OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - Interesting Test (concerning Barry Bonds and the Giants)

rogmax11 · 03-28-2005, 08:07 PM

DCG12 gets it.

When I was in my 20's, most of the old-timers that I listened to spoke of Lefty Grove in the same reverential tones we are using about Koufax. I never saw Grove pitch, except for a few grainy newsreel-type clips, so Ive got the same frame of reference as the guys here who missed Koufax. I just assumed that the old guys were lost in nostalgia and unable to appreciate greatness displaying itself in front of them. Perhaps the same mechanism is at work here, but my deepest gut feelings tell me I am recalling correctly the sense of seeing something unlike anyone else in my experience.
Ive seen overpowering performances: Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson being literally unhittable, Burt Hooten throwing screwy breaking stuff that looked like whiffleball curves, Dick Radatz and Sam McDowell seemingly 10 feet tall with supersonic fastballs. Hell, for hilarity alone, watching Phil Neikro bedevil the Giants with knucklers that looked like my grandson could hit--and that Mays couldnt--was awe inspiring. Koufax was just...different, and I wish I could quantify that difference, but I suspect that it transcends mere numbers.
So I agree: we codgers will cheerfully agree to disagree on Pedro vs. Sandy since its impossible to prove anyway, and leave it at that. I do hold Pedro responsible for being the prototype for all these damned uber-pitchers that OOTP cranks out so routinely: the numbers he has posted are as cartoonishly one-sided for a pitcher as are the ballooning HR totals put up by the juice generation. Its all good, at least for impassioned discourse.

03-28-2005, 08:07 PM	#546
rogmax11 All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 1,320	DCG12 gets it. When I was in my 20's, most of the old-timers that I listened to spoke of Lefty Grove in the same reverential tones we are using about Koufax. I never saw Grove pitch, except for a few grainy newsreel-type clips, so Ive got the same frame of reference as the guys here who missed Koufax. I just assumed that the old guys were lost in nostalgia and unable to appreciate greatness displaying itself in front of them. Perhaps the same mechanism is at work here, but my deepest gut feelings tell me I am recalling correctly the sense of seeing something unlike anyone else in my experience. Ive seen overpowering performances: Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson being literally unhittable, Burt Hooten throwing screwy breaking stuff that looked like whiffleball curves, Dick Radatz and Sam McDowell seemingly 10 feet tall with supersonic fastballs. Hell, for hilarity alone, watching Phil Neikro bedevil the Giants with knucklers that looked like my grandson could hit--and that Mays couldnt--was awe inspiring. Koufax was just...different, and I wish I could quantify that difference, but I suspect that it transcends mere numbers. So I agree: we codgers will cheerfully agree to disagree on Pedro vs. Sandy since its impossible to prove anyway, and leave it at that. I do hold Pedro responsible for being the prototype for all these damned uber-pitchers that OOTP cranks out so routinely: the numbers he has posted are as cartoonishly one-sided for a pitcher as are the ballooning HR totals put up by the juice generation. Its all good, at least for impassioned discourse.