In the hey-day of gooning it up, Tiger Williams frightened his opponents and rode his stick – at 5’11, 190. Dave Schultz was a solid 6’1, 190. That’s the same size as noted pugilist Daniel Sedin. All of this got me to wondering how big guys who took a lot of penalties were relative to the rest of the league. Through the mid-1970s, there really wasn’t much of a difference – all it took to be a goon was a foul temper:
The same thing happened in the weight department – in 1975, a guy who was 5'11, 190 was perfectly suited to get into 25 fights in a season:
BMI is a more informative trend – guys who took more penalties have always been bulkier than average, and they've bulked up significantly over the last 25 years:
Overall, the last few decades have seen goon specialization – teams have selected for larger and bulkier players.
