Add to that today's players are also bigger and stronger.......
Plus the "farm systems" go all the way down to little leaguers and teenage travel teams.....We grew up playing on school yards, today's kids don't play on school yards by themselves anymore. If they're not playing travel and tournaments every weekend, they're not playing.
True...and that can be very hard on a family. My granddaughter played on a softball travel team for two years. Their travel schedule was crazy.
“Add to that today’s players are also bigger and stronger.......”
Are they really? I think that size & strength, on average, probably hit it’s genetic limits in the 80’s with nutrition & weight training. Then the steroid-era followed.
Mostly now, we have homogenized hitting & pitching techniques. Show me a player today that has a ‘unique’ hitting stance. Better yet, show me a pitcher with a different windup/motion. they’re all too busy trying to disguise their grip and deliver from a consistent arm-slot. IOW’s there’s a lot less wasted motion.