The New Historical Baseball Abstract

In the extended text (click on discussion) I’m posting Bill James’ thoughts on our first ballot (1906, for players that retired before 1901), according to the NHBA. I think his rankings need to be adjusted for season length, which will make a huge difference for guys like Deacon White and Ezra Sutton.

The top-ranked players eligible for our first election, according to Bill James. The players listed all finished in the top 100. Don’t forget, these rating are heavily skewed towards peak value.

I’ll list career Win Shares (he gives three for each team win), top 3 years, top 5 consecutive, per 162 games.

C-
Buck Ewing 241 WS (27, 23, 21); 98; 29.69
Jack Clements 146 WS (19, 18, 18); 73; 20.44
Doggie Miller 135 WS (24, 17, 15); 65; 16.61
Fred Carroll 109 WS (20, 17, 16); 60; 15.86

James called Fred Carroll the second best young catcher EVER. Second only to Johnny Bench. WOW. I assume he faded . . .

1B-
Cap Anson 381 WS (30, 29, 24); 123; 27.12
Dan Brouthers 355 WS (34, 31, 29); 138; 34.38
Roger Connor 363 WS (36, 32, 30); 145; 29.45
Henry Larkin 177 WS (29, 23, 19); 107; 24.22
Tommy Tucker 176 (30, 20, 17); 96; 16.90

2B-
Bid McPhee 305 WS (27, 23, 21); 107; 23.14
Hardy Richardson 230 WS (32, 25, 23); 111; 27.99
Fred Pfeffer 202 WS (21, 20, 20); 89; 19.60
Yank Robinson 131 WS (24, 21, 20); 101; 21.70
Fred Dunlap 165 WS (38, 17, 17); 100; 27.70

I remember really liking Hardy Richardson in creating my spreadsheet for OW-L. Good to see that validated here.

3B-
Denny Lyons 189 WS (27, 27, 25); 122; 27.31
Ed Williamson 173 WS (21, 20, 19); 87; 23.34
Billy Nash 222 WS (25, 23, 22); 107; 23.32
Arlie Latham 222 WS (25, 24, 24); 102; 22.10
Bill Joyce 155 WS (28, 25, 18); 105; 27.78
Deacon White 190 WS (21, 18, 17); 82; 23.78
George Pinkney 157 WS (29, 22, 22); 110; 21.87
Bill Shindle typo, listed Whitney twice, no numbers
Ezra Sutton 159 WS (28, 22, 21); 98; 24.98
Jerry Denny 140 WS (19, 19, 16); 77; 18.33

Personally, I move Deacon White to the top of this list. He was much older than these guys, so the early part of his career was spent with much shorter seasons. He also caught a bunch, but the numbers do take that into account, although those season were shorter. I listed him as a catcher, and I have him as the top peak value player whose career ended prior to 1906 (as far as I’ve gotten in my spreadsheet). I also had him 3rd in career value, behind only Anson and Jim O’Rourke. He’ll be a very interesting debate early in the voting.

I also had Ezra Sutton ranked as the greatest 3B up that point, ahead of Williamson, Latham, Lyons, Pinckney, Denny. James doesn’t give any credit for 1871-75 (which hurts White also), and again his best years were with shorter seasons. His 24.98 per 162 is pretty high on the list, and he played 18 years. He was as good a 3B as there was before the turn of the century. He’d be behind McGraw on peak, behind Jimmy Collins on career (barely), both of those guys won’t be eligible for a few years.

SS-
Monte Ward 409 WS (51, 51, 31); 188; 36.31 (also pitcher, so high WS for
pre-1893 pitchers)
Jack Glasscock 261 WS (27, 25, 22); 108; 24.36
Ed McKean 221 WS (25, 25, 21); 99; 21.65
Sam Wise 157 WS (22, 19, 17); 84; 21.65

LF-
Jim O’Rourke 305 WS (25, 24, 24); 103; 27.85
Harry Stovey 265 WS (28, 28, 27); 121; 28.88
Tip O’Neill 213 WS (36, 28, 27); 137; 32.73
Charley Jones 160 WS (27, 24, 20); 98; 29.42
Abner Dalrymple 150 WS (25, 23, 18); 86; 25.55

CF-
Pete Browning 225 WS (30, 28, 23); 118; 30.81
George Gore 250 WS (30, 26, 24); 111; 30.91
Mike Griffin 245 WS (30, 23, 23); 109; 26.26
Paul Hines 249 WS (28, 22, 19); 98; 27.23
Bill Lange 139 WS (29, 24, 21); 114; 27.76
Curt Welch 165 WS (26, 24, 22); 106; 24.14
Jake Stenzel 126 WS (28, 24, 24); 111; 26.64
Tom Brown 218 WS (31, 20, 19); 90; 19.77

RF-
King Kelly 278 WS (35, 24, 24); 130; 30.95
Sam Thompson 236 WS (29, 28, 22); 114; 27.17
Mike Tiernan 251 WS (28, 26, 26); 124; 27.54
Oyster Burns 196 WS (28, 26, 25); 113; 26.74
Tommy McCarthy 170 WS (24, 24, 22); 110; 21.60
Orator Shaffer 120 WS (28, 14, 14); 68; 23.08

P-
Amos Rusie 293 WS (56, 41, 40); 205; 29.11 (question on eligibility under token appearance rule (3 G, 2 GS, 22 IP in 1901).
John Clarkson 398 WS (62, 61, 51); 249; 32.69
Old Hoss Radbourn 346 WS (89, 59, 49); 249; 30.19
Tim Keefe 413 WS (70, 47, 42); 236; 30.06
Tony Mullane 401 WS (58, 55, 46); 183; 29.45
Bob Caruthers 338 WS (57, 54, 51); 255; 32.72
Tommy Bond 243 WS (60, 50, 47); 225; 31.50

I really think he underrates the players from the 1870’s and early 1880’s. Just an opinion. I can’t wait until I get the Win Shares book, so I can game adjust the seasonal numbers to get true peaks for the older players. I do see his point that it was inferior competition, just don’t think their accomplishments should be discounted. The older players would have benefitted from the development of the game as well. I strongly discount the “time-machine” method of evaluation.