Who was the best center fielder of all time?

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by steve B

... But he still had to be fast enough for the typical large parks.

It would be interesting to see how many of his OF assists were at home after 1912.
What's also interesting is that looking at the stats there wasn't a big jump in assists between the years before 1912 and 1912 and after. So maybe what I've always heard is wrong?

Steve B

I'd love to see those types of home/away defensive splits. I'd also have loved to see that style of baseball, since I think the outfield assist is one of the most exciting and underrated plays in baseball.. and I think so much better in person than on TV, in that you're able to see the whole play as it develops. I do still have to think many of those assists were force outs at 2nd on what would have otherwise been hits, as well throwing behind runners after catching short line drives (splits on that would be great too)... both assist types that are pretty rare today. I also do think runners were much more aggressive and took more chances (just look how many attempted steals there were back then)... though have definitely done less reading/research on the topic as you have.

These types of ridiculous statistical disparities (outfield assists, batters' low strike out rates, frequency of running and bunting, more triples, inside the park home runs, stealing home, etc) between then and today's game make me wish so much that I could see one game from that era.