Who is the greatest player of the Pre-War Era?

[mikemcgrail]

George Herman by a mile

Honus is for me number 2

[39special]

I would say Willie Mays.

[barrysloate]

Frank Baker made the cut, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron didn't. Hmmm....

[bobbyw8469]

Mantle played hurt most of his career and still put up awesome numbers. Can you imagine what he would have done had he actually been healthy?

[Tao_Moko]

It's too hard to argue with Ruth as a player and his impact on the game. I didn't see any mention of Rose who was the most dynamic player I ever saw play. I very unfortunately had to live Portsmouth Ohio for a few years as a kid and though I wasn't a Red's fan(having moved from Illinois) it was hard to overlook his superiority on the field. I really enjoyed watching him play. Nolan Ryan was another beast of a player that when you watched him perform live just seemed to control the game.

[lharri3600]

Let us not forget The Say Hey Kid. Remember, he spent some time in the Army!!
I believe he would have made the 700 club if not for the time in the Army.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Frank Baker made the cut, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron didn't. Hmmm....

Good morning, Barry.

I took my Pre-War starting nine, added, "none of the above" as the tenth choice, and posted the thread...nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway, it seems pretty clear...that George Herman Ruth fellow would be crushing the competition, no matter who it was.

Thanks for weighing in and have a wonderful weekend.

Best Regards,

Eric

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Eric72

I took my Pre-War starting nine, added, "none of the above" as the tenth choice, and posted the thread...nothing more, nothing less.

And I did this because the noise from a few of the other threads was benumbing. Sorry, guys...guess I zoned out.

Anyways, carry on. And have a great weekend.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by Eric72

And I did this because the noise from a few of the other threads was benumbing. Sorry, guys...guess I zoned out.

Anyways, carry on. And have a great weekend.

Appreciate your effort Eric.. it was a nice little baseball centric break from the other things you refer to.

I'm still Babe all the way regardless of the original baseball writers vote. At the time of his HOF induction, I think there must still have been quite a few crotchety old school sports writers/purists who'd grown up on dead ball era and tactics.. and who preferred the "science" of Cobb's game as opposed to the brawn of Ruth's. Babe only won 1 MVP during his career, which is nuts considering he lead the league in HR's and had 13 wins in the same year, and broke the single season HR record 4 times in his career!! (worth noting Cobb only won 1 MVP too).

In 1936, baseball had still been a dead ball game for the majority of its history, and what Ruth had done was probably still unsettling to some. As years/decades/eras have gone by since, we see even more clearly that Ruth is the greatest vehicle of change the game has ever seen (except maybe J Robinson for totally different reasons).. and it's greatest/most influential player ever.

Cobb is still my untied 1a.

[sycks22]

For those people who say Young is the best fail to realize that not even his peers / baseball voters thought he was that good with receiving 76% in the HOF vote. If you throw out Young's 511 wins (which he pitched the most innings / started the most games and completed the most games) he wasn't better than Matty or Johnson of that era. He averaged 111 k's per season (I realize it's the dead ball era), but he never had more than 210 which Johnson topping 300 twice. Johnson pitched for a far worse team and had a lower era / more shut outs / more k's / over 2,000 less hits allowed. He is the Pete Rose of the dead ball era of someone that was good, but his numbers are more of a factor that he pitched more than anyone, than the fact that he was dominate.