In sports you have essentially three components that make a player good: talent, skill and intelligence (in all its forms). When you play sports as a kid it's easy to identify guys who have an abundance of talent. Hand eye coordination, balance, speed, strength. Later you see which of them hone their skills (and intelligence) with practice, observation, coaching, facing top competition, etc. And of course some guys with less natural talent succeed by becoming so skillful and savvy that they can outplay guys who are more naturally gifted.
I suspect most of the truly gifted athletes of the past would, over the course of their playing lives, adjust to their competition and improve their skills much the same way today's young players do. No one is born hitting 105 mph sliders or Zach Wheeler slurves. I bet a young Ty Cobb or Oscar Charleston would look at those pitches in awe - - for about three minutes. Then they would say "give me a week to figure this out."
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