re: How would Babe Ruth fare in the steroid era?

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I hope you're joking if you think athletes from the '20s were as good/athletic as guys from today.

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I think you're overestimating the evolution of humans in 100 years. That may seem like a long time, but it's not long enough to evolve athleticism. Today's baseball players are probably better athletes due to the much wider pool of people to choose from. Today's athletes are obviously in better shape due to diet, training, and again that pool of people to pick from. And they're likely much more skilled having more time and resources to train.

And I agree that a fringe player today would be really good in 1920, and a fringe player then couldn't sniff the bigs now. But there's just no way to count out the greats of 100 years ago being able to compete today. And to think that some outlier couldn't throw in the 90s is absurd. You think there was no such thing as a 6'4" man 100 years ago? One that maybe didn't work out with weights, but bailed hay all day long?


I was trying to find out how big Walter Johnson was and came across this some interesting tidbits. He grew up on a farm in Kansas, then started working in the oilfields when he was 14. He was "only" 6'1", but was nicknamed "The Big Swede" or "The Big Train." He also had freakishly long arms at 34." Much longer than normal for his height, longer even than Cy Falkenburg and Carl Weilman of the Sam era, who stood 6'5" and 6'6" respectively.

So, I'd imagine he had a Pedro-like whip, generating much more velocity than he would appear to have been able to.

Ty Cobb said this the first time he faced him:

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"On August 2, 1907, I encountered the most threatening sight I ever saw in the ball field. He was a rookie, and we licked our lips as we warmed up for the first game of a doubleheader in Washington. Evidently, manager Pongo Joe Cantillon of the Nats had picked a rube out of the cornfields of the deepest bushes to pitch against us. ... He was a tall, shambling galoot of about twenty, with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves, and with a sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance. ... One of the Tigers imitated a cow mooing, and we hollered at Cantillon: 'Get the pitchfork ready, Joe—your hayseed's on his way back to the barn.' ... The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him. ... every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park

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And this is just Walter Johnson. Ty Cobb was 6'1" and Cy Young was 6'2". I agree that players on the whole are much better today. But to pretend that it was a bunch of midgets running around against each other throwing 70 mph iin 1920 is absurd. Greatness plays. In any era.