NorthWoods

And hopefully Harris won't cling to the memories......

Batting 7th? Possibly an upgrade.

I really don't think you can attribute all of it or even a majority to weaker hitters.

Think what an outlier Nolan Ryan would be today? What would a pitcher throwing 100+ for 332 innings with 367 K. 26 complete games and a 2.89ERA be worth? That was the 1974 season.

Ted Williams was in combat as a pilot.

Is different. But is that from lowered mounds? Juiced balls? Smaller ballparks? Those and many other factors come into play. The higher rate of HR's would seem to be poking a hole in the earlier argument here that pitching is better today. If the pitchers are so far superior how are they getting taken deep more often?

I'm not smart enough to know how to argue this but I certainly didn't get the impression that pitchers were letting up on anyone. Sure there were weak spots in lineups but that's still true today. Using your let up theory pitchers today could certainly let up on Perez and Rogers. Looking at middle of the pack teams from 68 they seem similar to today. The Twins had Carew, Killebrew, Oliva, Allison, Tovar - the Pirates had Stargell, Clemente, Clendenon, Alou.....both essentially .500 teams. They had some weak spots in their lineups but certainly batters no one wanted to face.

So Hinch is a Harris lackey?

The pitching stats compared to today are absurd. 10th best ERA Koosman 2.08 Innings pitched McClain 336. Complete games - Marichal - 30, Gibson 13 shutouts. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1968-pitching-leaders.shtml

Vacation

I think JV should be the closer.

Ray Oyler would have put that in the seats.

Hopefully he'll stay awake unlike Vierling.