Mr. James wrote one fine book, there. He retitled it after it didn't sell well under the original title. ANYONE who's opining about who should or shouldn't be in the Hall should first read that book; and keep their yap shut until they do.
Mr. James mentions some reasons why there are a disproportionate number of HOFers from certain times.
Here's a ticket stub I have, my oldest professional stub. It's for a double header in Philadelphia on September 15th, 1928. The Cardinals took two from the Phillies that day.
One thing I like about the stub is that a fellow watching those games would have seen 7 future HOFers on the field, 6 for the Cardinals, and 1 for the Phillies. St. Louis had Alexander, Bottomley, Frisch, Hafey, Haines, and Maranville. The Phillies had Chuck Klein.
I have a newspaper writeup of the games that has been retyped...
And I had worked on the box scores, years ago, but I grew frustrated with trying to line up the columns. Maybe one day I'll try again.
So the 3.5 HOFers per team were on the field that day. Frisch's presence on HOF committee's may well have gotten a few of his friends into the Hall who might have otherwise not made it. In 1928, with the Cardinals bringing 6 future HOFers to town, it seems there'd be 7 or more HOFers present no matter who they played. Surely the other 7 NL teams had at least one future HOFer.
Read Mr. James' book. And then read his historical abstract.
Four bits to see 18 innings of baseball with 7 HOFers... that sounds like a deal. And I'll bet the beer was affordable, then.