The Freshest Man on Earth
 

I picked up my first 19th century player autograph of Arlie Latham and found this interesting article about him picking his all time MLB team in the year before his death (1951). Pic of Arlie is of him at 91 years old.

Frank Frisch over Rogers Hornsby at 2nd base?

My guess is that it's due to Frisch having the better glove. Nothing was more important in 19th century baseball than defense.

Bill Terry over Lou Gehrig very interesting but I would still go with Gehrig
And despite “defense” I am sticking with Hornsby and strong choices for pitchers and outfielders

I completely agree that Hornsby and Gehrig are the clear picks when this list was made, but I think I understand why he made the picks that he did. It's crazy how much value was placed on defense in the 19th century.

I always thought Gehrig was a really good first baseman but if Terry was that much better and defense was considered more important back than than I have to respect what I do not know

But odd that someone that great (and he had an amazing career) did not get inducted into HOF until 18 years after he retired and the Giants did not retire his number until 1984

I resently purchased some newspaper photo stamps for follow net54-er. And on back of stamps was an 1936 article quoting Honus Wagner were he named his all time team.

Catcher - Rodger Bresnahan and Johnny Kling
1st - Bill Terry
2nd - Rogers Hornsby
3rd - Pie Trayor
Left - Fred Clark
Center - Clarence Beaumont
Right - Willie Keeler
Pitchers - Grover Alexander, Mathewson, Young

He didn’t name himself at Short Stop but did mention Cubs ((( which I would assume is Tinker)

Also mentioned Rune Waddell but ask he was to erratic. No Ruth or Cobb on his list. But still fun to compare.

Definitely some interesting stuff and amazing you can find these articles.

Also amazing the gap between Henderson and everyone else regardless of position or the era

Interesting, thanks for posting!

It looks like we see Bill Terry, Pie Traynor, Christy Mathewson, and Cy Young on both lists. Seems like Terry and Traynor were held in much higher regard at that time I suppose, even over the span of these articles (1936-1951).

It looks like the article indicates this is Honus Wagner's National League all-time team, which probably explains the absence of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson, and the inclusion of Clarence Beaumont, for crying out loud.

Brian

Great article. Thanks for sharing. Cobby and Ruth of course....
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Jeremy nice Latham sig, here's mine, signed 2 months before he died

https://qualitycards.com/pictures/83498842.jpg

This thread prompted me to view the Latham items I have

Here's the back of a Toots Shor menu from '51 or '52
Everyone pictured is a Hall Of Famer except Shor & Latham
The photo is a bit larger then my scanner bed, so some was cutoff
Jimmy Foxx & Fred Clarke are on the far left

https://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/tootsshormenu.jpg