Which pre-war stars could play today?

[SteveMitchell]

"To me the better argument would be can any of today's players make the transition back 100 years ago and be any good. That would be a much tougher task than the players of yesterday suddenly being given better equipment/facilities/salary/lifestyle and asking them to perform!" - Rhys

Specifically, how would today's player handle the use of the tiny gloves that were standard in the Deadball Era or the pancake mitts of the twenties and thirties. (Few one-handed catches, I'll bet.)

The tools of the trade, general playing conditions (St. Louis in summer, unpadded walls, etc.), travel conditions (train), the pay and the Deadball game itself make things somewhat tougher for today's major leaguer to swallow. Give the oldtimers their youth and talent and they would compete favorably in nearly every case.

[steve B]

I was thinking about the gloves as I read this too.

The point about there being a deeper talent pool or not today doesn't make much sense to me. While there's not enough information to tell much many oldtime ballplayers played against latin and negro leage players while barnstorming or playing in the off season.

A player who played in the late 30's spoke to the club I'm in and mentioned the differences between the available players when he played compared to now. I think the numbers were something like 17,000 players in organized ball now and 175,000 then. So I think the competition for the available positions was pretty tough.

The point he was adressing is actually important here. That point was that guys with any weaknesses in their play had to be incredible at some aspect of the game to have any real chance, and that any player with a difficult attitude also had to be too good to release.
How much would Cobb be allowed to get away with today? I can only imagine the fine and suspension he'd get for beating a guy in a wheelchair today. Lifetime ban? Would he have even made the majors with attitudes that would be a PR nighmare?
How much would Ruths famous appetites be ignored?
Or those of the guys that supposedly had major drinking problems.

Rather than the athletic ability being the problem, I think some prewar guys would have a rough time adjusting to a more PC world.

The rest would probably be more than fine.

Steve B

[FrankWakefield]

I agree with Steve about the PC adjustment. The old guys would get with the program for modern training techniques, they'd quickly adapt. But seeing Steve's PC comment has me thinking that in some ways society's pendulum has swung past the midpoint with PCness. The fourth estate seems less responsible than they were years ago; they get the public in a frenzy over nothing. Maybe folks of an earlier time had thicker hides and let some nonsense slide, rather than getting all worked up about it. Nonetheless, going from flannel to synthetic knit; from Pulman cars to jets; and from restrained, knowledgeable newspaper writers to TV talking head idiots; that would take some getting used to for the old ballplayers. The compensation would have them all about making the change!!! (pi).

[barrysloate]

Just about all the old time players could play today, but they would bring with them a different set of skills. I don't think the dead ball era players would hit a whole lot of home runs, but they were better schooled in the fundamentals than today's players and would play some mean small ball. Better bat control, more hit and run plays, I think the old time ballplayers would out think and out hustle today's players. In fact, a line up comprised of oldtimers at the top of the order, and some of today's sluggers in the clean up positions, would be pretty cool.

Could you imagine Ed Delahanty playing today? I think he would be a superstar.

[martyogelvie]

Baseball requires more god given talent than any other sport that I can think of. There is no amount of traning you can do that will allow you to throw a baseball 90+. If you don't have the god given arm to do that, too bad and there is nothing you can do about it. The same goes for hitting curve balls and fast balls. You can practice in a cage all day long and sure you'll get better but not good enough for the major leagues.. so there is no doubt in my mind that Christy Mathewson could pitch for any team in the league today and a young 20 year old Ty Cobb could walk on the field play for the Braves today.. probably hit lead off too! If a 20 year old Babe Ruth showed up at Yankees stadium today, they would put him in the pitching rotation and he would never pick up a bat..

JMO

[Frank A]

Everyone of them could play in todays games. Why not? Look at the baseballs they used, do you think all of those players would be hitting better with todays baseball? Look at the size of the gloves today. Look at the equiptment as compared to the past. Look how much better the players are treated. All these things would make the players of the past much better at what they did. Cobb would still steal bases, Ruth would still pound the ball and the pitchers would last forever. Frank

[mr2686]

I think one thing that would level the playing field for the pre-war players would be modern medicine. How many of them did not/could not put up better stats because they had injuries they had to play through (pulls, strains, dead arms etc)? Today, they could have surgery and rehab and comeback better than before. If you have talent and smarts, you'll always find a way to adapt as the game changes and progresses. Also, better equipment today would make a lot of the pre-war players that much better.