Dead Ball Era Stars discussion here!!!

[LCBOY]

This thread was inspired by frog99 and his very cool avatars. Let's talk about the dead ball era stars here. Whatever is on your mind, post it!

[Arlo]

Let's hear it for Roger Bresnahan!

Sorry, just thought that needed to be said. The Duke of Tralee gets no kind of credit...

[frog99]

Let's hear it for Roger Bresnahan!

Sorry, just thought that needed to be said. The Duke of Tralee gets no kind of credit...

why is he in the hall of fame? i see one season were he batted 350 that is about it.

[Arlo]

He was also one of the game's great innovators. From shin guards to snap throws to first, he's a huge reason the catcher position developed the way it did. McGraw and others considered him the greatest ever at the position, but that may be stretching it a bit...

[LCBOY]

He was also one of the game's great innovators. From shin guards to snap throws to first, he's a huge reason the catcher position developed the way it did. McGraw and others considered him the greatest ever at the position, but that may be stretching it a bit...

There is some controvery over who actually invented shin guards.

[LCBOY]

This is a RANT!!

I read several articles about Randy Johnson today. The all listed all the perfect games pitched. Several of them stated that two of them were thrown in 1880 before the modern era began in 1900. THIS IS MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE IN BASEBALL!!!!


Nothing happened in 1900 to make the game "modern". If anything the game became "modern" in 1893 when the pitching mound was moved back to 60'6". This is just the stupidest artificial distiction in baseball. As always the 19th century ball players get jobbed!

[wkelly91]

I agree that 1900 is stupidly arbitrary, yet you have to agree there was a change in the game at some point through that time frame.

[Tavish]

There are several reasons that the 1900 split is made. Some of them are somewhat arbitrary considering they happened a few years before or after. Two of the biggest:

1901 (in the NL 1903 in the AL) Foul balls counted as strikes. A major rule change and the major reason why you can't compare batting averages from before the rule with those after.

1902 Combination of the AL and NL. This is basically the event that marks the beginning of the modern era. Everyone played under the same rules (which of course the AL was able to screw up).

I find it tough to try and compare players or events before the 1901 rule change. It is downright silly to me to try and compare things before 1887 when batters still got to call for a pitch to be "high", "low" or "fair".

[Arlo]

He was also one of the game's great innovators. From shin guards to snap throws to first, he's a huge reason the catcher position developed the way it did. McGraw and others considered him the greatest ever at the position, but that may be stretching it a bit...

There is some controvery over who actually invented shin guards.

True. My mistake; Bresnahan was certainly among the first to use and refine them (as well as other equipment), but whether or not he was the first may be as hard to answer as who invented the curveball.

Good catch there, LCBOY.

[LCBOY]

My favorite nickname:


William "Dummy" Hoy. He was deaf hence the nickname. From what I read in Glory of Their Times he wasn't bothered by his nickname. I can't ever imagine that this would be allowed by the political correctness police today. Can you imagine calling Curtis Pride, "Dummy" or Jim "One-Hand" Abbott...


http://www.dummyhoy.com/introduction/index.html