It’s an old parlor game: compare Babe Ruth to Barry Bonds, or Lou Gehrig to Albert Pujols. We can calculate that the older players were generally greater than their peers in a way that modern greats are not; but the Baseball Rabbi, Pesach Wolicki, offers a new way of viewing the entire question which demonstrates that today’s players are the best in the history of the game. (Even Johnny Unitas and Julius Erving come up in this discussion…) In addition, Pesach and Scott Kahn analyze the unfair tragedy of the Twins, and derive lessons in team building from, of all teams, the 2003 Detroit Tigers.
The above chart shows standard deviation of regulars (i.e. players who qualify for the batting title) for runs created per season. Credit: Moshe Schorr
The above chart shows the number of players appearing per team per season over the course of history. Simply, total players who make even one appearance every season divided by number of teams. Credit: Moshe Schorr