Why today's baseball is not like yesterday's (Reason No. 453)

Because Monday afternoon on ESPN Radio, Sports nation cohost Orestes Destrade said this, when asked who he thought will be the next 300-game starting pitcher in Major League Baseball:

"It's generally accepted in today's game that the new 300 is widely considered to be 250ish."

Huh?

Comments

[CoachTommy]

What has become of baseball, especially the pitching. Starters nowadays are set up men, go five or six innings and you're hailed as the next Lefty Grove, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Dizzy Dean, Dazzy Vance, Van Lingle Mungo, Nolan Ryan, Walter Boom Boom Beck or Losing Pitcher Hugh Mulcahy. Those were the days of real pitchers.
Once you went to the game in anticipation of the pitching matchup and expectations, davoring the type of game it might be by Hubbell vs. Dean, Koufax vs. Gibson, Feller vs. anybody.
Now it's Who's in Relief?...where the games are decided.
Pedro, six innings and batting practice, Martinez is considered Hall of Fame material. He pitched 12 complete games early in his career as an Expo and hasn't come within shouting distance of that number since.
It's so bad, they seldom carry "complete games" statistics in the league leaders column.
The idea, I suppose, is to reduce disabling arm injuries. Maybe, but the DL's do not seem to reflect it.
Bob Gibson, for example, pitched as many complete games in a season as the combined season's efforts of National and American Leagues.
I can picture it now, the manager trudging out to the mound to lift Gibson, "You have a 1-0 lead, but you are getting close to 100 pitches and you must be tired. We're bringing Boom Boom to nail it down for you."
Last fall, commentators marveled at the 73 passes a Texas Tech quarterback had thrown during a game. One commentator amended, "That's nothing, he throws over 200 passes a day in practice." Of course, the logical explanation is that Throwing a football is so much easier.

[CoachTommy]

What has become of baseball, especially the pitching. Starters nowadays are set up men, go five or six innings and you're hailed as the next Lefty Grove, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Dizzy Dean, Dazzy Vance, Van Lingle Mungo, Nolan Ryan, Walter Boom Boom Beck or Losing Pitcher Hugh Mulcahy. Those were the days of real pitchers.
Once you went to the game in anticipation of the pitching matchup and expectations, davoring the type of game it might be by Hubbell vs. Dean, Koufax vs. Gibson, Feller vs. anybody.
Now it's Who's in Relief?...where the games are decided.
Pedro, six innings and batting practice, Martinez is considered Hall of Fame material. He pitched 12 complete games early in his career as an Expo and hasn't come within shouting distance of that number since.
It's so bad, they seldom carry "complete games" statistics in the league leaders column.
The idea, I suppose, is to reduce disabling arm injuries. Maybe, but the DL's do not seem to reflect it.
Bob Gibson, for example, pitched as many complete games in a season as the combined season's efforts of National and American Leagues.
I can picture it now, the manager trudging out to the mound to lift Gibson, "You have a 1-0 lead, but you are getting close to 100 pitches and you must be tired. We're bringing Boom Boom to nail it down for you."
Last fall, commentators marveled at the 73 passes a Texas Tech quarterback had thrown during a game. One commentator amended, "That's nothing, he throws over 200 passes a day in practice." Of course, the logical explanation is that Throwing a football is so much easier.