A lot of gaps in baseball history can be explained by one of two things. A player turning into a coach, then being forced into action when the team was short-handed OR players reappearing during the war years because the talent level dropped. I just wrote about Herman for an article. He was just in the minors plugging along and came back when the talent level dropped.
My opinion of the best ever is pitcher Paul Schreiber, who made it to the majors for two years in 1922, then played for the 1945 Yankees, 22 years after his last game. He was a batting practice pitcher for them, forced into action in the lowest point of talent, though he pitched due to being there and not exactly due to his talent the last time.
|