Baseball has been the great American pastime for as long as boys hit balls with bats, but today’s MLB often seems to be more about bonuses and shoe endorsements than about the love of the game. GOM has asked sports betting’s greatest living legend, Frank Rosenthal, what has changed in baseball and in baseball handicapping since the golden age of the game.
“I’m thinking back to the great, great pitchers… Two, maybe three really stand out. Number one would be Sandy Koufax, the greatest left-hander that ever went on the mound. He was virtually unbeatable when he was right – a blazing fastball near 100 miles per hour. He also had a back-breaking curve ball. In the early stages of his career he had a little control problem, once he conquered that you couldn’t beat him. It was almost unfair for a batter to challenge Sandy Koufax, that’s how good he was.
One the right-handed side, Bob Gibson from the St. Louis Cardinals, naturally a hall of famer, was somewhat like a Koufax. He throws hard, but he was meaner. If a batter were to hit a line drive foul ball against Gibson, Gibson would come back with the next pitch to knock you down. He was a focused pitcher with great talent and a lot of courage. Just a marvelous pitcher.
The third prodigy, the one that comes to mind amongst many was Satchel Paige when he was out of his prime. I would’ve loved to have seen him in his prime and I’m told by people of great authority that Satchel Paige was the greatest pitcher of all time – bar none. The racial barrier prevented Satchel Paige from getting into the major leagues during that prime.
Then there are hitters. The greatest of all time was certainly Ted Williams from the Boston Red Sox. They nicknamed him ‘the splendid splinter’. The last player to have hit 400 hundred in the major league season. To hit 400 - it’s just unthinkable.
Some would say that the greatest all around player was Joe DiMaggio, some might say it was Willie Mays, I would say it’s a dead heat between the two. I met Joe DiMaggio several times. A very classy guy, somewhat of an introvert, but one thing that everybody knew about Joe was that he was a marvelous center fielder for the Yankees.
Today’s players are a little different. There are undoubtedly some class players in baseball. Randy Johnson from the Arizona Diamondbacks, is going to be a hall of famer, Curt Schilling the same. Roger Clemens from the Yankees is a lock. I’m not quite sure I’d be able to throw Clemens in with the Sandy Koufax or a Bob Gibson, but he sure is a great player.
When major league baseball expanded like all sports have, the overall quality reduced. Some of today’s pitchers are facing minor league batters – at least batters that should be in the minor leagues. Conversely, some of today’s hitters are facing minor league pitchers, so the game has been diluted so to speak.
On the other side of the argument, today’s players are bigger, stronger, and the bats and equipment are better. It makes the baseball livelier. And there are still great players in MLB. I think you’d have to rank Barry Bonds with Ted Williams as a great hitter, and as a power hitter he equals anyone from the past. Sammy Sosa would be a second player that springs to mind.
Even though today’s players are stronger athletes, the greats of yesteryear would still dominate today’s game. The ones I’m talking about are guys like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. What some people don’t know is that Mantle played on one leg rather than two. He had one bum leg, if he had two sound legs he would have been considered the greatest player of all time. No one today could play baseball any better than Williams, DiMaggio, and Mantle and you couldn’t pitch better than Koufax and Ford, impossible. They had all the tools. If you want to switch sports, that’s a horse of a different color. There are better Football players and Basketball players today, yes; but not in baseball.
The one thing in baseball that hasn’t changed is handicapping. 75-80% of MLB handicapping is based on the pitcher. The pitcher is the name of the game, he controls everything. Good pitching has always beat good hitting – then and now. No matter how great a hitter, when the pitcher has his stuff, he is in control. The only guys other than the pitcher that can move the line are greats like Mantle, Williams, Willie Mays…they would make a difference. But no baseball player in today’s game would be worth more than 10-15 cents, and 15 cents would be a stretch. The greatest influence on modern MLB handicapping is probably Barry Bonds. He’s worth a dime, you might get a few people saying he’s worth 15 cents. That’s the max.
The other thing that has changed over the game is that major league baseball has become so protective of their players. Years ago it was common practice to throw at a hitter and there was very little discipline from the umpires. You brush your batter back today and you might get fined or thrown out of the ball game. Years ago, you brush your batter back and you get an applause from the home team.
The final element to consider when handicapping baseball, both then and now, is the effect of the fans, especially NY fans, the Mets and the Yankees - Philadelphia fans fall in the same category. I don’t think the game’s popularity today is equal to what it was, but they do have an effect on the outcome of a game. Home teams are allowed 15-20 cents, sometimes as much as 30 cents on the line from the fan factor and because the umpires and referees are unconsciously affected by the fans. There’s no question about that, and it’s as true now as it was fifty years ago.”
!
“I’m thinking back to the great, great pitchers… Two, maybe three really stand out. Number one would be Sandy Koufax, the greatest left-hander that ever went on the mound. He was virtually unbeatable when he was right – a blazing fastball near 100 miles per hour. He also had a back-breaking curve ball. In the early stages of his career he had a little control problem, once he conquered that you couldn’t beat him. It was almost unfair for a batter to challenge Sandy Koufax, that’s how good he was.
One the right-handed side, Bob Gibson from the St. Louis Cardinals, naturally a hall of famer, was somewhat like a Koufax. He throws hard, but he was meaner. If a batter were to hit a line drive foul ball against Gibson, Gibson would come back with the next pitch to knock you down. He was a focused pitcher with great talent and a lot of courage. Just a marvelous pitcher.
The third prodigy, the one that comes to mind amongst many was Satchel Paige when he was out of his prime. I would’ve loved to have seen him in his prime and I’m told by people of great authority that Satchel Paige was the greatest pitcher of all time – bar none. The racial barrier prevented Satchel Paige from getting into the major leagues during that prime.
Then there are hitters. The greatest of all time was certainly Ted Williams from the Boston Red Sox. They nicknamed him ‘the splendid splinter’. The last player to have hit 400 hundred in the major league season. To hit 400 - it’s just unthinkable.
Some would say that the greatest all around player was Joe DiMaggio, some might say it was Willie Mays, I would say it’s a dead heat between the two. I met Joe DiMaggio several times. A very classy guy, somewhat of an introvert, but one thing that everybody knew about Joe was that he was a marvelous center fielder for the Yankees.
Today’s players are a little different. There are undoubtedly some class players in baseball. Randy Johnson from the Arizona Diamondbacks, is going to be a hall of famer, Curt Schilling the same. Roger Clemens from the Yankees is a lock. I’m not quite sure I’d be able to throw Clemens in with the Sandy Koufax or a Bob Gibson, but he sure is a great player.
When major league baseball expanded like all sports have, the overall quality reduced. Some of today’s pitchers are facing minor league batters – at least batters that should be in the minor leagues. Conversely, some of today’s hitters are facing minor league pitchers, so the game has been diluted so to speak.
On the other side of the argument, today’s players are bigger, stronger, and the bats and equipment are better. It makes the baseball livelier. And there are still great players in MLB. I think you’d have to rank Barry Bonds with Ted Williams as a great hitter, and as a power hitter he equals anyone from the past. Sammy Sosa would be a second player that springs to mind.
Even though today’s players are stronger athletes, the greats of yesteryear would still dominate today’s game. The ones I’m talking about are guys like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. What some people don’t know is that Mantle played on one leg rather than two. He had one bum leg, if he had two sound legs he would have been considered the greatest player of all time. No one today could play baseball any better than Williams, DiMaggio, and Mantle and you couldn’t pitch better than Koufax and Ford, impossible. They had all the tools. If you want to switch sports, that’s a horse of a different color. There are better Football players and Basketball players today, yes; but not in baseball.
The one thing in baseball that hasn’t changed is handicapping. 75-80% of MLB handicapping is based on the pitcher. The pitcher is the name of the game, he controls everything. Good pitching has always beat good hitting – then and now. No matter how great a hitter, when the pitcher has his stuff, he is in control. The only guys other than the pitcher that can move the line are greats like Mantle, Williams, Willie Mays…they would make a difference. But no baseball player in today’s game would be worth more than 10-15 cents, and 15 cents would be a stretch. The greatest influence on modern MLB handicapping is probably Barry Bonds. He’s worth a dime, you might get a few people saying he’s worth 15 cents. That’s the max.
The other thing that has changed over the game is that major league baseball has become so protective of their players. Years ago it was common practice to throw at a hitter and there was very little discipline from the umpires. You brush your batter back today and you might get fined or thrown out of the ball game. Years ago, you brush your batter back and you get an applause from the home team.
The final element to consider when handicapping baseball, both then and now, is the effect of the fans, especially NY fans, the Mets and the Yankees - Philadelphia fans fall in the same category. I don’t think the game’s popularity today is equal to what it was, but they do have an effect on the outcome of a game. Home teams are allowed 15-20 cents, sometimes as much as 30 cents on the line from the fan factor and because the umpires and referees are unconsciously affected by the fans. There’s no question about that, and it’s as true now as it was fifty years ago.”
!
