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Rameez_Raja t1_j0yr5ig wrote

Reply to comment by noctalla in Rafael Nadal hits 900 consecutive weeks (almost 18 years) in tennis top 10 by SoggyConclusion4674

Tbf it was true then, no one had any way of knowing how much sports science, surgery, and rehab would advance in the last decade. Right now, Messi, Benzema and Modric are still three of the best soccer players at 35+ years old, James Anderson is still the best fast bowler in the world and is improving if anything at 40 years old, you have Rey Mysterio in WWE jumping around like he was in the 90s after his knees were busted and done 15 years ago, there's Tom Brady at fucking 45... it's insane.

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Frostcrest t1_j0ytf5z wrote

Baseball has also seen a Renaissance in pitchers like Verlander and Scherzer still dominating well past their prime

For all the talk of blown out arms, we're seeing a lot more longevity when you take into account that throwing 100+ mph isn't a big deal anymore

Just a decade ago 95 was "fast"

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bandofgypsies t1_j0yupme wrote

For me, Justin Verlander is the current example of how far sports science has come. To have pitched the way he pitched for 15 plus years, fast and hard, and often doing it very quickly (and that he doesn't spend a lot of time between pitches compared to the rest of League), and to have then had Tommy John surgery at 37/38 years old, miss nearly two years of baseball, only to immediately come back from that and win a cy Young by dominating the league and throwing the third highest average fastball velocity of its entire career? Absolutely unbelievable.

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OHTHNAP t1_j0zbjjf wrote

Just don't say the word that rhymes with "hair noids".

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ICanAnswerThatFriend t1_j0yv0w5 wrote

Yeah Dennis Quaid throwing a 96mph fastball on the side of a highway back in 2002 got him signed to the big leagues.

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jai_kasavin t1_j13xgm4 wrote

Which movie is this? Also which is the best baseball movie in your opinion?

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ICanAnswerThatFriend t1_j13xv9t wrote

My joke refers to The Rookie

Best baseball Movie? : Well my friend. Nothing beats the Great Bambino. (The Sandlot)

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wanderlustcub t1_j0z7t04 wrote

Could you also say that the number of pitches for a pitcher has gone down, allowing them to pitch longer overall? (I’m not sure if pitchers are pitching more or less compared to decades ago so I’m unsure.)

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AlsoIHaveAGroupon t1_j0zi5di wrote

They definitely pitch less. The belief is that when a pitcher begins to tire, they stop using proper mechanics to compensate, so the biggest injury risk is pitching while tired. They now count the number of pitches thrown and pull a starter quickly when they're near a predetermined maximum. They used to view off-days as chances to skip the worst pitcher in the rotation and start the best pitcher sooner, but now it's generally an opportunity to give every starter in the rotation an extra day of rest. And they now put pitchers on the disabled list at the slightest indication of a problem. But are Verlander and Scherzer's dominance at an older age a result of that?

It's hard to say.

There have always been occasional pitchers who are still effective at an old age. Just from my lifetime, Perry, Kaat, Sutton, Niekro, Ryan, Clemens, Wells, Johnson, Moyer, Colon come to mind. Scherzer and Verlander are just two guys and not a representative sample of anything and could just be random chance, and they're not even that old yet. 37 and 39, while Perry and Clemens won Cy Young awards in their 40s, Ryan lead the league in strikeouts at 43, Colon was an All-Star at 43, and Niekro was an All-Star at 45. And for all the talk of Scherzer still pitching well at 37 and Verlander winning the Cy at 39, it's still a young man's game. The top 7 finishers in the NL Cy Young vote were all in their 20s, and 2nd through 8th place in the AL were also in their 20s. The young are still dominating, and being a good, old pitcher still makes you an outlier.

And even if we could say for sure that pitchers are aging better, there are lots of potential explanations: pitch counts, extra rest, improved medicine, something nefarious like PEDs, or I once read a study when Clemens and Wells were still going in their 40s suggesting that fat pitchers age the best and it successfully predicted Bartolo Colon's longevity (and while neither is fat, Verlander definitely looks heavier than when he was young).

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frankyseven t1_j0zcwim wrote

Less, like a lot less. Probably 25% less for a starting pitcher. It's rare for a pitcher to pitch into the seventh inning now.

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squidmanwillie t1_j0zfnba wrote

Nowadays if you don’t rip your arm out of the socket at least once a season they bench you

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BarristanSelfie t1_j103kdl wrote

The average pitch, of any type, is 5 mph faster than it was 20 years ago.

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Excalipurrrrr t1_j0z26ej wrote

Wait wtf. I haven't seen wrestling since WCW Nwo days. Ray Mysterio is still alive and still wrestling?!

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SomeKilljoy t1_j0z76m7 wrote

Not only Is he still going, he occasionally wrestling tag team with his son

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Excalipurrrrr t1_j0zdjo0 wrote

My reaction is out of pure awe and respect someone can do that to their body. I can't even bend over without worrying about my lower back and I'm fit and youngish still.

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enjoyeverysangwich t1_j0z9w1g wrote

Why would you be surprised he's still alive??

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Kraptacula t1_j0za96n wrote

NGL I thought he died a few years ago?

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Excalipurrrrr t1_j0zdb9s wrote

I am pretty sure I heard that to. One of the Mysterio died. I could Google it but maybe the elder?

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Excalipurrrrr t1_j0zcmig wrote

Sort of a joke because so much time has passed and you hear of all the legends dying off.

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DrBokbagok t1_j0z4rvl wrote

Lebron at 38 is still a top 5 player.

i also have to think most of these guys are on some kind of hgh or ped

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Highwind65 t1_j0zhshr wrote

Rey Mysterio is still at it? Time to watch some vids, a childhood hero for me.

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RnVja25hemlz t1_j0zn9r1 wrote

Or Jagr at 50 not at the top of his game anymore but still playing in a pro league

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powabiatch t1_j0zj393 wrote

I remember when Vinnie Testaverde (44) and Brett Favre (38) played a game in 2007 and they called it the senior bowl. Lol times have changed.

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RipThrotes t1_j103zs3 wrote

Meanwhile I just want to see new actors in new intellectual property....

Can we dial back the medical miracles for some good new content. Doesn't have to be good, all I want is non-nostalgia driven rehashes.

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MC_JACKSON t1_j0zkozr wrote

Lets not forget Tiger winning a major, in his 40's, on a fused back

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changerofbits t1_j0zvbnt wrote

Eh, that’s pretty anecdotal, and there were genetic freaks before. Nolan Ryan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar both had long, highly productive careers. I’m not saying sports medical science hasn’t improved a lot, but it’s not like there simply weren’t late 30s or early 40s people competing at a high level. I suppose you could argue that the games are more competitive these days, and that if not for medical improvements, people would otherwise have had to retire earlier.

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ELH13 t1_j11uj3l wrote

Jimmy Anderson is NOT the top ranked test bowler, and hasn't been on top since 2018. He was also not top ranked test bowler until May 2016, after which he held it until around August 2018.

That isn't to say he isn't bowling well and hasn't been, but facts are facts you don't get to just make them up.

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Nizzleson t1_j1agse9 wrote

Glad to Jimmy Anderson on this list. Man is a freak. For those who don't know cricket, he's well worth a dip into some YouTube highlights.

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