Table conditions, Mosconi era and now

recoveryjones

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Were playing conditions tougher in Mosconi's era or now?


I seem to remember hearing on a Grady mathews instructional(not sure which one, I have them all) that the corner pockets in Mosconi's era were a much bigger 5" wide as compared to the 4 1/2 inch standard(unshimmed) size of today.

I also remember Grady saying that they used what he referred to as "Mud Balls".
Why he called them Mud balls I don't know, however, they are different from todays plastic composistion balls.

I do remember him saying they were easier to play with as well, with the exception that on breakout shots (in 14.1) that they didn't spread open the pack as well.

Thirdly(I'm not sure on this point) I THINK, i remember him saying that Mosconi either played or made his legendary high run out on an 8 footer.
Was it an 8 footer or a 5x10 footer? does anyone Know.


Summing things up, Grady goes on to say that conditions were much easier(eg. wider pockets) for the players then ,compared to today with shimmed pockets, plastic balls etc.

If anyone can elaborate on the above, much appreciated, because there are those who think that conditions were tougher for the oldtimers. It's all got me curious....LOL
RJ

ps.Grady also said that the legends of the past( eg.mosconi,greenleaf,lassiter etc) were all great players and would be competitive today, however, he said the players of today (in general)aremuch more talented and that those legends of pool wouldn't have dominated today ,like the did then.

Being that Grady has lived through both yesterday and todays era's, I find his observarions intresting and perhaps with some merit.
 
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They played on 5 X 10's in competition, bigger then the standard tables today. The cues, well you can find old cues from that era, brunswicks and such. Even with the highest end custom cues of those days I find that the modern cues hit quite abit better on average, aka a Southwest vs a Bushka. Also those balls they used were alot less lively then the current balls, I am not sure the pro's would have been using "mud balls" as compared to ivory though in competition.

I watched a video of Mosconi where he racked up the balls and just started running straight pool. He was about 60 at the time, way past his prime. The table was super tight on the video, he ran 45 like it was nothing and then just stopped the run. His stroke would have been like Hohmann, very square, straight and simple. Although he shot alot faster then I have seen Hohmann shoot. Some of the books out there that talk about Mosconi like his biography or McGoorty do claim he was a very fast shooter when he got going.

I think Grady is largely wrong on the conditions being easier. In the day of 1000 custom cue makers, computer controlled slate cutting, electric levels, simonis cloth, lively balls, 4 1/2 X 9 tables, this stuff all makes it easier IMO.

That being said Mosconi's 500+ ball run was on a 4X8 with huge pockets, that was in a exhibition though. In exhibition the tables were likely often huge pockets and crap balls, but in competition for the world titles I am sure the tables were tough and the balls of the highest quality of the time.
 
This is a difficult question. The pockets were looser, but the balls were dead, and the cloth was dead. Playing shape was harder, and spreading the balls well on a break shot in staight pool was very difficult. Stun shots off small angles had to be hit very hard, and some

Only some of Mosconi's career was in the 5 x 10 table era. No doubt, the game was tougher on 5 x 10, but a lot of it was on 4 1/2 by 9, and Mosconi's famous exhibition run came on a 4 x 8.

I suspect that straight pool was of comparable difficulty back then vs today, but nine ball was probably tougher.

Nine ball played on slow cloth with dead balls is a pretty tough game. Try to string racks of nine ball playing with poor quality balls and slow nappy cloth and you'll get the picture.
 
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