Which pre-war stars could play today?

[rhettyeakley]

I don't want this post to be taken the wrong way and I'm not sure if I can write what a mean to write without it coming off the wrong way but...

It is definitely true that the pre-1947 players did not play along side the African American players and that needs to be kept in mind as we evaluate their statistics and their skill. That being said, in today's game there are an amazing number of Latin players (some black and some not) and there are quite a few African American position players but for whatever reason there are actually very few African American pitchers (there are less African Americans playing now than there were 20-30 years ago.) This is probably due mainly to the increased popularity of Football and Basketball among the African American population and the diminishing popularity of baseball among the same demographic. Do we then put an asterisk on today's players like we do with the pre-1947 guys because the players today also don't have to face as many African American players?

We live in the expansion era with so many teams with such large rosters that we forget that the pre-1947 Major Leaguer had 16 teams available with smaller rosters and a much larger part of the American population actively pursuing a baseball career.

I don't doubt that had African American's been allowed to play pre-1947 they would have been great and perhaps some of the best--but each era needs to be treated independently, but I don't think one can say that just because they face African American's today that it is more difficult (one could argue expanded rosters, more athletic alternatives, etc. all have diminished the overall # of all demographics playing baseball on a regular basis while increasing the overall chances of that player would reach the Major League level). It is an interesting situation.