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OldRed wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:35 am

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:06 am Baseball players are in better shape now, than ever before...they are like peak racing cars...which also breakdown.

Bob Feller once told me players today look like they are in shape, but they are not. Players today think lifting weights makes them look in shape. Players in the worked in the off season on real jobs like Richie Hebner who dug graves. Others worked on farms or had jobs that required strength.

Again, just my opinion.

And they walked up hill to school, both ways, without shoes.

Conditioning is the key. If one is in top physical condition and hydrated, heat and humidity are irrelevant.

rockondlouie wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 09:09 am

Jatalk wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:16 am A lot of folks are claiming SG can’t handle the heat. I doubt his endurance is much less than any other player. I agree players are in much better shape now than ever before. I know us old timers want to say we were tougher, lived in harder times, etc. let’s give it a break.

S. Gray's issues w/the heat is he can't get a good grip.

His decline is due to this ....36 yrs old in Nov.

Small guy. Probably small hands too.

In my 20’s when I dug graves at the cemetery as my summer job for 8 hours per day, I remember coming home ‘dead’ tired at 4 pm.

The good thing though was the cemetery maintenance director told me if I ever croaked from digging in the hole, they would just shovel the dirt back in the hole on top of me and put gravestone on top.
No charge to my family. Nice perk!

Odd though that my wife often encouraged me to work overtime!

OldRed wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 07:47 am Such a shame some players in their 30's can't handle heat and humidity. What if they worked outside on concrete jobs or road jobs for 8 hours in the heat of the day like so many in our hot humid summers.

Also, think of years past when most games were played in the daytime.

My rant for today.

I stuck out my thumb and headed west from StL as soon as I could. It’s not just some baseball players that can’t stand heat and humidity with a StL vengeance.

I miss those good ol’ days when they played hungover, dehydrated and threw 82 mph fastballs.

Quincy Varnish wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 12:02 pm I miss those good ol’ days when they played hungover, dehydrated and threw 82 mph fastballs.

Yeah.Babe Ruth kept in tip top shape working out at the bar several hours per day and night.

Quincy Varnish wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 12:02 pm I miss those good ol’ days when they played hungover, dehydrated and threw 82 mph fastballs.

I get tired of you constantly running down Brad Thompson…

OldRed wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:35 am

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:06 am Baseball players are in better shape now, than ever before...they are like peak racing cars...which also breakdown.

Bob Feller once told me players today look like they are in shape, but they are not. Players today think lifting weights makes them look in shape. Players in the worked in the off season on real jobs like Richie Hebner who dug graves. Others worked on farms or had jobs that required strength.

Again, just my opinion.

Don’t forget, these old timers wore wool unis when they played those day games. How about a DH in Sportsman Park in August wearing wool?

Rojo Johnson wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 12:13 pm

OldRed wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:35 am

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:06 am Baseball players are in better shape now, than ever before...they are like peak racing cars...which also breakdown.

Bob Feller once told me players today look like they are in shape, but they are not. Players today think lifting weights makes them look in shape. Players in the worked in the off season on real jobs like Richie Hebner who dug graves. Others worked on farms or had jobs that required strength.

Again, just my opinion.

Don’t forget, these old timers wore wool unis when they played those day games. How about a DH in Sportsman Park in August wearing wool?

Better than at Busch 2 with turf at 160*

Some fans can’t handle the heat. I was there vs Yankees when the field temp was 96 at 730. That sucked.


Side note. Any Yankee fan with a name on their jersey ain’t a true Yankee fan.

Absolut wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:26 am

Jatalk wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:16 am A lot of folks are claiming SG can’t handle the heat. I doubt his endurance is much less than any other player. I agree players are in much better shape now than ever before. I know us old timers want to say we were tougher, lived in harder times, etc. let’s give it a break.

My understanding is it’s an issue gripping the ball when he’s pouring sweat.

Then If he spreads his index and middle fingers over the seams, he’ll have a hell of a spitball, err, sinker.

Let's face it: Lots of modern baseball players are pampered pusssies.

rockondlouie wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 09:09 am

Jatalk wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 08:16 am A lot of folks are claiming SG can’t handle the heat. I doubt his endurance is much less than any other player. I agree players are in much better shape now than ever before. I know us old timers want to say we were tougher, lived in harder times, etc. let’s give it a break.

S. Gray's issues w/the heat is he can't get a good grip.

His decline is due to this ....36 yrs old in Nov.

Gray should say yes to a trade to a team with a roofed stadium.
air conditioned 70 degrees.

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025 10:35 am
And they walked up hill to school, both ways, without shoes.

Actually, I did. It was 1 mile to school. I lived on a long and steep hill which ran down to the "city" branch. Then went back up hill to the school I attended. We did wear shoes, but preferred that walk to taking the bus.

The conditioning being discussed here is entirely different forms of conditioning. When I was working with my father as a plumber or with the Natural Gas company as a laborer, I could handle the heat, hated the cold, but I was not powerfully built and strong for quick action power. Different kinds of strength. Also we tended to go to work earlier (5:00 a.m.) in extremely hot weather and get done about 2:00 p.m.

Hard to compare eras. People say the players from a previous era couldn't play today. Give players from yesteryear today's facilities, training and medicine/surgery and the best of that era could play today.

Conversely put today's players in an era with poor facilities, no trainers or modern medicine and see how they would do. I looked up Babe Ruth's final season with the Boston Braves. They played 36 double headers. 72 games were part of a double header.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/team ... ores.shtml

Ride a train from city to city. No air conditioning on the train on clubhouse. No trainer to help with minor injuries. No surgeon for a major injury. Play nearly half the schedule as double headers. Then work a job in the off season because the baseball salary wasn't enough to pay the bills.

How many of today's pitchers have had arm surgery? They would have been forced to retire back in the old days. Ohtani is an example. Without the DH he would have to retire. Can't play with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Even first basemen have to be able to throw.

There was also no umpire stopping a pitcher from throwing inside, no batting helmet and no plastic shield on the elbow, hand, foot.