Rex, I’m 66 + and most older folks don’t claim that athletes were better in their day.
And it’s plain to see that Red Grange was one thing in his era but no Jim Brown. There are numerous factors playing into what makes the modern athlete so good but the least of these is “evolution”. In fact, to my knowledge there has not been a selective human breeding process since Hitler ( you know his success) and before him since Lincoln freed the slaves. Humans to day are indistinguishable from those of middle ages and looking at all those Roman and Greek statues depicting sports I get the sense that a javelin thrower then could compete favorable with the modern athletes, leaving out performance enhancers.
I picked javelins because they were weapons of war and warriors perfected their skills to survive ( as good as money today).
The real difference is in technique and training, physiology and even psychology plus engineering in equipment (including track surfaces).
And here’s one that will stir up a lot of you, but it’s my belief that thoroughbreds are largely unchanged since that last quarter of the 18th century when they stopped introducing foreign blood. I’ll give you another, it'ss my belief the over 4000 Arabians identified in the pedigrees of racehorses had relatively little to do with the evolution of this type of horse.
I point to the fact that there are and have been numerous Arabian breeding programs including the Crabbet Stud, and to this date not a single thoroughbred has resulted or a horse produced that even got close. Most Arabian racehorses would have a hard time staying up with a good pacer, speed or stamina.
1919 was the year of the Black Sox ( Shoeless Joe). And that was a more common characteristic of sports than excellence. Also true of horses. I’ve talked at length with "real" old timers who told me flat out that although there was no Bute, there was heroin and almost non-existent testing. I could beat this to death. But I’ll cut it short with this.
I am a MOW fan. but I think that two year olds in 1919 were assigned high weights more often because of fewer good horses (sheer probability) available to fill races so they did what they could to give the fans something to chew on. If I remember my ARM 1917 boasted about 1600 foals (because of the ban on gambling that started 15 years earlier) as compared to over 35000 in 1970. But it’s that very circumstance that drew my attention to MOW, because even though he was usually the high weight he still set records. I can say with a lot of confidence that bottom claimers today are much the same as they were in 1770 or 1970. likewise with the top stakes horses. And whether you’re taking about Sec, Mow or Citation these animals were exceptions, some passed on their traits (only 1/3 in this example) and others not, evolution not withstanding. Lastly, “Slew” was passed up by all those knowledgeable horse people, and if his was a poor crop of foals then shame on them. It is the same story with humans. Pure chance, not better today than yesterday or more highly evolved. Just accidents that happen that fill us with awe, wonder and pride.
