Mika Best I've every saw in 60 years.
- Thread starter Johnnyt
- Start date
Sixty years is about right.
Lassiter's run of dominance as a road player was from 1942-1948, a period in which he is reported to have won $300,000. By modern standards, that is easily on a par with winning over $1,000,000 every year for this period playing pool.
I've chatted with numerous old timers about it, and they all agree that, relative to his peers, nobody played better nine ball than Lassiter. Some of them still feel that Lassiter was the best nine ball player of all time.
Mika Immonen's recent dominance in nine ball is, perhaps, comparable to the incredible feats of Sigel, Strickland, Archer, Hall and a few others, but probably not comparable to the run Lassiter had in the 1940's, over sixty years ago.
Lassiter's run of dominance as a road player was from 1942-1948, a period in which he is reported to have won $300,000. By modern standards, that is easily on a par with winning over $1,000,000 every year for this period playing pool.
I've chatted with numerous old timers about it, and they all agree that, relative to his peers, nobody played better nine ball than Lassiter. Some of them still feel that Lassiter was the best nine ball player of all time.
Mika Immonen's recent dominance in nine ball is, perhaps, comparable to the incredible feats of Sigel, Strickland, Archer, Hall and a few others, but probably not comparable to the run Lassiter had in the 1940's, over sixty years ago.
Stu, how did you calculate that? I checked the CPI's -- 18.1 for July, 1945 and 218.0 for July, 2010, or about 1:12. So $300,000 then was about $3,600,000 now. Spread that over seven years and it's "only" about $514,000 per year.
Perhaps the answer is that you are accounting for taxes somehow, too.
Did Lassiter handle his money wisely?
I think a lot of old timers' stories get more fantastical with each telling... Wimpy was the best, no doubt about it, but he never had or made that much money. He was an awesome person who would give you the shirt off his back but he was poor as a church mouse when he died.
Let's not forget about Efren... he's the best player that has ever lived.
A younger Efren against Mika head to head wouldn't even be close.
I don't think so... especially with the quantity of quality players these days.
Seems like no one misses anymore...
keith@greatbilliards
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Mika
Looks like even the ProShot Glove has added some help to this already great player. More and more people are starting to play with the glove. Mika is going to continue to get better and better.
Looks like even the ProShot Glove has added some help to this already great player. More and more people are starting to play with the glove. Mika is going to continue to get better and better.
Mosconi's 16 year reigin as world champion, losing the title only one year during that time.
Mizerak's 5 consecutive U.S open 14.1 titles.
Reyes' one pocket dominance.
Mike Sigel's whole career. He's still the best all-around player I've ever seen.
Dude, please. Spamming threads with your sales pitch is not the way to win friends and influence people around here. Just a word to the wise. Keep the pitches in your own threads in the For Sale Forum.
Welcome to the board. :smile:
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Lets not forget about Worst......Efren in his prime would have been in the WORST nightmare of his life......
I'd agree with what Mikas doing is like Archer, Earl, Seigal and such but he's no Lassiter
Lassiter was broke, he used to give a childhood friend money when he won from pool back when he was a kid.....that kid grew up to become a millionaire and repayed the favor giving Luther a place to live and a monthly stipend.
-Grey Ghost-
I am a bit curious regarding the level of the great players from the past, since I have never seen them play. You mention Harold Worst, and sjm in an earlier post mentions Lassiter as possibly the best ever.
I believe most people agree that when Efren came to US, he introduced a new level of play with his kick shots and kick safeties. From that I conclude that american players (and the rest of the world) had not seen such high level rail first play before, and eventually learned to change their game from "hit and hope" to something more sophisticated in the kicking area.
That has to mean that Lassiter and Worst did not have that weapon in their arsenal? Or else I suppose other players would have picked it up long before Efren came along?
And if they didnt have that knowledge, there is no way they could have beaten the Mikas and the Efrens of today.
I think that's skill being displayed.
You got a big AMEN! from me there. That spamming is in very poor taste. Hope he is learning as he is living. :groucho:
You got a big AMEN! from me there. That spamming is in very poor taste. Hope he is learning as he is living on azb forums. :groucho:
Comparing 9 ball to 10 ball is like comparing apples to oranges.
You make an interesting point here but does it also work in reverse?
This example is not based on rotation but goes as follows:
Efren has never run 526 balls in straight pool. Perhaps he doesn't have the "knowledge" that Mosconi had. Does that mean that Efren could not beat Mosconi?
Just another thought for your careful consideration.
Thanks