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Posted By: John

Jay is correct. A bell curve is a visual representation of standard deviations from a mean. Major league batting averages at the turn of the 20th century consist of many outliers, players that had very low averages and players that had very high averages. As the leagues have solidified over the years and every drop of potetial talent is scouted and analyzed, a compression of the curve occurs (the gap between the best and worst is much narrower, a steeper bell). This compression of talent includes pitchers as well. Cobb would still be on the right side of the distribution today but probably not batting at a career .367 clip. Just check out the backs of your t205's, how many low .200 hitters are described as solid or steady. Those players would be in the minors or out of ball today. The Mendoza line was lower then. For any of you whose careers or interests cross over into biology or statistics, Stephen Jay Gould's "Triump and Tradegy in Mudville" is an excellent read. Gould merges his love of baseball with interesting commentary regarding natural history in a series of essays.