if he were to play today, with todays pitchers, he wouldnt be as good as he was. I would like to see him hit a martinez fastball
Ooh, I so hate this rationale for judging an athletes ability. I got in this argument on the spawn board involving basketball. I had the gall to suggest that were some of the older guys playing today, they might be nearly as good as Jordan was. Nooo, you're full of it they said. They were old and slow, today's game was so much better.
Here's the deal. You cannot reasonably transplant a guy whose glory days were in the 70's or earlier and take them forward. Nor can you take one of today's athlete's backwards and say they would have dominated then.
Here's why:
Athlete's prior to the early 80's typically had other jobs, did not make millions of dollars and some even paid attention to their families. Because they did not make millions upon millions, they actually spent the offseason doing something really wacky. Working. At a job. Selling stuff, or servicing stuff. Unlike today's pampered millionaire crybabies, they did not spend all their time doing one of three things: playing, training, partying. No doubt older players partied their ying yangs out too, but that is not the point.
If you took Rose, in his prime and brought him forward with all the modern training, weight lifting, coaching. Paid him gazillions of dollars to do nothing but that and he had to measure himself against the current standard, I damn near guarantee he would perform up to par. Would Martinez blow fastballs by him? Absolutely, just like he does with other guys today. Did Martinez ever strike out any other HOFers? If not, are they not worthy of the hall?
Same can be said for the Jordan comparison. I think he stands up as one of the all time greats, probably the best ever. But writing off guys from other eras is nothing more than folly based on ignorance. Here are some names, you'll know some of them, most you won't:
Elgin Baylor
Larry Bird
Julius Erving
Bob Petit
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
George Mikan
Bill Russell
Walt Frazier
John Havlicek
Oscar Robertson
Jerry West
That is the top players prior to Jordan dominating the league. there have been some pretty spectacular (talent wise, not showmanship) players since as well. The point being that you cannot compare modern to other era players. Wait for another 20 years and have this argument with somebody. Bet they say
Who Martinez?
Rose is an idiot. So was Ruth. Let him in the hall and slap him upside the head.