Honestly, that's only a small part of it. Watch an old game on ESPN Classic 40 years ago and compare it with a game on TV tonight. Completely different. It was baseball back then. Now there are only three true outcomes in baseball. Walk, strike out and home run.
Exactly … completely different. It’s just not baseball either. Last night I was watching NHL finals from 1975. That brought back memories. I can remember discussions about was it an advantage or disadvantage to play in Buffalo because of the small ice. Back then, if I recall correctly, Boston and Toronto also had small rinks. Now everything is standardized. The game had more character back then, most of which was due to players’ characters. There also wasn’t an equipment and uniform fetish. But, now thinking about it, the NHL was going through changes in ‘75. The four divisions were really screwy with an unbalanced number teams due to league expansion. That didn’t bother me, but I bet a bunch of old timers back then complained and longed for the days before expansion.