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Posted By: Dave Snyder

Bresnahan was not so much an inventor as he was a pioneer. Some of my fathers relatives from the midwest knew members of Bresnahan's family and they claim he never once mentioned he thought of himself as a hall of famer - granted the hall was only 10 or so years old at the time of his death and there wasn't nearly the obsession among players then as there is now.

Bottom line - he was elected posthumously - the year after he died. He was most likely one of the first cases of major league baseball acknowledging that they didn't give him enough credit during his life, so they decided to honor him in death by electing him to the hall. A mistake?....maybe if you could see 60 years into the future to see what guys like Berra, Campanella, Bench, Fisk, Munson, Piazza and Pudge rodriguez have done. But at the time, he was one of the all time greats and baseball had been played for roughly 75 years, so they had a good sample.