MLB is not that easy - For some players it’s all downhill

[frankbmd]

Threads like this can wander a bit. They also garner input from a broad variety of members and are generally well received. I suspect I am not alone in being amazed at what I can actually learn after following baseball for over 66 years.

1. I have never encountered the first name of Vean before.

2. When I noticed that Vean came in 10th in the 1911 MVP voting, I had to look into it. From 1911-1914 the first ever MVP voting was carried out annually for each league. This was sponsored by Chalmers, a new well known automobile company in Detroit and was duly called the Chalmers Award. There were a total of eight winners before the award was discontinued in 1915. Chalmers first filed for bankruptcy in 1917 and ceased all production by 1923. I don't believe I ever knew that Chalmers was responsible for the first MVP Award appropriately won by Cobb in the first year.

3. What stats are today's players going to be evaluated by in 100 years? If you were able to tell Vean that his WAR in 1911 was 8.0, I'm sure his reply would have been a big "HUH".

What was Babe Ruth's predominant Launch Angle and was his Exit Velocity up to snuff?

4. If we casually apply modern WAR to prewar players, other questions come to mind.

Would the Spartans have been more successful in the Peloponnesian Wars, if they had been using drones instead of Hoplites to destroy the olive fields in Attica?

Would the Athenians have been more successful with access to Urgent Care to avoid the devastating effects of the plague that contributed to their early losses?

You'll never know, nor will I.