Do baseball have speedy players anymore?

[the wiz]

I was at a baseball game Saturday watching the Cards and the Cubs game. I watch the game from my wife’s company LUXUARY BOX. While watching the game my mind wondered back to when I was younger

I remember seeing a handful of baseball players like Willie McGhee with the ability to run from 1st base all the way home off a single.

Do baseball still have players with that type of speed today?

 

[C.K. Storyteller]

I think there are some fast players around today, though I don't know how fast some of the older players were.

I do remember seeing Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston Red Sox), make it from first to home on a deep single last year.

Jimmy Rollins is also supposedly quite fast.

 

[milagros317]

In the NL, Jose Reyes, Juan Pierre, and Rafael Furcal come to mind, among others. 😀

 

[Sleepy Jean]

Speed is not as important today in MLB as it was in the 1960s and '70s and even '80s. The old ballparks were bowl shaped to accomodate football and baseball. They were pitcher friendly. After the Mantle-Maris home run race 1961 the commisioner widened the strike zone. Pitchers had the upper hand. So because runs were harder to produce and ballparks had much more ground to cover, speed was important.

The new ballparks are smaller and far more hitter friendly. Plus, the ball is far more lively than it once was. I won't even get into the size of today's player. Television has declared the home run to be sacred, so who wants to run his team out of an inning when he's standing on first base and the big behemoth at the plate could go over the wall on the next pitch?

I do miss the days of Lou Brock, Bert Campanaris, Willie Wilson, Willie McGee, Brett Butler, Luis Aparicio and, of course, Ricky Henderson. I like hit-and-run and squeeze plays and double steals and stuff you don't see much anymore because power hitters make the big money so everyone wants to be a home run machine.

Love,
Jean

 

[phutball]

Ichiro is fast. Remember the inside the park homer he ran out in the all-star game a year or two ago?

 

[milagros317]

It should be noted that speed was a major part of MLB through the end of the dead-ball era, up until 1920. The lively ball changed that and home runs became much more prevalent and important. Thus Ty Cobb's record of 96 stolen bases in a season, set in 1915, stood for almost 50 years.

The re-introduction of speed to MLB came in 1947 when Dodger player Jackie Robinson showed how effective it could be. And let us not forget the the first man to steal 100+ bases in a season, breaking Cobb's record in the process, was Dodger player Maurie Wills. 😀

 

[Goodieluver]

If you want speed, look to Tampa bay

 

[the wiz]

Speed is not as important today in MLB as it was in the 1960s and '70s and even '80s. The old ballparks were bowl shaped to accomodate football and baseball. They were pitcher friendly. After the Mantle-Maris home run race 1961 the commisioner widened the strike zone. Pitchers had the upper hand. So because runs were harder to produce and ballparks had much more ground to cover, speed was important.

The new ballparks are smaller and far more hitter friendly. Plus, the ball is far more lively than it once was. I won't even get into the size of today's player. Television has declared the home run to be sacred, so who wants to run his team out of an inning when he's standing on first base and the big behemoth at the plate could go over the wall on the next pitch?

I do miss the days of Lou Brock, Bert Campanaris, Willie Wilson, Willie McGee, Brett Butler, Luis Aparicio and, of course, Ricky Henderson. I like hit-and-run and squeeze plays and double steals and stuff you don't see much anymore because power hitters make the big money so everyone wants to be a home run machine.

Love,
Jean

I agree; the ball parks are smaller. We just built a new one a couple of years ago. Saturday was the first time I been there, it was have the size of the old stadium.

Even thou I do live to see home runs, for me the game is more exciting to see people stealing bases, trying to stretch a single into a double or triple.

 

[Sleepy Jean]

Yes, Jackie Robinson did show how important speed could be, but it really wasn't until Ford Frick (an Indiana native, born not very far from where we live) made what is now considered a dumbass decision by widening the zone that speed became essential for most teams. My Cubs once had Lou Brock, but his talents were wasted in a tiny yard like Wrigley Field.

Frick thought it was unnatural that so many home runs were being hit in 1961 so then the pitchers had an unfair (IMO) advantage and so teams needed to manufacture runs. How else do you win a game when Sandy Koufax pitches against Bob Gibson?

There are fast guys in MLB, but hitting, power hitting, has the upper hand. Maybe deadening the ball a little would bring back some balance.

 

[the wiz]

I agree when you had Big Mac and Salsa battling for the HR title it was an very exciting time in baseball. However, the possibility of having two players doing that again is highly unlikely without some help.

The excitement in the game is watching the players fly across the bases; and watching the outfielders trying to gun someone out. Now, you only have walk, single, walk, Home Run, Walk, Walk, Single and maybe a double.