Perception of pre war baseball players vs other sports

[Ray Van]

Soccer, has anyone even heard of a pre-war player?

A very (American) myopic pov from the OP in my opinion. You referenced serious fans so I can tell you yes, serious soccer fans know pre-war names. Most general soccer fans start with Pele in the late 1950's and go from there. But serious fans can talk your ear off about great prewar players from all different countries. From England alone, Dixie Dean and Stanley Matthews are well known, while Derby County fans still sing about Steve Bloomer.

As mentioned by others, the timing of the development of the game plays a huge role and benefits baseball over other sports. While soccer was also developed in the 1800's, it wasn't until the first World Cup in 1930 that things really started moving internationally, but that's still pre-WWII.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Ray Van

Soccer, has anyone even heard of a pre-war player?

A very (American) myopic pov from the OP in my opinion. You referenced serious fans so I can tell you yes, serious soccer fans know pre-war names. Most general soccer fans start with Pele in the late 1950's and go from there. But serious fans can talk your ear off about great prewar players from all different countries. From England alone, Dixie Dean and Stanley Matthews are well known, while Derby County fans still sing about Steve Bloomer.

As mentioned by others, the timing of the development of the game plays a huge role and benefits baseball over other sports. While soccer was also developed in the 1800's, it wasn't until the first World Cup in 1930 that things really started moving internationally, but that's still pre-WWII.

Point taken, but are English fans arguing that Dean and Matthews and Bloomer are on a par or better than Pele, Maradona, Messi, etc."

[Misunderestimated]

Back to the OP ---> These dates seem relevant (I may be off I didn't double check the years)...

American baseball has been celebrating its history since Spaulding helped promote the Doubleday creation myth in the early 20th century... The HOF first started to induct players in 1936 (I think).

Hockey -- a largely Canadian sport at the outset -- struggled to fund its HOF and started inductions in the late 1950's as I recall.,

The NFL HOF started in 1963 (I think)
College football has its HOF too.

Basketball's HOF (which is NOT an "NBA or Professionally Basketball HOF or even an American basketball HOF) began choosing its greats in 1959 -- the building opened in the late 60's. Basketball's HOF is very different from the baseball HOF in the ways in which it honors its past. You can get it more than once. John Wooden is a HOFer as a player and coach. The Olympic teams from 1992 etc are inducted as a team and many of them are also individual inductees (Bird, Jordan , Magic etc). Women's greats are included as are Harlem Globetrotters who never played in the NBA like Meadowlark Lemon.

[Ray Van]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Point taken, but are English fans arguing that Dean and Matthews and Bloomer are on a par or better than Pele, Maradona, Messi, etc."

Depends who you talk to of course, English fans have their favourites and will argue till they are blue in the face that their players are better. Plus it's so hard to compare across eras when the game was very different back then.

Still, Tom Finney (1946-60) was regarded by many as the best player in the world during his era, while Dixie Dean's 60 goals in 1927-28 was considered a Ruthian achievement.

My Mount Rushmore is still Pele, Maradona, Messi, & Brazilian Ronaldo - but there are lots of players from all eras just below that threshold.