Afternoon Baseball

Admittedly, it's a bit of a stretch, but 149 years ago today, Pete Hotaling was born. He was an outfielder for several years in the 1880s for a number of teams, including Cincinnati his rookie year, where he was a teammate of HOFer King Kelly and Will White, who started and finished 75 of 81 team games. Hotaling was a very respectable player, and Kelly was a two-time batting champ with the 86th-highest adjusted OPS ever. But Hotaling was 5-foot-8, 166 pounds in the outfield, and Kelly was 5-foot-10, but only 170 playing outfield and catcher -- an inch shorter and the same weight as fragile Pedro Martinez. There's no height listed for White, but he threw 450+ innings 6 times in 7 years while weighing in at 175 pounds.

There's a million things different from the game in 1879. But one of the most forgotten differences is the size difference of the players. Today, someone like Derek Jeter is considered to be of relatively ordinary size -- perhaps slightly taller than average. Well, he's 6-foot-3, 195 pounds and a muscled guy. He'd scare the daylights out of players 125 years ago.

What size also tells us is that the biggest players in any era have often been the best players throughout the history of the game. Babe Ruth? 6-foot-2 and at least 215. Ty Cobb was 6-foot-1 and 175, big for a speedster. Jimmie Foxx was 6-foot and 195, Gehrig 5 pounds heavier, Greenberg another 5.
Among pitchers it is even more obvious. Walter Johnson was 6-foot, 200. Cy Young was 6-foot-2, 210. Grover Cleveland Alexander -- 6-foot-1, 185.
Whitey Ford is, I believe, the one pitcher under 6-foot who is in the HOF. And without playing for the 1950s-1960s Yankees and resorting to spitballing, he wouldn't have had the numbers to make it. Pedro will be the second when he makes it. His greatness is magnified by his size deficiencies.

This doesn't apply to all, of course. Eddie Collins and Rogers Hornsby are but two of many examples of smaller players from the ancient eras. But the fact remains that today's players are, in a physical regard at least, like none we've ever seen before. And that's before the steroids.