Was it me or did the players in this years all star game look normal size?.

[Skink]

See the game is just fine without steroids.

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. Are you including Prince Fielder in your assessment?

5' 11," 270.

[Ex Lurker]

6. that's not steroids, that's cheeseburgers n/t

[flvegan]

8. Hormones in the meat!!

Ha! I crack me up.

[JVS]

18. ummmm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Fielder#Vegetarianism

[flvegan]

21. I know, hence

the "I crack me up"

[Ex Lurker]

22. Tofuburgers n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. Didn't say he was on roids

The OP asked if all the players looked "normal size," and Fielder definitely doesn't.

[Occulus]

15. I was gonna say.

That gut isn't overlarge abs.

[Arctic Dave]

2. For watching or playing? Cause I'm totally juiced right now.

:D

[Skink]

3. In my world beer is a steroid.

:beer:

[babylonsister]

5. Do tell...

:rofl:

[dieselrevolver]

4. I have my doubts

about Pujols, but everyone else looks about normal. It was a good, crisp game and it's always a treat to watch the Sandman shut 'em down.

[flvegan]

7. Well, when most of the players are 6'2-5 and 200+ lbs

they're going to all look normal compared to each other.

I'm not saying anyone is/was juiced. I'm simply stating how much bigger MLB players are these days.

And yes, the game would be fine without steroids.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. I miss dudes like Phil Rizutto

Infielders, especially, used to be like 5' 9," 155.

Shit, who was that pitcher in the '50s who was like 5' 8"? Threw a lotta off-speed stuff and just out-thought hitters?

[Elwood P Dowd]

13. Whitey Ford?

He was small, threw lollipops, and ate pizza and drank beer in the bull pin on days he wasn't pitching.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. No, lesser-known than Ford

Ford was 5' 10," anyway.

OH! Bobby Shantz! :D

[Elwood P Dowd]

24. There was also

Luis Arroyo. He was about 5-8, and he won 15 games with the great Yankee team of 1961.

[Oeditpus Rex]

25. Great catch!

Arroyo was 5' 8," but 190. And, yeah, he went 15-5, 2.19 in '61. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/arroylu01.shtml

Shantz was smaller than I thought — 5' 6," 142. Yet, he won 24 games for the Phillies in '52. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/shantbo01.shtml

[Elwood P Dowd]

28. I was only 14, but I remember him well.

That was a great team in 1961. I loved watching those CBS 'Game Of The Week' broadcasts with Ole Dizz and Pee Wee. Whitey Ford had a great year, and Mantle and Maris hit almost 120 home runs between them.

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. You've invoked my earliest baseball memory

Diz called everybody "podnas." :D

The first game I remember seeing was from Cincinnati, probably 1963. I was 7, and I didn't know about telephoto lenses and how they compress depth of field, making the pitcher's mound look almost on top of the plate. I asked my dad if Crosley Field was smaller than other ball yards. :)

Crosley had that "ramp" instead of a warning track, too, which helped make it look smaller from field level.

[Elwood P Dowd]

32. The Yankees beat the Reds 4-1 in the 1961 Series.

Yes, Crosley field was weird, and it was SMALL. It was even smaller than Wrigley Field and Fenway Park back in the day. The Reds and the Pirates also wore uniforms that had no sleeves on the tops.

[Oeditpus Rex]

33. I remember those unis well

Seems like some club brought 'em back for a day not long ago. Didn't the Reds also have pinstripes, even on their homies?

'Course, dudes like Moose Skowron and Frank Howard didn't bother with sleeves. :D

[Elwood P Dowd]

34. Frank Howard was about 6-7 and 275 if I remember correctly.

Now Moose was the first baseman for the Yankees and a midget compared to Howard. I think the Reds did have pinstripes.

[flvegan]

14. Two words: Dustin Pedroia.

I agree. How big was Ozzie Smith? Jerry Remy?

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Freddie Patek?

The card says 165, but baseball-reference.com has him at 5' 5," 148.

[Brother Buzz]

26. Stu Miller weighed 165 and threw a "fluttering array" of wicked off-speed pitches

but he stood 5'11" in cleats. :shrug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. I'd forgotten he was smallish for a pitcher

But, yeah, I've heard his junk called "tantalizing." Seems like I read once that he had a change that was in the low 60s.

That old bit about him being "blown off the mound" in the '61 All-Star Game is bogus, though. I saw film of it once — a gust came up just as he started to throw, and he sort of wavered. But folklore makes it sound like he flitted around like a hot dog wrapper and wound up around the on-deck circle.

[Brother Buzz]

29. They say he even had a change-up on his change-up

I often heard people say he was so focused on preventing a potential balk in the wind that he ended up doing Murph the Surf on the mound and DID get called for a balk.

Bottom line: Willie Mays won the game, end of story.

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. That was a Dusty Rhodes line

Dusty was one of the funniest guys ever to suit up.

I dunno if Miller was trying not to balk, but he did get called for one. Stan Landes was the plate umpire.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1961/B07110NLS1961.htm

I grew up knowing most of those names almost as well as my own. :)

[dieselrevolver]

11. It's funny

to read about old-school players like Gehrig. He was 6'0 200lbs and was considered a "mountain of a man."

I think Brett Gardner is bigger than that. Then again, shortstops during his time were 5'5 130lbs.

[Occulus]

17. I would imagine that one would think shortstops to be small and fast

Where did this 'huge baseball player' thing come from? It's often a boring sport to play. The sport doesn't need football-size people playing it. Besides, I think it's more exciting when these tank-sized mountains of flesh aren't involved.... it becomes a faster, more tense sport.

[JVS]

20. Makes you wonder if modern pitchers could handle the smaller strike zone that the old players had

[flvegan]

23. I don't think we'd have so many "elite" pitchers if so.

[paulsby]

12. elite athletes

and a hell of a lot of non-elite athletes have always tried to get a step up on the competition. the ancient greeks ate bull testicles (they were on the right track). there was a case of an elite swimmer who had helium injected up his butt for pete' sake. old school cyclists in europe used to drink red wine and cocaine before brutal legs. i would bet dollars to doughnuts that a relatively high %age of these players were on performance enhancers. it can literally mean the difference of MILLIONS of dollars. i have trained, btw, with some elite/olympic athletes. our testing program for olympic athletes makes MLB look like a complete farce. there are a lot of steroids and performance enhancer that can significantly increase strength (limit, speed-strength, and start strength among others) without putting on much,if any size. athletes know this. weight classed athletes tend to use different enhancers than those who need to move up a weight class.