All-Time Greats

BUCK EWING

"A Major League Baseball player and manager, is widely regarded as the best catcher of his era and is often argued as one of the best players of the 19th century." (Wikipedia entry)

"The first catcher ever elected to the Hall of Fame, Buck Ewing was as complete a ballplayer as there was in the 19th century. A steady performer defensively and with the bat, he hit over .300 in 10 of his 15 full Major League campaigns, compiling a .311 career average. His remarkable arm enabled him to throw out runners without rising from his crouch position behind the plate. Ewing captained the New York Giants to the club's first world championships in 1888 and '89." (Official HOF bio)

HUGHIE JENNINGS

"A Major League Baseball player and manager from 1891 to 1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won National League championships in 1894, 1895, and 1896." (Wikipedia entry)

"Hughie Jennings starred as a standout shortstop before making a successful transition to manager. Jennings captained Baltimore to four straight appearances (1894 -97) in the 19th-century Temple Cup World Championship Series. He led league shortstops in fielding average three times and batted .314 over a 17-year big league career." (Official HOF bio)

If we have these "All-Time Great" players in the player pool, it should at the position they were clearly better than their peers, the one listed on their HOF plaque, not a position they filled as their careers were winding down. I don't hear a clamoring for Ernie Banks as a 1B in the 60s. Ewing and Jennings deserve some justice when new cards are added.

An excellent point! I concur.

From the "New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract":

"(Buck) Ewing was an active, athletic catcher like Rick Dempsey or Jim Sundberg, and also a career .300 hitter, led the National League once in homers and once in triples. He was regarded by many people as the best player in nineteenth century baseball. John Foster, a long-time baseball writer, wrote in the 1938 Spalding/Reach Guide that "he has been called the greatest all-round player ever connected with the game. I think that he was...As a thrower to bases Ewing never had a superior, and there are not to exceed ten men who could come anywhere near being equal to him."

When the Hall of Fame opened there were originally supposed to be ten players selected to open the house - five "modern" players (post-1900) and five "old-timers." The voting system was screwed up, so the five original old-timers were not selected, but Ewing tied with Cap Anson for first place among the pre-1900 players. The Win Shares system also rates him as a superb defensive catcher, with a career rate of 7.29 Win Shares per 1000 defensive innings - fifth all-time among catchers with 5000 or more innings.

For these reasons, I had originally rated Ewing among the top five catchers of all time..."

He went on to say he dropped him in his catcher rankings primarily for number of innings caught, and a suspicion he may have been somewhat overrated by playing in New York.

"somewhat over-rated by playing in New York!"

Why.......I never heard of such a thing. Thank goodness that doesn't happen any longer.