tbone413 said:

I would be curious to see the success those guys had in their 30s compared to guys nowadays. While the amount of season ending injuries may be similar now to what it was in the 50s-60s, I have to imagine that guys arent just completely getting dead arm at age 31 like many of the greats did back then (Kofax is a prime example..)

I have no data to back this up, but just my thoughts...If there is anything showing the effectiveness of pitchers 30+ now vs 40 years ago Id love to see it.

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Rebbiv said:

Prior to 1950, the mound was NO MORE than 15" and teams adjusted it between 0-15".

Between 1951 and 1968, it was set at exactly 15", giving the advantage to pitchers.

In 1969, it was lowered to 10".



For me, mound height had a lot to do with pitchers being able to throw without much stress and exertion. When they lowered the mound, it became more stressful. Additionally, certainly pitches create stress. For instance, the split finger was in vogue in the 1980s-1990s and many a pitcher that threw that pitch or a fork ball had arm issues.

Greg Maddux did fairly well be just mixing speeds and spotting his location. Today it is all about the velocity and the art of pitching is gone. Frank Tanana went from a flam thrower to an effective pitcher once he had arm trouble.

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