Re: Vescey on Heinsohn, Pierce

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

>>>>I'm of the opinion that it's almost impossible to compare players of
>>>> different era's in just about any sport because of the many intangibles
>>>>involved.

>>So what if I wanted to compare Babe Ruth with say.......oh well take your
>>pick of the best baseball player today. Would you not be able to make a
>>choice because of different era's

You can try if you'd like.  As I said, it's just my opinion, but I think it's 
nearly impossible.
No question Ruth dominated baseball in his era.  But would he have been as 
dominate if baseball, or sports in general back then, was as glorified a 
profession as it is today?  A more respected and better paid profession like we have 
today would have attracted better athletes then Ruth had to face in his day. 
Ruth himself might have had to take better care of himself in order to compete 
at the highest level. That doesn't even take into consideration the smaller 
talent pool caused by segregation or the war years.  Ruth never had to face such 
greats as Satchel Page, Lefty Mathis or John Donaldson.  There were no 
Dominicans in the league.  And no one was talking about performance enhancing drugs 
back in 1920 either, so it goes both ways.
As for basketball, I already gave you some of the differences in the game 
today.  
Tommy has been saying a lot of wacky things lately, but one thing I do agree 
with him about is the way they've allowed Shaq to get away with things that 
Wilt would never have gotten away with back in his day.  They changed rules in 
college and the pro's so that Wilt would not be able to dominate.  They've 
ignored rules so that Shaq can.  And I'm not a Shaq hater.  I think he's extremely 
talented and would still be a force no matter how the game were called.  I 
just wish he had to follow the same rules everyone else does.


TAM