I liked to build teams of rookies and have them play seasons against the real major league teams. Mike Dunne and Joe Magrane were the stars of my 1987 pitching staff. Good offense, of course.

Disclaimer: Wikipeia certainly isn’ the be all end all. Hahaha!

In fact, of the 76 pitchers who threw enough innings to qualify for the ERA title 49 of them had an ERA under 3.00

So…it wasn’t just Gibson!

Yet another reason why wins are an incredibly silly stat to judge pitchers by.

Rickey Henderson
Wade Boggs
Mike Schmidt
Robin Yount
Cal Ripken
Alan Trammell
Eddie Murray
George Brett
Tim Raines
Ozzie Smith
Gary Carter
Dale Murphy
Andre Dawson
Keith Hernandez
Lou Whitaker
Paul Molitor
Willie Randolph
Ryne Sandberg
Don Mattingly
Tony Gwynn
Lance Parrish
Kirk Gibson
Carlton Fisk
Nolan Ryan (just as good as he was in the 70s)
Bert Blyleven
Roger Clemens
Steve Carlton (best years were early 80s)
Dwight Gooden
Fernando Vlenzuela
Frank Viola

Yeah, the pitchers don’t really stack up. Longevity and health was a much bigger factor in ending careers than it is with modern surgical procedures.

….and it isn’t a high horse, it is called data. If people post casual observations or “conclusions” that aren’t based on information, and, in fact, are in opposition to said information, I’ll point out that that fact.

Independent studies on baseballs confirms variations in baseball composition that co-incide with HR spikes INDEPENDENT of ball use changes. Stiffer cores, use of synthetics, heavier balls have all been noted.

I’ll link the study that gets the most attention:
http://steroids-and-baseball.com/changing-baseball.shtml

But then baseball weights have hardly been consistent. In the 60′s there were spikes in HRs as Maris & Mantle threatened Ruth’s HR record. Again, tests on the ball confirm a differently weighted ball.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1072921/3/index.htm

Mathew’s point about a “rabbit” ball are well made. That 1987 ball contained synthetics in its wrap. It was drier and firmer. In the mid-90′s the same thing happened: the ball had more synthetic, this time including the core. Each time, HR spikes.

it was all of them, i think.

same thing with the single season abberation, i imagine.

i mean really…it was game wide…that speaks to the environment being different, for everyone…

I also blame 1987 for inflating the value of baseball cards and creating many false “future hall of famers” and superstar rookies. It seemed like every rookie or young guy that year hit at least 20 homeruns and there were any number of guys who seemed poised to join the 500 club with enough longevity. Or in the cases of guys like Wally Joyner, you (or me as an 8 year-old) would see a guy who hit .290 with 22 HR as a rookie and follow that up with a 34 HR season and just think this was a guy who was maturing and progressing in his development as a slugger.

The 80s was a kind of crummy time for offensive baseball. What is the problem with that statement?

The most fun team to play with was the Detroit Tigers, because they were the only team you could build an All-Over-20-Home-Run team at each position from 1985-1992:

C- Matt Nokes
1B: Cecil Fielder
2B: Lou Whitaker
SS: Alan Trammel
3B: Travis Fryman
OF: Chet Lemon
OF: Kirk Gibson
OF: Rob Deer
DH: Mickey Tettleton

That hate anything Tigers. Freehan should be in too.Look at his numbers in context of all of it being in the “second dead ball era”

5 Catchers voted into the HOF that played post WW2? Five?, they’ll bump that up soon with Pudge Rodriguez and eventually Piazza….but Nobody that started their career from 1949 to 1967.

Oh, and in 1987 , BBWAA, it was Trammell’s Tigers that caught and passed Bell’s Blue Jays from a 2 game deficit by sweeping the 3 game last series of the season, with Trammell increasing his BA from 324 to 343 the last month to win the batting title, hitting .417 and OPS 1.167 that month, with 7 of his 28 HR down the stretch…SMOKING HOT….while Bell goes 1-11 in that decisive series and is outhomered by Tram in September. 7-6…BRUTAL, BBWAA, BRUTAL…