable. Something had to be done that would help hitters.
The copyright of the article Why Offense Has Increased: Part 1--The Lowered Pitching Mound - Page 2 in NY Yankees is owned by Harold Friend. Permission to republish Why Offense Has Increased: Part 1--The Lowered Pitching Mound - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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