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Posted By: davidcycleback

What I find interesting about baseball history is that with many players: today's fans looking back say
the players should not have been elected into the Hall of Fame; but the people of the day, including
contemporary players and managers, would have said the player was an all time great. If you read what the player's
manager and period sportwriters said, the player sounds like a great.
If you read what today's fans and sportswriters say, the same player was marginal. It's
two perspective of the player, and the question is which one, if either, is correct.

It's likely that today's armchair fans have a better handle of statistics-- batting average,
ERA, comparing stats, etc-- but the people of the day, especially the manager and players,
saw the player play in person and saw how he interacted with opposing players and teammates.

Personally, I think statistics and modern insight are important, but I also believe that today's fans
should find out what the contemporaries thought of the player. Usually, when a negative fan finds out
that a player was widely considered a great by those who played and watched him, the fan's opinion changes, if
not switches. When Hall of Fame manager John McGraw calls a 'marginal' player one of the best players
he ever coached, you at least assume McGraw knew something about baseball, players and winning
World Championships and, unlike you, saw the player in person. You don't have to thus believe the player
should be in the Hall of Fame, but the contemporary opinion should at least be considered a significant
'statistic.'



For today's fans, statistics are often all they have to judge a long deceased player. But judging a
player by looking only at their numerical statistics often reminds me of the joke about the man
looking for his lost keys:

At night, Man A walks up to another man, Man B, on his hands and knees in the bright light of a street lamp:
Man A: "What are you doing?"
Man B: "I'm looking for my car keys."
Man A: "Oh, so you dropped your keys here, huh?"
Man B: "No, I lost my keys two block over, but the light's much better here."