Posted By:
B HodesJay-
When they had HOF elections in the 1930's these two went head to head and Ewing won. In fact, Kelly didn't get voted in until after a few other 19th century greats including: Anson and Radborne.
Nonetheless, there is no definative answer who was "better" between Ewing and King Kelly anymore than there can be a definitive finding that Barry Bonds is better than Willis Mays (although Barry's case seems to get stronger everyday).
With respect to the realtive merits of various 19th century players there are very serious discussions ongoing at this site:
http://www.baseballprimer.com/hom