Ball players can only control one thing…how well they play. They can not control the rules of the game. Just because Old Hoss Radbourn played in the 1880s, doesn’t mean he wasn’t a great player. Many historians will claim that the game was different and Radbourn doesn’t measure up to the players in the modern ERA. But Radbourn cannot control the rules of the game in 1884 or 1889. We have to define a player by his era, and not by the standards of our era. Cap Anson cannot live up to the standards of our ERA today because he was busy living up to the standards of his era. Anson and Radbourn were 2 of the best players of their era, and their achievements shouldn’t be diminished because they played in an ERA very different from today.
players like Ross Barnes are not considered a hall of famer because he played his best baseball in the National Association (1871-1875). Major League Baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame does not consider the NA a major league. However, the NA was the only professional baseball league in the world at the time. By default it was the highest level of play any one player could reach. Because of that, It is a major league. Just because the league wide talent did not have as high of a level does not mean it wasn’t the highest level of play. We must judge players by the era they play in…not by the modern standards the experts have set for the game.
Chapman's Corner 