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Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis
In 1926, the Cardinals brought in Grover Cleveland Alexander to seal the deal in a sticky situation against the Yankees in game 7. Alexander was ancient by those standards, he had won his start the night before, and, as legend has it, he was probably hung over. He took care of business.
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1926??? I think the game has changed enough since then to make this kind of comparison meaningless.
However I would freely speculate that Hoffman's performance (or lack there of) was as much mental as physical. These youngsters have been told over and over again that they are "finely tuned machines" or words to that effect. Eventually it sinks in so that they believe they can only be "on" if they follow their exact warm-up ritual. The players of 1926 were not burdened with this preconceived notion of perfection.