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Posted By: jay behrens

My bell curves are correct. If you were to plot talent on a graph, the worst is on the left side and the best, the right side. In early baseball, the talent difference between Cobb and the worst player was very significant, making talent spread over a larger distance on the horizontal, making the bell curve somewhat flat. As more and more people start playing ball and training methods improved, the talent needed to get to the major was much greater than in earlier years. Talent is now spread over a smaller area of the horizontal part of graph since the talent level of great players is relatively the same and doesn't move along the horizontal. Since the area underneath the curve remains the same, the bell curve must become more pronounced. A player of average ability in the deadball era is not likely to even make a major league roster because of this talent shift.

Jay

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