- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Coaching Changes
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Roberto Clemente, could he compete in today's MLB?
Posted on 6/13/25 at 10:29 am to dukke v
Posted on 6/13/25 at 10:29 am to dukke v
The only thing Babe would need to do is get used to guys throwing way more heat and that wouldn’t have taken him too long. Elite hand eye coordination is elite no matter the era. Also, it’s not like the guy was a blimp his whole career. He was extremely athletic for most of his career and fat in that era is nowhere near what fat is now. Plus you have to consider when he played they didn’t even have standard mounds, parks were huge, and balls were not changed out every time a tiny bit of dirt got on them. So while pitching speed would be an adjustment the conformity of the mounds, balls, and smaller parks would be a big help.
This post was edited on 6/13/25 at 10:35 am
2
Posted on 6/13/25 at 10:47 am to Dr RC
The George Ruth who revolutionized baseball in 1920 was a 6-2, 215-pound world class athlete without an ounce of fat on him. The done-lap disease came way later.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 10:50 am to michael corleone
Aaron had a rifle arm too but he didn’t show it off, he just threw your arse out and went on about his business.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 11:59 am to msudawg1200
The shame of it today with cheapskate billionaire with a B Bob Nutting, three lifelong Pirate hall-of-famers with statues outside of PNC Park (Clemente, Mazeroski and Stargell) none would have been lifelong Pirates as Nutting wouldn't pay them market value. McCutchen should have been a lifelong Pirate and Nutting wouldn't pay him despite him earning far below market value in his prime years.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 1:13 pm to InkStainedWretch
Aaron could not run or throw with Clemente, and Kaline could not throw or hit with Clemente
Posted on 6/13/25 at 2:22 pm to The Scofflaw
This is an absolutely asinine question. Yes, hell you could probably pluck him from his era, drop him in this era, and he'd still be a consistent all-star without modern training techniques.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 2:27 pm to danilo
Danilo
Do you know why he ONLY has 3000 hits ? He hit .312 in an injury shortened season. Went 4/17 in the playoffs despite playing while hurt. He died 2 months later in a plane crash trying to deliver food and supplies to Puerto Rico after an earth quake. He also played some early year in PR pro ball before being identified and brought the states.
Roberto and Willie each have 12 gold gloves. The most of any outfielders to ever play. The baseball writers waived the rules in 1973 and voted him into the Hall of Fame 10 months after his last game.
Do you know why he ONLY has 3000 hits ? He hit .312 in an injury shortened season. Went 4/17 in the playoffs despite playing while hurt. He died 2 months later in a plane crash trying to deliver food and supplies to Puerto Rico after an earth quake. He also played some early year in PR pro ball before being identified and brought the states.
Roberto and Willie each have 12 gold gloves. The most of any outfielders to ever play. The baseball writers waived the rules in 1973 and voted him into the Hall of Fame 10 months after his last game.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 2:37 pm to michael corleone
You see the log Ruth swung? He'd have monster numbers with smaller strike zone & juiced balls. Imagine him or Mantle in Colorado.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 2:52 pm to FightinTigersDammit
I have a feeling we are simply going to have to agree to disagree. IMO Aaron was a superior player to Clemente and Kaline was his equal although if you put a gun to my head I would say Clemente was a little better.
IMO the greatest right fielders of all time were Ruth, Aaron, F. Robinson, Ott, Clemente, Kaline, R. Jackson, Ichiro, Gwynn and Heilmann.
But Clemente has so much narrative and is so revered that it’s hard to have a rational, unemotional discussion about him so again we will just have to agree to disagree.
IMO the greatest right fielders of all time were Ruth, Aaron, F. Robinson, Ott, Clemente, Kaline, R. Jackson, Ichiro, Gwynn and Heilmann.
But Clemente has so much narrative and is so revered that it’s hard to have a rational, unemotional discussion about him so again we will just have to agree to disagree.
This post was edited on 6/13/25 at 2:53 pm
Posted on 6/13/25 at 3:09 pm to InkStainedWretch
Obviously, Aaron had more power, and was an excellent fielder. He had a good, accurate arm, but not at Clemente's level, and I doubt he was faster.
Kaline, I think, was just half-a-step behind Clemente in most areas. Which makes him a HoFer.
I have no problem agreeing to disagree when I'm talking to someone who knows what he's talking about, but we've got some yahoos on here ..
Kaline, I think, was just half-a-step behind Clemente in most areas. Which makes him a HoFer.
I have no problem agreeing to disagree when I'm talking to someone who knows what he's talking about, but we've got some yahoos on here ..
Posted on 6/13/25 at 3:38 pm to FightinTigersDammit
Clemente actually wasn’t extraordinarily fast on the bases or in the field. The definitive Clemente biography is by David Maraniss and it goes into the minutiae of his game.
He was awful running down the line to first base, probably lost a lot of infield hits, because he wasn’t smooth, he was all arms and legs. But if he got going past first base he was a superb base runner, that along with the deep fences in Forbes Field is why he had so many triples.
He was quick rather than fast in the field, and I’ve always thought quickness and anticipation and reaction time were more important than raw speed on defense.
Ralph Garr who used to be with the Braves had demon speed and probably would have lapped Clemente in a foot race, but I can’t count the times I remember Garr overrunning balls in the outfield, he may have been the worst outfielder who ever lived.
He was awful running down the line to first base, probably lost a lot of infield hits, because he wasn’t smooth, he was all arms and legs. But if he got going past first base he was a superb base runner, that along with the deep fences in Forbes Field is why he had so many triples.
He was quick rather than fast in the field, and I’ve always thought quickness and anticipation and reaction time were more important than raw speed on defense.
Ralph Garr who used to be with the Braves had demon speed and probably would have lapped Clemente in a foot race, but I can’t count the times I remember Garr overrunning balls in the outfield, he may have been the worst outfielder who ever lived.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 4:26 pm to Dr RC
quote:
The only thing Babe would need to do is
I don't think the guy who pounded whiskey and hot dogs could handle a modern fitness regimen TBH. Even with all the talent in the world, I think he'd crash out and retire early
Posted on 6/13/25 at 4:35 pm to RB10
quote:
Modern training and all the greats would still be great.
This- you have to take into consideration the advantage modern athletes have in nutrition, physical/visual/mental training, medicine, etc.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 5:54 pm to Bigdawgb
Again, before he started pounding whiskey and hot dogs Ruth was a rock-hard (in more ways than one, his record was 23 women in one night) world-class athlete. And even when he got bigger he still trained. His hand-eye coordination and reflexes didn’t start slipping until he was 38 or 39 years old.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 5:57 pm to Tiger in Texas
Honus Wagner … who looks heavy in his pictures but wasn’t, dude had like a 55-inch chest and ripped arms … trained in the off-season back in the old days, running, chopping wood, playing rec league basketball and lifting primitive weights. He’d be all over modern training methods and would be a 600- or 700-homer man these days.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 8:02 pm to The Scofflaw
Nowadays too many alpha males bitching about the conditions of that grass.
Posted on 6/13/25 at 8:03 pm to InkStainedWretch
Another guy who swung a huge bat
Posted on 6/13/25 at 8:05 pm to InkStainedWretch
Ironically, in his later years, the Yankees had Ruth do less and less in spring training to "save his legs" when what he needed was to work them harder.
Posted on 6/14/25 at 11:57 am to FightinTigersDammit
The Babe would also like the idea of batting helmets and pitchers never throwing at your head on purpose.
Posted on 6/14/25 at 2:28 pm to InkStainedWretch
You forgot about Vlad. Dude had a cannon.
Page 2 of 3
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News