Babe Ruth or Bernie Williams (seriously)

[Indrid Cold]

Yeah, I don't think it is a matter of saying that minority players were superior but that the talent pool would have been bigger if they were all mixed together back then. But then again, when they did start integrating they also started adding more teams to the leagues, so it would probably even out. And to your point, if the mlb talent pool was small because of excluding minorities, the ***** League had an even smaller pool of talent so some of the stats and accomplishments that occurred in that league were probably inflated relative to what those players would have done if they were integrated into mlb.

There is no doubt in my mind that the best ***** League players would have been huge stars in the majors...Gibson, Paige, Turkey Stearnes, Devil Wells, Mule Suttles, Cannonball Dick Redding, Cyclone Joe Williams, etc. But, stats from barnstorming games against semipros were often counted in their lifetime totals, and who knows what kind of equipment they used...were their baseballs lively? Dead? Did they just buy them at the dime store in town? It's hard for me to take any kind of detailed stat analysis from the ***** Leagues too seriously.
But, if you just look at the impact that Mays, Aaron, and Banks, all of whom played in the ***** Leagues, had in the majors in the '50s and '60s and you know that, no matter what, the black players would have made their mark at any point in MLB history, if allowed.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I voted for Bernie, in the poll question you did not say it had to be in baseball... Bernie is a mean Guitar player... I am pretty sure Babe ruth was not as good...

 

[Cedrique]

There is no doubt in my mind that the best ***** League players would have been huge stars in the majors...Gibson, Paige, Turkey Stearnes, Devil Wells, Mule Suttles, Cannonball Dick Redding, Cyclone Joe Williams, etc. But, stats from barnstorming games against semipros were often counted in their lifetime totals, and who knows what kind of equipment they used...were their baseballs lively? Dead? Did they just buy them at the dime store in town? It's hard for me to take any kind of detailed stat analysis from the ***** Leagues too seriously.
But, if you just look at the impact that Mays, Aaron, and Banks, all of whom played in the ***** Leagues, had in the majors in the '50s and '60s and you know that, no matter what, the black players would have made their mark at any point in MLB history, if allowed.

Yeah, definitely I'm not taking anything away from those guys. But Ruth was known mostly for his hitting, and really, even in the era Mays and Aaron were playing in, there still were very few minority pitchers that they were facing in mlb. So I think Ruth would have mashed in the 50's and 60's just like he did in the 20's.

 

[Cedrique]

But maybe Ruth would not have been as dominant a pitcher if the league had the minority players from the ***** Leagues mixed in. (especially the guy that could flip the light switch and be under the covers before the light went out)