Quote:
Originally Posted by prewarsports
In response to the racism argument, Black Men were playing MORE baseball back then than now, by far, and it actually helps the argument. Just because they were excluded by the Major Leagues does not mean we dont know who they were, and they absolutely belong in the argument. Gibson, Paige, Bell, Leonard, etc. all would be stars today and the fact that they did not play in the Major Leagues does not really mean anything when assessing pure talent. The black talent 100 years ago was better than today because now they would be wearing Kobe and "D-Wade" jerseys and refusing to play such a "boring" game like most kids across this Country.
Rhys
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Hey Rhys,
Systematic racism absolutely does not detract from the quality of Negro League players. HOWEVER, can we really say how well Ruth, Cobb, etc. would translate it today's game when they never played against African-Americans or the Latin American influx of big league talent? I know we tend to romanticize the past, but there's nothing wrong in realizing the limitations of pre-1947 big league baseball. Just something to think about.