- 06:36 PM
- 11/05/24
| Name: | william porter |
|---|---|
| Member since: | April 23, 2007 |
| Last visit: | June 29, 2007 |
| Status: | visitor |
The Old Man has posted 3 links and 85 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 0 comments to the Locker Room and 1 column.
1927 Yankess were they the best?: Why were the 1927 Yankees the best baseball team of all time from a standpoint of someone who was there.
posted by The Old Man to at 01:48 PM on June 15, 2007 - 0 comments
I am 89 next Sept I can speak for not many today that got to see the Babe and others of his generation and other generations until this present generation. And as far as grey hair mine doesn't have a lot of grey in it. Maybe because I have lost some of it. I am not trying to embarrass anyone here and as my grandkids keep telling me after reading some of comments about my writing maybe I shouldn't write some of the opinions I do. Everyone keeps repeating themselves in some of the statements that nobody really knows how or why so of these new players compete. Bottom line in my opinion is what they can make to help themselves and their families. You have to remember baseball in the late 1800's and early 1900's wasn't really a high paying salary operation. It was a sport that not all watched or wanted to watch it depended upon what part of the country you lived in. Walter Johnson, came from Fullerton California but he was an exception to the rule of where the main body of players came from. Baseball was fun to watch and allowed the fans to in some way forget their problems. God, I hate to use the word entertainment in regards to baseball, but in this example it is very fitting. You keep telling me that money isn't the only reason that players play. Yes, again in some cases you maybe right, but in the early stages of baseball it was for the fun of the game and some extra spending money that they earned playing this game. Howard plays the game well but if you think money isn't involved in his decision to play MLB you had better wake up and smell the roses. When I was growing up nobody mentioned the money they made except what the Babe made. Cobb was as we all know a jerk and believe me when I tell you money to him was the bottom line. He was very smart in his investments but tried to make as much as he could. The days of players just loving to play ended long ago when the money started becoming huge in relationship to some of there talent. A player hitting .275 making 2.5 million a year is crazy. I don't care if it 2007 or 1967. I can only hope I haven't made any asinine statements or embarrassed myself or any of you people and if I have please forgive a OLD MAN..I maybe old by your standards but my mine is the same as it has been for all these many years. Granted it does take me time to write this because my hands don't work like they use to and my eyes get tired looking at the small screen. I will end this with a thank you for listening and high hopes that baseball continues to be fun to watch and play no matter what the age, race or gender...
posted by The Old Man at 04:29 PM on June 29, 2007
Dude, I am not a cynical old man but I was just asking or really suggesting exactly what is happening in today's game. I really like watching Howard play and Utley is really living his dream 40 years late. He plays the game from the first inning until it's over. He plays with more heart than a great percentage of the players today. And it is sad that the guilty-until-proven-innocent attitude persists but that can be attributed to the players like Bonds, Sosa, McGuire that body styles have changed after a certain age unnaturally. I remember it wasn't that long ago that nobody even considered steriods or any of the new unnatural performance enchancing materials a problem. I would hope that Howard isn't on any type of drug enchancement but we will never know until drug testing is used on all players to stop their use. The fans today really aren't any different than the fans 40-50 years ago. They want their teams to win and go to the World Series. But as a fan for over 80 years I can tell you I wouldn't and don't approve of using any type of drugs to do so. Whether it is a star of one of my favorite teams or not. Steriod use is very dangerous to all using it. The lasting effects don't come into play until years later. Your systems are not layed out to overcome the effects of what the steriods do to you in the amounts that are being taken. Systems fail later on for whatever reason and you start to basicly fall apart. I am sure you remember the Raiders big Defensive tackle that died young because of his constant use of steriods and the linebacker for Denver Romanowski won't make it into his late 60 much less his 70's. When it comes to be called a cynic it doesn't really bother me because I know I am not. I can at my age look at all the sides of this particular question. Playing the game , like I have said for years, hasn't really changed much in the last 80 or so years. You still have to hit a pitched bat with a wooden bat. Only thing really changed is the players and types of players. Hitting a pitched ball is without a doubt the hardest thing to do in sports. Standing in the batters' box facing someone throwing a horsehide ball 95mph and attempting to hit it with a bat has no peers in any of the sports we participate in. Golf, football, basketball, scoccer, track & field, waterpolo, swimming the list goes on don't have the danger on a constant level. Getting hit by 300lber hurts and the risk is there for injury but being hit by baseball traveling at over 100mph off a bat or hit by a pitched 95mph ball far outweights the risk level of the other sports. Any pitch any batted ball. I got off the subject you were talking about. Todays' players even the ones that do drugs are just as much fun to watch play the game as it was 80 years ago. And no the players of most of the other generations loved the game far more than todays' players with a few exceptions. Remember the players of the teens-free agency didn't make the type of money that today's players make. Granted more buying power but even 8000 dollars a years doesn't compare with 1.5 million today. Babe got at his highest I think 80000 a year if that could be taken in today's market because of what he produced and what he did for baseball after the sox scandal maybe 50million a year would be what he was worth' Buying power then and now are different and really can't be compared with any kind of certainty but I remember what a dollar was worth in the 20's and trust me when I say 80thousand isn't the same buying power as 50million. When I got to go to the 27 World Series in New York with my grandfather and father it cost them about 15 dollars for the tickets, hotdogs, coke for me and beers for them. Now I want you to think what the prices are today. The inflation rate is off the scale here. When I really want to remember watching the game for just the fun of it I go to the nearest little league field and watch the kids play, except for some of the crazy parents they are having the same kind of fun I did in the 20's playing in all the fields around town. A Cynic no a realist yes. Dude, what you have to realize is I have been there done that and understand exactly what has been happening to the game we all love. Even at 88 I love to play baseball with my greatgrandkids and some of the older grandkids. I will tell you the biggest high for me is stepping into the batters' box and hitting the ball and it is almost as fun as playing in the field. You all know how much I loved Ruth but I remember watching a young man play in 1956 by the name of Mickey Mantle that loved to play so much and had such talent that he just played himself into an early grave. Mickey was just pure pleasure to watch play because you could see it in his eyes and by the way he played. Ruth in his early prime when he was only about 195lbs was unbelieveable to watch. He could hit anyone and anthing, run like a deer, and had an arm second to no one. He ran the bases, did anything to play and win. But knowing and watching him and just sitting here now remembering reminds me that yes, god yes, he was bigger than life, bigger than the president and above all really bigger than baseball in a sense because the fans no matter if you loved him or hated him because he was a yankee just looked at him as being the BABE. He could in their eyes do no wrong. The fans and sports writers of the day knew about his womanizing, drinking whatever but he still was the babe and everyone LOVED TO WATCH HIM PLAY..I know it really isn't something you can do compare him and todays players but what he had was a style that was so unique unless you watched him play it can't be explained. Ted Williams had that talent so did Mantle and Koufax but there was something about George Herman Ruth that hits you right in the face. You can look at all the statistics of all the players and they are just that statistics. Some are so unbelievable that they don't make anysense in todays' game, but look at some of the films they have of him and read the paper columns sportspages and other literature to get an view of what he represented to America in the 20's and 30's even now. As a old cynical man I just look at what it was like then and now but I don't feel bad because baseball is fun to watch, play and listen too.....
posted by The Old Man at 11:36 AM on June 29, 2007
Joey, I think that at the time he played there was a lot of jealous on the part of other pitchers. 46 wins two years in a row, and someone comes up with monkey testosterone, give me a break. According to my grandfather and father there were pitchers in the late 1800's and early 1900's that could and did pitch for what it seemed like, forever, day in and day out...Innings after innings and they didn't eat like they do today...You won't find any performance enhancers throughout baseball history because until the last 15 years there wasn't any. DMSO was used by Koufax and ice was applied to his arms after games and he iced them between innings. After that it became standard in MLB to ice pitchers arms sometimes before, during and after games. Ryan was noted for it as was most of the fast ball pitchers of this era. DMSO is a heat substance that allows tranfer of heat faster than just bengay. But it is extremely dangerous if not used properly and trust me if you get cold water on it just after you apply it it really hurts big time.. I have eaten rasberries, strawberries, blueberries and pomogantes my entire life over 88 years and that has only helped me maybe to live as long as I have. Steriods are an illegal substance used to enhance your performance on the field of play artifically. Berries et al are natural substances that help to keep your body functioning by means of natural ways. But I know what you mean..Andro and all the man-made drugs are cheaping plain and simple and if they want to stop it then if you get caught with them in your blood stream then you are gone from baseball and all the big money... Believe me if they did that then it would stop real fast. No baseball playing no MONEY>>>>>>and I am not harping on the money is the only driving force idea here. Even if they were paid at a lower scale if you couldn't play the game you wouldn't have a job and therefore no salary no money no making a living.
posted by The Old Man at 06:13 PM on June 28, 2007
I stand corrected my greatgrandkids just informed me he won 46 games twice in his career and 35 once and 20 a lot of other times. He was a farm boy from Missouri and it must have been like milking the cows pitching on the mound, only a days work, and he did it for over 14 years. My hats off to Mr Galvin and the like..................
posted by The Old Man at 05:34 PM on June 28, 2007
He won 364 games and won 35 games once and 20 or more a number of times. Started 1874 and ended his career in 1892. Over 6000innings I would say that he came to pitch and his ending era was a very low 2.89 lifetime that puts him right up there was a lot of big time pitchers. He averaged over 20 wins a season for his career. Maybe Clemens should move over when someone says workhorse! 6000 innings in over 600 games he either had a rubber arm or was a good old farm boy like most of them were in those days. Looking at his stats really opens your eyes about the primadonnas of todays' game. They complain about 3 days rest . OKOK I know enough.
posted by The Old Man at 05:27 PM on June 28, 2007
According to my grandfather, James Galvin aka the Pud was an extremely tough, smart in your face pitcher and that he went to the game to play to win not just look go but win and in the years he played he won a lot of games. Monkey Testosterone is that the same as Antbolic Steriods today? I honestly don't remember him he was long gone before I was born, 1919, but according to my grandfather and his baseball friends he was a real solid pitcher that wasn't afraid to step up to the mound. To win 300 games and be the first pitcher to do so is something very special today or yesterday.
posted by The Old Man at 05:16 PM on June 28, 2007
Giambi is in the same boat as all the Steriod Kids from McGuire&Palmiero to Bonds and Sosa. McGuire admitted taking Andro because it wasn't illegal at the time and hasn't been tested positive as Bonds hasn't . But All you have to do is look at them before and after or now and then to understand what they look and looked like use caused by something other than sweat and hard work in the gym. I don't like the drug use going on but until baseball decides to really go after them hard and fast with the best methods available then we have to live it. In my old opinion none of the so called users will make it to the Hall on a first ballot and some may never make it until all this steriod crap is settled.
posted by The Old Man at 05:10 PM on June 28, 2007
Like the man says 100 in two years is something to talk about but that all it is is talk...lets us see what he does in the next 5 years before having him replace Kiner. The kid can hit the hell out of the ball but his biggest weakness is the pitch up and in and low and away. His arms are too big and he isn't fast enough yet to get the one up and in and he likes to sit back on the ball and use his arms and wrists to hit the hell out of the old horsehide. If he hits 250 more in the next 5 years and hits .330 and drives in 500plus then we can put him in that class. Oh yes steriods did he or didn't he that is the question people will ask especially if he continues to put up these numbers. Remember him behind Thome, Chamo is right "just wondering" what????? What did he look like when he first came started professional baseball and how did he grow. Don't mean to be mean but someone is going to ask these questions and we all know it. I like the way he plays and hits he is young likes to play and is having a good time so let it has been said before "Only Time Will Tell".
posted by The Old Man at 05:02 PM on June 28, 2007
How old do you think Grover Cleveland Alexander was when he left baseball.? And there is no question the pitchers threw their arms out but then did have more time between games and more rest. I wasn't taught the curve ball by my father until I was in high school and then I went into the Navy and a few years later WWII. Let me tell you about a pitcher by the name Warren Spahn remember him? Well he served in WWII and a remember a story about him in Germany throwing a grenade into the German forces. And he came back from the war and when on to win 300+ games after 1944. Of course the players are too too valuable today, look at the money they make now as compared with then. Not even comparible. Radatz destroyed his career for a lot of other reasons then bad mechanics. And yerfatma, then did pitch until a very ripe old age then please remember the life time wasn't 78.5 years for males then. I will finish this later my grandkids want to go to the Angel game now here in sunny Southern California. Later Oh yeah, one incident of monkey testosterone doesn't even compare with the problems of steriods today. Try again.
posted by The Old Man at 04:40 PM on June 27, 2007
If a pitcher has the right or correct mechanics while pitching it shouldn't have any effect on the pitch count...Ryan had the best mechanics of any of the present day pitchers and proved that pitching well even into his 40's and still striking out players with his fastball and curve.The bird arm was ruined because of his mechanics and the way he pitched. You pitch with only your arm and it will not last. According to Ryan his legs were always strong and his mechanics second to none. Large body, small framed body type still boils down to mechanics. Roy Face was a great pitcher with the Pirates but hasn't a monster on the mound. Ryan Duran a yankee/angel reliever in the 60's was small but had a fastball that was almost impossible to pick up due to its "rising" effect because he pitched so close to the ground and drove with his legs for his power and speed. His mechanics weren't great and he didn't last long. Dick Raditz aka the original Monster had terrible mechanics and didn't last as long as he could have if during that period he had worked on them, but then again who is to say he woudl have been as effective a reliever if he use the proper mechanics. He was huge on the mound and when he came at you with all his great bulk moving this way and that way before he delivered the pitch. Different teams have different ideas about this concept of pitchers' mechanics. But it would seem that the underlying factor to it all is ability plain and simple with mechanics factoring in to help lengthen careers and maybe save some pitchers' arms...
posted by The Old Man at 01:52 PM on June 27, 2007
For me now and forever always will be watching the Babe come up to the plate and just stand there looking out to the outfield and motioning for the pitcher to just go ahead and try and pitch the damn ball by him. When he hit them the hairs on the back of your neck would come up and it would seem that time would just stop and you would watch the ball rise from his bat and it would seem just keep going going going gone.......My son and I were at Yankee Stadium the day of his tribute and I cried, hell everyone was crying, just watching him try to walk out to homeplate to say his hello's....or goodbye's which ever way you look at it... I have a picture on my desk that is of GEORGE HERMAN (THE BABE) RUTH taking one of many great swings at the plate. I think it was taken in 1930 and it shows him swinging and that little turn he had that made him look like he was screwing himself into the ground. And on the other side of the desk is a picture of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Ted Williams talking during spring training in 1939 or 40. But I am bias about baseball and I have always felt that the rest of the world didn't get to experience what the United States did with the baseball world during those glory years. Sports memories in regards to perfection isn't always in the eye of the beholder..The Babe will always be the Babe and that is baseball sports perfection to all of us who love baseball. Love him or hate him there will always be that picture in everyone's mind of him swinging the bat at the plate. Other than baseball one of my greatest memories of perfection will be remembering Koufax on the mound, Williams at the plate and Jesse Owens running in the Olympics and reading in the paper how he put some little nobody political leader in his place.....
posted by The Old Man at 01:12 PM on June 27, 2007
I don't remember anyone even counting the number of pitches a pitcher had to make until the 60's when they starting counting Koufax because of his arm condition. Young and the boys pitched until they couldn't anymore. Even Grover Cleveland late in his career still pitched lots of innings very effectively. And Ryan pitched well into his 40's with his conditioning programs for his legs and shoulder. And as far as mocking the newer players under the conditions that the "older players" pitched I can't think of anyone today playing that could have pitched like they did. I have said it before there aren't many individuals that could have made it yesteryear...Yes, the pitchers of today with a few exceptions(Wells and a few others) are in better condition than the older players but it took unbelieveable guts to pitch then rain, shine or whatever and they did it day to day and season to season because they LOVED to PLAY the GAME.......7 40 year olds in one day I can remember grandfather telling me that Cy Young was the oldest pitcher to start and win a baseball game that he could remember. And that was in the late 20's but he was talking about the later teens and as he would put it and my father later on that was when men were men. I have told so many of these stories to my son and grandson but my father and grandfather used to talk for hours around the fireplace and discuss this player or that and my grandfather was well into his 70's in the late 20'sand early 30's. Nobody then even worried about how old a player was as long as he produced on the field. Ruth was KING and lead baseball back into a national past time era that may never be equaled again. I love watching all the old 40 years old pitchers some were good some didn't have a real great day but one thing for sure even at 40 you can still have fun playing baseball and today get paid a lot of money doing it.....
posted by The Old Man at 12:54 PM on June 27, 2007
No Gary, I am his oldest son. Sometimes my day goes crazy on this computer. He is very aware of what is happening around him but sometimes he just gets extremely upset at times that he reads and hears and decides to finally after everything his has been involved in and starts to write his remarks and loses his train of thought. So please excuse him sometimes. I have been reading some of his comments and he hasn't even started to tell some of the stories that all my brothers and sisters got to hear growing up. He and my grandfather and greatgrandfather use to talk and get into some discussions that lasted hours and days and in some cases are still going on between he and I and my younger brothers. Thank you. And if you really want to hear a story ask him about the umpires. He and my grandfather where very close friends with most of major league umpires up until he couldn't attend many games anymore. Jocko Conlon was my grandfathers' very close friend as was Emit Ashford. ucla512
posted by The Old Man at 04:40 PM on June 16, 2007
Older, you hit it on the nail 88 next September and still going strong or so my kids, grandkids and greatgrandkids tell me, most of the time to shut up about them not being able to do my childhood. Fact of the matter is, I don't really think many of the younger generation could have done my childhood. Hell, for that matter my sons childhood either.. Puppet for the NFL. pretty good on that one I will say I didn't think even that is strong enough language to list Upshaw major problem with disappearing anytime anything came up involving players and owners. It seems that he justs sits around and collects his salary and his NFL retirement pension benefits and watches the owners get fatter(wallets that is) and more powerful day by day. I would think that someone in that position would be a very strong and powerful individual and on a daily basis get in the owners faces for the benefit of the players, either retired or active, and his excuse the language bullshit answer about not being in the employment of the former NFL players, how does he think he got there in the first place. As a former player himself and a lineman to boot, he should be the very first leader of the pack and former pack to get enough to cover everyone that deserves it. Yeah, then someone will say, what about the ones that took the payout and lost it all. That's not what everyone is talking about. I know for a fact because I played then and my sons and grandsons later on that football equipment in my time was completely inferior and didn't protect much of anything. But the size of the players wasn't anywhere near what it is today. Bigger, faster, stronger bla bla bla heard it all before. The ones that need it today deserve it no matter what the situation or causes. If one of the few from the 40's and 50's are in need of help then what the hell is stopping them from helping them. The owners are and have been greedy, cheap and in some cases didn't give a damn about the health of their players except while they were playing for them making them millions of dollars in revenue, TV/Radiol rights and advertizing and marketing. My grandkids all in the twenties think I am too hard on the owners and even the union but my feelings for all the former players goes way to deep. Same thing can be said about the government and its veterans. It is just two peas in a pod concept.. Government aka NFL ownership Horse of another color so I will not go there today. The NFL as an organization has done tons of good in the past and the present but something has to give now. I have been bagged on here by some of the readers about my opinions and comments on money being the bottomline. If after reading and looking at all the news stories about what is happening in this incident and the tragic situation with former NFL players you really don't come to the opinion that money isn't the bottom line for not caring or helping then what the hell is................................
posted by The Old Man at 04:25 PM on June 16, 2007
Howard fastest in history to 100 homers
One more thing, Just Gary, I maybe old and slow and it takes me a while to get some of the points of the younger generations but let me tell you something, this we or us bullshit has come from living more in my 88 years than you will ever live in your small simple uncomplex existence. If I was 40 years younger I would to put it in a language that even you can understand go over to your house and kick your ass from one side of the room to the other. And yes I speak for myself at all times and most of the statements I make I can back up with the knowledge of living in two centuries and through one world war (II) Vietnam, Korea, and assorted other little military problems. So if you don't like what I have to say then I guess I won't say it. I try not to disrespect anyone but if I have then once again I am sorry.