I think one of the greatest reasons why attendance and television viewership in baseball surged during the 70s was that most games during the week were being played at night . Any average fan could attend a ballgame, or watch the game after they got off from work whether it’s at home or from a bar or restaurant .
While there have been a lot of advances in sports medicine and technology, the number of players who are injured seems to go up. This is especially true with pitchers. Lowering the mound changed the way pitchers threw and I wonder how much of a role tweaking with a pitchers mechanics has played in arm injuries? The body will fight like crazy against anything you try to do to hurt it. That is the point of pain. Everyone has a natural way of doing a physical act and movements are sometimes unique to the individual. I know this from playing guitar. My hand motions were different from other people. I had to learn technique but a lot of the technique I was taught was so foreign to me that I went back to my original way of doing it and I was fine or even better for it. It's the same way with a golf swing. My swing isn't pretty but it works for me. I have to believe it is the same with throwing a baseball. All this messing with release points and such taxes the arm. I'm not a doctor, but I have to believe more than a few pitchers have sustained injuries as a result of doing something their body saw as a threat.
Cool channel. If you haven't already read John Helyar's "Lords of the Realm", I highly recommend it. It's a fascinating account of the history of the game.
I'm not sure MLB can be said to have started in 1876. The National League's predecessor, the National Association, is considered a major league for statistical purposes. Fingers' first name is pronounced "raw-lee" not "row-lee." The strike zone was not "widened" in 1969. It was shortened. The width--the same as the width of home plate--stayed the same. Burke died of AIDS in 1995 at 42. Two major changes to popularize football: national color broadcasts and parity (which included revenue-sharing). In baseball, larger markets dominate. In football, a tiny market like Green Bay or Buffalo can win. (Okay, not Buffalo, but 4 straight trips to the Super Bowl!) Ancillary: the NFL was marketed nationwide; baseball was and is largely local. When the players won on the reserve clause, every potential free agent had to play one year without a contract. Owners could lower their salaries by a maximum of 10% Then, the player was free to leave. This was called "playing out your option." Needless to say, this was going to upset the entire situation, not good for either side. The players, having the strongest union in sports, negotiated from a position of strength, kept younger players "on the farm" for 6 years and freed up everyone else. TJ surgery is a miracle. Before it, players would suffer from "dead arm" (like Dizzy Dean) or "arthritis" (like Sandy Koufax) when, in fact, it was their elbow. But this surgery has become all-to-common because pitchers now a) throw the slider, an elbow-killer, b) spin every pitch, even fastballs, and c) throw every pitch (except change-ups) at maximum velocity. This is why starting pitchers throw much fewer innings and are on pretty strict pitch counts. They can't do what Johnson (Randy or Walter), Maddux, or Carlton could back in the day. Players drank beer after the games to come down from the greenies (amphetamines) they took to play the games. Greenies: the original PEDs.
@@thebaseballprofessor It's hard to get everything perfect, and easy to sit on the sidelines and point out mistakes. Yours is a stunningly accurate and tender portrayal of America's pastime and all who read it should cherish it. The errors are few and minor.
The Texas Rangers were not an expansion team. The Washington Senators relocated to Dallas, creating the Rangers. As for the DH, yes it was sold as a way to increase run scoring but in reality is was pushed by the players union as a way to create a spot for players who could hit but were a liability defensively. Part of this was aimed at older players, a way to allow them to play a few more years. My team is in the AL but I never liked the DH. I get it, most pitchers couldn't hit their weight, but taking them out of the lineup affected the strategy. Do you leave a guy in in the 5th of a 1-1 ballgame or roll the dice and risk losing the game as a result of taking out a pitcher who was tossing a good game? I remember the WS game where Tommy John got pulled for a pinch hitter in a tight game where he was pitching well and the Yankees ended up losing to the Dodgers. The look on Tommy John's face as he scowled in the dugout was priceless. I know I'm in the minority but I like the strategic element of the game, the decision to pull a guy, the double switch. All that goes away with the DH. But that's me.
@@jasonfire3434 I know, but the way it was put here the narrator made it sound like the Rangers were an expansion team, not a team that had relocated from another city.
The attendance at MLB games was still affordable for working class for most teams for all but playoffs when teams changed this for the upper seats in 2010's either with a new beyond expensive stadium or a major expensive renovation for a single use stadium or to keep the old stadium still going for another 100 years. This is why it was not as expensive to go to a game, same for some NFL in Dual use NFL/MLB Stadiums still being used as Dual Use into the 2000's when all but one failed and that one nobody wants to go to games in a city that 90% of is Gang Run, Police can't even help so they had to raise the price of tickets for the NFL, MLB left there and share a stadium with Giants.
I think one of the greatest reasons why attendance and television viewership in baseball surged during the 70s was that most games during the week were being played at night . Any average fan could attend a ballgame, or watch the game after they got off from work whether it’s at home or from a bar or restaurant .
Always have disliked DH. Been watching the lectures in order, digging it .
Thanks man, great video to watch while it’s too hot outside
Thank you so much for these lectures I have not studied baseball in the same conversation as you aree delivering it
Repeated Dominance...
Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson won 5 rings with Oakland & Yankees. The birth of Free Agency impacted the game immediately.
While there have been a lot of advances in sports medicine and technology, the number of players who are injured seems to go up. This is especially true with pitchers. Lowering the mound changed the way pitchers threw and I wonder how much of a role tweaking with a pitchers mechanics has played in arm injuries?
The body will fight like crazy against anything you try to do to hurt it. That is the point of pain. Everyone has a natural way of doing a physical act and movements are sometimes unique to the individual. I know this from playing guitar. My hand motions were different from other people. I had to learn technique but a lot of the technique I was taught was so foreign to me that I went back to my original way of doing it and I was fine or even better for it. It's the same way with a golf swing. My swing isn't pretty but it works for me.
I have to believe it is the same with throwing a baseball. All this messing with release points and such taxes the arm. I'm not a doctor, but I have to believe more than a few pitchers have sustained injuries as a result of doing something their body saw as a threat.
This was also the decade where the World Series was first played at night.
3:52 Rollie Fingers' first name is pronounced like "Raleigh" (not Row-lee).
Thanks
@@thebaseballprofessor You're welcome 🙂
In 1969 the Seattle Pilots were the expansion team but they moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers in 1970.
Cool channel. If you haven't already read John Helyar's "Lords of the Realm", I highly recommend it. It's a fascinating account of the history of the game.
I still haven't read "Lords of the Realm". Thanks for reminding me of it.
I'm not sure MLB can be said to have started in 1876. The National League's predecessor, the National Association, is considered a major league for statistical purposes.
Fingers' first name is pronounced "raw-lee" not "row-lee."
The strike zone was not "widened" in 1969. It was shortened. The width--the same as the width of home plate--stayed the same.
Burke died of AIDS in 1995 at 42.
Two major changes to popularize football: national color broadcasts and parity (which included revenue-sharing). In baseball, larger markets dominate. In football, a tiny market like Green Bay or Buffalo can win. (Okay, not Buffalo, but 4 straight trips to the Super Bowl!) Ancillary: the NFL was marketed nationwide; baseball was and is largely local.
When the players won on the reserve clause, every potential free agent had to play one year without a contract. Owners could lower their salaries by a maximum of 10% Then, the player was free to leave. This was called "playing out your option." Needless to say, this was going to upset the entire situation, not good for either side. The players, having the strongest union in sports, negotiated from a position of strength, kept younger players "on the farm" for 6 years and freed up everyone else.
TJ surgery is a miracle. Before it, players would suffer from "dead arm" (like Dizzy Dean) or "arthritis" (like Sandy Koufax) when, in fact, it was their elbow. But this surgery has become all-to-common because pitchers now a) throw the slider, an elbow-killer, b) spin every pitch, even fastballs, and c) throw every pitch (except change-ups) at maximum velocity. This is why starting pitchers throw much fewer innings and are on pretty strict pitch counts. They can't do what Johnson (Randy or Walter), Maddux, or Carlton could back in the day.
Players drank beer after the games to come down from the greenies (amphetamines) they took to play the games. Greenies: the original PEDs.
Thanks for pointing out my errors and offering commentary on other matters.
@@thebaseballprofessor It's hard to get everything perfect, and easy to sit on the sidelines and point out mistakes. Yours is a stunningly accurate and tender portrayal of America's pastime and all who read it should cherish it. The errors are few and minor.
@@richdouglas2311 Thanks Rich. I really appreciate your compliment.
The Texas Rangers were not an expansion team. The Washington Senators relocated to Dallas, creating the Rangers. As for the DH, yes it was sold as a way to increase run scoring but in reality is was pushed by the players union as a way to create a spot for players who could hit but were a liability defensively. Part of this was aimed at older players, a way to allow them to play a few more years.
My team is in the AL but I never liked the DH. I get it, most pitchers couldn't hit their weight, but taking them out of the lineup affected the strategy. Do you leave a guy in in the 5th of a 1-1 ballgame or roll the dice and risk losing the game as a result of taking out a pitcher who was tossing a good game? I remember the WS game where Tommy John got pulled for a pinch hitter in a tight game where he was pitching well and the Yankees ended up losing to the Dodgers. The look on Tommy John's face as he scowled in the dugout was priceless. I know I'm in the minority but I like the strategic element of the game, the decision to pull a guy, the double switch. All that goes away with the DH. But that's me.
The Senators team that moved to Texas was an expansion team. The original Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins.
@@jasonfire3434 I know, but the way it was put here the narrator made it sound like the Rangers were an expansion team, not a team that had relocated from another city.
NFL became more popular in the 1960’s, as color TV became available. Football works better on TV than other sports
The attendance at MLB games was still affordable for working class for most teams for all but playoffs when teams changed this for the upper seats in 2010's either with a new beyond expensive stadium or a major expensive renovation for a single use stadium or to keep the old stadium still going for another 100 years. This is why it was not as expensive to go to a game, same for some NFL in Dual use NFL/MLB Stadiums still being used as Dual Use into the 2000's when all but one failed and that one nobody wants to go to games in a city that 90% of is Gang Run, Police can't even help so they had to raise the price of tickets for the NFL, MLB left there and share a stadium with Giants.
Long-winded gasbag.
The DH is wack.